SMHMShaheed Mudassir Hussain Mehdi
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علي

Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib

peace be upon him

أمير المؤمنينAmir al-Mu'mininthe Commander of the Faithful, a title the Shia hold to be his alone
المرتضىal-Murtadathe chosen one, with whom God is pleased
حيدرHaydarthe lion
أسد اللهAsad Allahthe lion of God
باب مدينة العلمBab Madinat al-Ilmthe gate of the city of knowledge
الوصيal-Wasithe executor of the Prophet's will
الوليal-Walithe guardian
أخو الرسولAkh al-Rasulthe brother of the Messenger
نفس الرسولNafs al-Rasulthe soul of the Messenger
زوج البتولZawj al-Batulthe husband of al-Batul, Sayyida Fatima
أبو الحسنAbu l-Hasanthe father of al-Hasan, his kunya
أبو ترابAbu Turabthe father of dust, one of his kunyas

His life

  1. The son of Abu Talib, son of Abd al-Muttalib, son of Hashim, and of Fatima bint Asad (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid); the first child of Banu Hashim on both his father's and his mother's side (Da'irat al-Ma'arif-i Farsi). The cousin and son-in-law of the Messenger of God, the husband of Sayyida Fatima, the father of Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husayn, and the first Imam; every later Imam is his descendant.
  2. Born inside the Ka'ba in Mecca on Friday, 13 Rajab, in the thirtieth year after the Year of the Elephant (600 CE) (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid). His birth in the Ka'ba is transmitted by Shia scholars such as al-Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Sayyid al-Radi, al-Shaykh al-Mufid and Ibn Shahrashub, and by Sunni scholars such as al-Hakim al-Nishaburi, al-Ganji al-Shafi'i and al-Mas'udi (al-Ghadir of al-Amini). The reports say the wall of the Ka'ba opened for his mother, and she came out on the fourth day holding her son.
  3. When famine struck Mecca he was six, and the Prophet took him into his own house (al-Sira al-Nabawiyya of Ibn Hisham). Imam Ali recalled: He would bring me to his chest and I would sleep in his bed, so close that I could smell his scent; he would chew food and feed me; he found no lie in my speech and no fault in my actions (Nahj al-Balagha, sermon 192).
  4. He was the first man to believe in the Prophet, at the age of ten, and prayed with him in the hills around Mecca (al-Ghadir of al-Amini; Tarikh al-Tabari). Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrates that the Prophet told Fatima he was marrying her to the one of his community who accepted Islam before anyone else, and who was the most learned and the most patient of them (Fada'il Amir al-Mu'minin of Ahmad ibn Hanbal).
  5. When the Prophet gathered the sons of Abd al-Muttalib and asked who would help him and be his brother, executor and successor, only Ali, the youngest of them, answered; the Prophet said: This is my brother and my successor among you; listen to him and obey him (Tarikh al-Tabari).
  6. On the night of the Hijra he slept in the Prophet's bed while the assassins of Quraysh surrounded the house, so that the Prophet could leave unseen (al-Kamil of Ibn al-Athir; Bihar al-Anwar). The exegetes say that 2:207, Among the people is he who sells his soul seeking the pleasure of God, was revealed about this (al-Tafsir al-Kabir of al-Fakhr al-Razi; al-Mizan of al-Tabataba'i). He then paid the Prophet's debts and returned the trusts left with him, and migrated with Fatima bint Asad and Sayyida Fatima.
  7. When the Prophet joined the Emigrants and the Helpers in brotherhood, he took Ali as his own brother and told him: You are my brother in this world and the hereafter (A'yan al-Shi'a of al-Amin).
  8. After Badr, at twenty-five, he married Sayyida Fatima (Tarikh al-Tabari; Maqatil al-Talibiyyin), after the Prophet had turned away other suitors saying he awaited revelation about her (Bihar al-Anwar; al-Mu'jam al-Kabir of al-Tabarani). Reports differ on the date: 1 Dhu l-Hijja 2 AH (Masar al-Shi'a of al-Mufid), or Shawwal, or 21 Muharram. Their children were al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum, and al-Muhsin, lost before his birth (al-Irshad; Manaqib Al Abi Talib of Ibn Shahrashub).
  9. At Badr in 2 AH he killed al-Walid ibn Utba in single combat and many of the chiefs of Quraysh (Tarikh al-Tabari); the count differs: twenty-two according to al-Waqidi, thirty-six according to al-Mufid. At Uhud he was among the few who did not flee and defended the Prophet; a voice was heard: There is no youth but Ali, and no sword but Dhu l-Fiqar, and the Prophet said: I am from Ali and he is from me (al-Kafi 8:110; al-Kamil of Ibn al-Athir).
  10. At the Battle of the Trench in 5 AH he answered the challenge of Amr ibn Abd Wadd, who had crossed the trench, and killed him (al-Sira al-Nabawiyya of Ibn Hisham; Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Maghazi of al-Waqidi). The Prophet said that Ali's strike that day was worth more than the worship of all jinn and men (Bihar al-Anwar 20:216).
  11. At Khaybar in 7 AH the Prophet gave him the flag, saying it would go to a man who loves God and His Prophet and whom God and His Prophet love (Sahih Muslim); he tore off the gate of the fortress and used it as a shield until the battle ended (al-Irshad 1:128).
  12. When the Prophet left him in charge of Medina during the march to Tabuk in 9 AH, the only campaign he missed, the Prophet told him: Are you not pleased to be to me as Aaron was to Moses, except that there is no prophet after me? (al-Irshad; Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim; Sunan al-Tirmidhi). This is the Hadith al-Manzila.
