Fatimah bint Asad

Fatima bint Asad ibn Hashim (died ca. 3–4 AH) was a Hashimite woman who was the mother of Ali ibn Abi Talib and the wife of Abu Talib, the Prophet's uncle. She is uniquely honored in Islamic history for two reasons: she was one of the earliest women to accept Islam, and she is credited with having raised the Prophet ﷺ as a second mother following the death of his mother Amina and grandfather Abd al-Muttalib.

When Abu Talib took in the orphaned Muhammad ﷺ, Fatima bint Asad became his caretaker and treated him with exceptional love. The Prophet ﷺ, when she died, reportedly called her his "mother" and buried her in his own shirt, lying in her grave before her burial — acts that are understood as extraordinary expressions of gratitude and love for the woman who had mothered him.

She accepted Islam and made the Hijra to Medina, spending her final years in the Muslim community. She died in Medina, and the Prophet ﷺ led her funeral prayer. The accounts of her burial are among the most emotionally rich in the early sources, describing the Prophet's tears and his testimony that she was among the people of Paradise.

Her status as both a maternal figure to the Prophet and the mother of Ali ibn Abi Talib gives her a place of honor in both Sunni and Shia traditions. She is a reminder that the bonds of the Prophet ﷺ extended beyond bloodlines into the fabric of the Hashimite family that sheltered and raised him.