Bibi Fotima, the daughter of the Prophet and wife of Ali, is the great feminine figure of the Panjtan and the patroness of women, childbirth, the hearth and the spindle. Her name governs the women's rite called Bibi Fotima and is invoked over spinners and over brides. In the cosmology of the house she is the Kitsor pillar, diagonally opposite the door, the bride's seat of honour; her attributes of the red dress, bangles and rings openly recall the ancient Iranian goddess Anahita, lady of the waters and of fertility, whose cult the Pamiri house is understood to preserve beneath Fatima's name.