  13. The Prophet sent him to proclaim the opening verses of Surat al-Bara'a to the polytheists at Mina, under the command that only the Prophet or one who is from him could deliver it (al-Sira al-Nabawiyya of Ibn Hisham). At the Mubahala he is the our souls of 3:61, and he is among the People of the Cloak of the Verse of Purification, 33:33 (al-Khisal of al-Saduq; Majma al-Bayan of al-Tabrisi).
  14. He gave his ring to a beggar while bowing in prayer, and the Verse of Wilayah was revealed: Your guardian is only God, His Messenger, and the faithful who maintain the prayer and give the zakat while bowing down (5:55) (al-Tafsir al-Kabir of al-Fakhr al-Razi; al-Mizan; Shawahid al-Tanzil of al-Hakim al-Haskani). Al-Iji records in al-Mawaqif that the exegetes agree it was revealed about Ali.
  15. On 18 Dhu l-Hijja 10 AH, at Ghadir Khumm, after the verse O Messenger, communicate what has been sent down to you from your Lord (5:67) (Tafsir al-Qummi; Tafsir al-Ayyashi; al-Durr al-Manthur of al-Suyuti), the Prophet raised Ali's hand and said: For whomever I am the master, Ali is his master. O God, support whoever supports him and be the enemy of whoever is his enemy (Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal; Sunan al-Tirmidhi). Companions, Umar among them, congratulated him (Tarikh Baghdad). The Shia exegetes, and some Sunni ones, hold that Today I have perfected your religion for you (5:3) came down that day (Tafsir-i Nimuna).
  16. The Prophet said: Ali is with the truth, and the truth is with Ali (al-Kafi 1:294; Kifayat al-Athar); hadiths with this meaning are also recorded in Sunan al-Tirmidhi and Tarikh Madinat Dimashq. He ordered every door opening onto his mosque closed except Ali's, saying he had been commanded to do so (Kanz al-Ummal).
  17. While he and Banu Hashim were washing and burying the Prophet, a group at Saqifa Bani Sa'ida chose Abu Bakr (al-Irshad 1:186). He refused allegiance; Shia scholars hold that any later allegiance was under compulsion, and al-Shaykh al-Mufid holds that he never gave it (al-Fusul al-Mukhtara). The house was attacked to force him, and Sayyida Fatima was injured (al-Saqifa wa Fadak of al-Jawhari; al-Ihtijaj of al-Tabrisi). With her he went to the houses of the Helpers to remind them of his right (Sharh Nahj al-Balagha of Ibn Abi l-Hadid), and the Shiqshiqiyya sermon records his protest.
  18. In the twenty-five years that followed he compiled the Qur'an, finishing within six months of the Prophet's passing (al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim; al-Itqan of al-Suyuti; Bihar al-Anwar); proposed that the Hijra mark the start of the Islamic calendar (al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim; Tarikh al-Ya'qubi); and dug canals, planted palms, built mosques, freed a thousand slaves and endowed lands whose yearly income reached forty thousand dinars (Manaqib Al Abi Talib of Ibn Shahrashub).
  19. In the council of six he refused a condition to follow the conduct of the first two caliphs, saying he would act by the Book of God and the conduct of the Prophet to the extent of his knowledge and capacity (al-Kamil of Ibn al-Athir). In Dhu l-Hijja 35 AH (656 CE), at the insistence of the people, he accepted the caliphate, asking that the allegiance be given openly in the mosque (Tarikh al-Tabari); in his first sermon he ordered the return of wealth taken unjustly and an equal share of the treasury for all.
  20. He fought three wars forced upon him: al-Jamal near Basra in 36 AH against those who broke their allegiance, after which he pardoned the people of Basra and sent Aisha back to Medina with honour (Tarikh al-Tabari; Sharh Nahj al-Balagha of Ibn Abi l-Hadid); Siffin against Mu'awiya, where Qur'ans were raised on spears on the advice of Amr ibn al-As and his own men forced the arbitration on him (Waq'at Siffin of Nasr ibn Muzahim); and al-Nahrawan against the Kharijites, who began the fighting.
  21. At Siffin, when his men took back the Euphrates that Mu'awiya's army had closed to them, he refused to deny them water: Never will we do that. Allow them to use a part of the Euphrates (Sharh Nahj al-Balagha of Ibn Abi l-Hadid). Ibn Abi l-Hadid also records that Mu'awiya himself rebuked a man who called Ali miserly: if Ali had one storehouse of gold and one of straw, he would give away the gold first.
  22. He gave his own food to the needy, the orphan and the captive (76:8), and the verse of those who give their wealth by night and day, secretly and openly (2:274) is said to concern the four dirhams he gave in those four ways (Sharh Nahj al-Balagha of Ibn Abi l-Hadid). He ate barley bread from a sealed bag so that no one would soften it with oil, and wore the coarsest clothes, while the wealth of the state passed through his hands.
  23. At dawn on 19 Ramadan 40 AH, in the mosque of Kufa, the Kharijite Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam al-Muradi struck him with a poisoned sword; he was martyred on 21 Ramadan, at sixty-three (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid). He told his sons to strike his killer only once and not to mutilate him, and his last counsel was the Qur'an, the prayer, the orphans and the neighbours (Nahj al-Balagha).
  24. Al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya and Abdullah ibn Ja'far buried him secretly at al-Ghariyyayn, today's Najaf, so that the Umayyads and the Kharijites could not desecrate his grave; it stayed hidden until Imam al-Sadiq made it known (al-Irshad; Farhat al-Ghari of Ibn Tawus; al-Gharat of al-Thaqafi). His sermons, letters and sayings were gathered by al-Sharif al-Radi in Nahj al-Balagha.

