Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (A.S)

**Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib** (Arabic: عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; c. 600 – 661 CE) was the last Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, the successor state to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's political dominions. He is considered by Shia Muslims to be the first Imam, the rightful religious and political successor to Muhammad. The issue of succession caused a major rift between Muslims and divided them into two major branches: Shia following an appointed hereditary leadership among Ali's descendants, and Sunni following political dynasties. Ali's assassination in the Grand Mosque of Kufa by a Kharijite coincided with the rise of the Umayyad Caliphate. The Imam Ali Shrine and the city of Najaf were built around Ali's tomb and it is visited yearly by millions of devotees.

Ali was a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, raised by him from the age of 5, and accepted his claim of divine revelation by age 11, being among the first to do so. Ali played a pivotal role in the early years of Islam while Muhammad was in Mecca and under severe persecution. After Muhammad's relocation to Medina in 622, Ali married his daughter Fatima and, among others, fathered Hasan and Husayn, the second and third Shia Imams.

Muhammad called him his *brother, guardian and successor*, and he was the flag bearer in most of the wars and became famous for his bravery. On his return from the Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad uttered the phrase, "Whoever I am his *Mawla*, this Ali is his Mawla." But the meaning of Mawla became disputed. Shias believed that Ali was appointed by Muhammad to lead Islam, and Sunnis interpreted the word as friendship and love. While Ali was preparing Muhammad's body for burial, a group of Muslims met and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr. Ali pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr, after six months, but did not take part in the wars and political activity, except for the election of Uthman, the third caliph. However, he advised the three caliphs in religious, judicial, and political matters.

After Uthman was killed, Ali was elected as the next Caliph, which coincided with the first civil wars between Muslims. Ali faced two separate opposition forces: a group in Mecca, who wanted to convene a council to determine the caliphate; and another group led by Mu'awiya in the Levant, who demanded revenge for Uthman's blood. He defeated the first group; but in the end, the Battle of Siffin led to an arbitration that favored Mu'awiya, who eventually defeated Ali militarily. Slain by the sword of Ibn Muljam Moradi, Ali was buried outside the city of Kufa. In the eyes of his admirers, he became an example of piety and un-corrupted Islam, as well as the chivalry of pre-Islamic Arabia. Several books are dedicated to his hadiths, sermons, and prayers, the most famous of which is Nahj al-Balagha.

## Early life

Ali was born to Abu Talib and his wife Fatima bint Asad around 600 CE, possibly on 13 Rajab, the date also celebrated annually by the Shia. Shia and some Sunni sources introduce Ali as the only person born inside Ka'ba in Mecca, some containing miraculous descriptions of the incident. Ali's father was a leading member of the Banu Hashim clan, who also raised his nephew Muhammad after his parents died. When Abu Talib fell into poverty later, Ali was taken in at the age of five and raised by Muhammad and his wife Khadija.

In 610, when Ali was aged between nine and eleven, Muhammad announced that he had received divine revelations (*wahy*). Ali was among the first to believe him and profess to Islam, either the second (after Khadija) or the third (after Khadija and Abu Bakr), a point of contention among Shia and Sunni Muslims. Gleave nevertheless writes that the earliest sources seem to place Ali before Abu Bakr, while Watt (d. 2006) comments that Abu Bakr's status after Muhammad's death might have been reflected back into the early Islamic records.

Muhammad's call to Islam in Mecca lasted from 610 to 622, during which Ali provided for the needs of the Meccan Islamic community, especially the poor. Some three years after the first revelation and after receiving verse 26:214, Muhammad gathered his relatives for a feast, invited them to Islam, and asked for their assistance. The Sunni al-Tabari (d. 923) writes that Ali was the only relative who offered his support and Muhammad subsequently announced him as his brother, his trustee, and his successor. This declaration was met with ridicule from the infamous Abu Lahab and the guests then dispersed. The announcement attributed to Muhammad is not included in the Sunni collection *Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal*, but readily found in the Shia exegeses of verse 26:214. The similar account of Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) in his *Sira* was later omitted in the recension of the book by the Sunni Ibn Hisham (d. 833), possibly because of its Shia implications. The Shia interpretation of these accounts is that Muhammad had already designated Ali as his successor from an early age.

## From migration to Medina to the death of Muhammad

See also: Military career of Ali and Ghadir Khumm

In 622, Muhammad was informed of an assassination plot by the Meccan elites and it was Ali who is said to have stayed in Muhammad's house overnight to fool the assassins waiting outside, while the latter escaped to Yathrib (now Medina), thus marking 1 AH in the Islamic calendar. This incident is given by the early exegete Ibn Abbas (d. c. 687), among others, as the reason of the revelation for verse 2:207, which includes, "But there is also a kind of man who gives his life away to please God." Ali too escaped Mecca soon after returning the goods entrusted to Muhammad there. In Medina, Muhammad paired Muslims for fraternity pacts and he is said to have selected Ali as his brother, telling him, "You are my brother in this world and the Hereafter," according to the canonical Sunni collection *Sahih al-Tirmidhi*. Ali soon married Muhammad's daughter Fatima in 1 or 2 AH (623-5 CE), at the age of about twenty-two. Their union holds a special spiritual significance for Muslims, write Nasr and Afsaruddin, and Muhammad said he followed divine orders to marry Fatima to Ali, narrates the Sunni al-Suyuti (d. 1505), among others. The Sunni Ibn Sa'd (d. 845) and some others write that Muhammad had earlier turned down the marriage proposals by Abu Bakr and Umar.

### Event of the *mubahala*

After an inconclusive debate in 10/631-2, Muhammad and the Najranite Christians decided to engage in *mubuhala*, where both parties would pray to invoke God's curse upon the liar. Verse 3:61 of the Quran is associated with this incident. Madelung argues based on this verse that Muhammad participated in this event alongside Ali, Fatima, and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn. This is also the Shia view. In contrast, most Sunni accounts by al-Tabari do not name the participants of the event, while some other Sunni historians agree with the Shia view. During the event, Muhammad gathered Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn under his cloak and addressed them as his *ahl al-bayt*, according to some Shia and Sunni sources, including the canonical Sunni *Sahih Muslim* and *Sahih al-Tirmidhi*. Madelung suggests that their inclusion by Muhammad in this significant ritual must have raised the religious rank of his family. A similar view is voiced by Lalani.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Panjtan.jpg|thumb|Names of the Ahl al-Kisa and two related prophetic hadiths, all printed on a cloth, probably originated in Iran or Central Asia

### Missions

Ali acted as Muhammad's secretary and deputy in Medina. He was also one of the scribes tasked by Muhammad with committing the Quran to writing. In 628, Ali wrote down the terms of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the peace treaty between Muhammad and the Quraysh. In 630, Muhammad sent Abu Bakr to read the *sura* at-Tawbah for pilgrims in Mecca but then dispatched Ali to take over this responsibility, later explaining that he received a divine command to this effect, as related by the canonical Sunni collection *Sunan al-Nasa'i*. At the request of Muhammad, Ali helped ensure that the Conquest of Mecca in 630 was bloodless and later removed the idols from Ka'ba. In 631, Ali was sent to Yemen to spread the teachings of Islam, as a consequence of which the Hamdanids peacefully converted. Ali was also tasked with resolving the dispute with the Banu Jadhima, some of whom had been killed by Khalid ibn al-Walid (d. 642) after being promised safety by him.