Fatīmah Muhammad Muslamānī was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Fatīmah Muhammad Muslamān originated from the city of Tibnīn, Al-Janub in Syria, a part of modern day Lebanon which was under Ottoman authority before 1920. She arrived on the 12th of January, 1890. She was one of at least three or likely more children born to Muhammad Muslamānī and Zaynab Katamay. She grew up as a muslim. Her younger brother was Hassan, born in 1892.
It was 1912 when she decided to leave and go find her future in America. For this, she had to make a big journey to France. Her goal was Michigan City, Indiana. There were relatives there already. Two cousins were by her side when she departed. They were Mustafà Nasr Almā and Yūsuf Ahmad Waznah, who followed and chaperoned her. The first part of the trip led to Beirut, from where a ship sailed to Marseilles. There, most migrants had to be checked for their health. A train would take many Syrians to Paris and then to Cherbourg.
Titanic[]
In Cherbourg, on the evening of April 10, Muslamānī, 'Almā and Waznah were brought to Titanic on a specially designed tender. They would travel in Third Class. She didn’t have the cabin to herself. A mother with her 4-yeard old child was in there as well, but their identities are not known.
On April 14, Titanic’s crew had little to worry about until that one moment late at night, when they were shaken up by an iceberg that was spotted very late. The sighting of the iceberg prompted them straight into action but it was in vain. She was too close to it. A port manouvre with the engine reversed could not make Titanic clear the iceberg without striking it with her starboard bow. A few gashes appeared over a great length and they gave way for the sea to get into the ship. There were tons of ocean inside Titanic already in the first minute.
On the night of April 15, the damage had been inspected by Captain Smith and others. He now had to make a tough decision, but it was the only right one, as he and Thomas Andrews concluded that Titanic would now sink and there was nothing they could do to stop it. The passengers had to be evacuated and the order for the lifeboats to be readied was given at 12:05 A.M.
It is not sure how, but Fatīmah got on deck and in a lifeboat and survived the sinking, but she lost her two cousins. She later brought forward that one of them might have been shot by an officer. They were among the deceased when the ship met her end at 2:20 A.M. Many passengers ended up in the cold waters and were killed through hypothermia. Collapsible C is mentioned as the lifeboat she might have gotten into.
After the sinking[]
To the relief of the occupants of the boats, a ship came to their aid as she had responded to Titanic's distress call sent out by the wireless. The ship was the RMS Carpathia under the command of the honorable Captain Arthur Rostron, who immediately set course to help Titanic. Although she couldn't get there in time, she had given anything and now provided the care that the ex-passengers that were still living, needed. Fatīmah was soon also aboard after a few hours, as it took very long for some boats to reach the ship. Carpathia then set course for New York. She was there on April 18 to deliver Titanic's survivors.
Fatīmah had to recover for a while in a New York Hospital. The conditions that fatal night hadn't been great. All sort of relief funds came to her aid and handed her $100 dollars combined so she could get back on her feet.
Later life[]
As planned, Fatīmah got to Michigin City, Indiana. wheres she lived from now on. From her native town of Tibnīn, a man bent his knee to ask her to become his wife on the 7th of May. He was Mohammad Mustafa Ajamy. This marriage didn’t become a success. No child was sprung from their bond and it was broken up a while later. He got his own family later.
It was in 1927 that she truly integrated into American society and her name was now Fatima Muselmanie. Fatima didn’t shy away from telling her story over and over again from when she was still a teenage girl to when she was well in her fourties. This was unlike many survivors, who remained a closed book as they could not cope well with their traumas. She on the other hand was doing the opposite to relieve her mind. But the loss of her two cousins always brought her great grief and pain and she cried regularly over them.
In Ohio, she tried it again with Charley Salem as they were married there on 22 September 22. He was as Syrian native too, but once more, the love didn’t last, but she stayed in the same place for many more years.
She spent some time in her motherland in the 1940s but was soon back in December 1947. As a muslim, she had undertaken a pilgrimage to Mecca at some point, perhaps it was in those years. It was in the early 1950s that Fatima moved to Dearbon, Michigan, where she purchased a large flat with lots of appartments, which she rented out while taking the second floor for herself. She never went anywhere else after that. There was family there.
Fatima died in a Dearborn nursing home on February 16, 1971. She is buried in Roseland Cemetery in Oak Park, Michigan.