Thursday, November 12, 2026, in the Bayynat calendar, corresponds to 3 Jumada II 1448, one of the dates on which Shiite Muslims commemorate the death of Fatima, the daughter of the prophet Mohammed. The site of the institution linked to Mohammad Hussein Fadllallah itself accompanies this indication with a precision: « according to a tradition ». These few words remind us that Fatima’s memory is based on several chronologies and that the practices of mourning are not identical in all Shia environments.
In Lebanon, the so-called « fatimiye » days give rise to religious assemblies, evocations of his life and readings of mourning. Their understanding requires a distinction between three elements: the date of the lunar calendar, the narratives transmitted about its disappearance and the contemporary forms of commemoration.
A date that also depends on the schedule followed
For 2026, the religious office of the Fadllallah Foundation set the start of Joumada II on Tuesday, 10 November. Soundpress release published by Bayynatexplains the method chosen: the possibility of seeing the crescent in a region of the world allows to start the month in the regions sharing with it part of the night. The 3rd of the month corresponds to 12 November in this calendar.
This correspondence must not become a binding date for all communities. Religious criteria for the establishment of the month may differ. For a specific ceremony, it is the announcement of the organizing institution that makes reference. A general calendar allows us to situate the commemoration; it does not replace the program of a mosque or association.
Why several mourning periods?
Diversity is not just about observing the crescent. It also affects the accounts of the time elapsed between the death of the Prophet and his daughter.
In ahomily at the Imam Mosque Hassan and Hussein, Haret HreikAli Fadllallah explains the tradition of seventy-five days and the commemoration of 13 Jumada I. The existence, on Bayynat, of another landmark in 3 Jumada II therefore does not erase this explicitly formulated choice.
Lstudy on the rites, society and culture of Shiites in Lebanon, preserved by UMAM Documentation & Research, describes two periods of fatimid days, around 13-15 Joumada I and 3-5 Joumada II. It links this plurality to the differences in the accounts transmitted. The names and the number of periods may vary according to the organizers. It would be misleading to seek a single week of mandatory mourning for all Lebanese Shiites.
Attested assemblies in Beirut
Local sources can describe concrete practices without giving them uniform seniority.
On 6 January 2022,ShiaWaves published a report of the Beyruthin office of the religious Sadeq al-Shirazi. He refers to a bereavement council that began on 2 Jumada II and extended the following day. A preacher presented the life of Fatima and the story of her suffering to Lebanese participants from Arab and Muslim communities.
This is a testimony from the organizing community, not from a survey of all practices in the country. It nevertheless establishes the existence of a specific framework: a meeting, a religious word and a collective memory expressed by mourning. These examples document past ceremonies and do not constitute a gathering announcement for November 2026.
Recitation, teaching and prayer
Another report, published on 13 December 2022 bylebanese media Al-Thabat, describes a meeting organized by the World Association of Imam expected with the shrine of Imam Reza, in the atmosphere of the Fatimid nights.
The meeting, held at the shrine designated by the organizers as that of Safiyya, daughter of Imam Hussein, began with a Koranic recitation. It included an intervention on the justice and memory of Fatima, then a bereavement council, before a collective invocation.
This succession sheds light on the place of teaching in commemoration. Remembering requires a narrative, but also the values that stakeholders wish to convey. It is therefore not enough to reduce the timid days to their manifestations of sadness.
A Venerable Figure Beyond Shiism
Fatima also occupies a major place in Sunni traditions. Oneleaflet for Dar al-Ifta d’Egypt, Sunni institution, emphasizes his connection with the Prophet and his place within his family. She recognizes differences in the date of her death and presents as the most well-known story of a disappearance six months after her father.
This testimony does not set the calendar of the Lebanese Sunni. It shows, however, that the veneration of Fatima cannot be confused with the adoption of the same commemorations. A religious figure may be common while its memory dates and readings of its history remain different.
Name narratives without resolving controversies
The vocabulary itself calls for precision. Some organizers speak of the « martial » of Fatima and record their ceremony in a story of violence suffered after the Prophet’s death. Other sources use the term « death ». The UMAM study recalls that these issues have also led to disagreements within Lebanese Shiism, particularly around the positions of Mohammad Hussein Fadllallah.
To describe a tradition implies to return the words of those who wear it, without transforming a confessional interpretation into a unanimous historical fact. For the reader, this distinction makes it possible to approach Fatimid days as a living and plural component of the Lebanese religious landscape, attentive to memory, transmission and differences between communities.
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