Days

  1. 23 BH600 CEBorn inside the Ka'ba, 13 Rajab
  2. 13 BH610 CEThe first man to believe in the Prophet
  3. 1 AH622 CESleeps in the Prophet's bed; migrates to Medina
  4. 2 AH624 CEBadr; marries Sayyida Fatima
  5. 10 AH632 CEProclaimed at Ghadir Khumm, 18 Dhu l-Hijja
  6. 35 AH656 CEAccepts the caliphate at the people's insistence
  7. 40 AH661 CEStruck in the mosque of Kufa; martyred 21 Ramadan

Family

أبو طالبAbu Talib
عليImam Ali
فاطمةSayyida Fatima
الحسنImam al-Hasan
الحسينImam al-Husayn
زينبSayyida Zaynab
أم كلثومUmm Kulthum
المحسنal-Muhsin
العباسal-Abbas
محمد بن الحنفيةMuhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya

In the Qur’an

إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤۡتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَهُمۡ رَٰكِعُونَ ٥٥

Your guardian is only Allah, His Apostle, and the faithful who maintain the prayer and give the zakat while bowing down.

The verse of wilayah · Al-Maaida 5:55

۞ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلرَّسُولُ بَلِّغۡ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيۡكَ مِن رَّبِّكَۖ وَإِن لَّمۡ تَفۡعَلۡ فَمَا بَلَّغۡتَ رِسَالَتَهُۥۚ وَٱللَّهُ يَعۡصِمُكَ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهۡدِي ٱلۡقَوۡمَ ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ ٦٧

O Apostle! Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do not, you will not have communicated His message, and Allah shall protect you from the people. Indeed Allah does not guide the faithless lot.

The verse of proclamation, revealed before Ghadir · Al-Maaida 5:67

حُرِّمَتۡ عَلَيۡكُمُ ٱلۡمَيۡتَةُ وَٱلدَّمُ وَلَحۡمُ ٱلۡخِنزِيرِ وَمَآ أُهِلَّ لِغَيۡرِ ٱللَّهِ بِهِۦ وَٱلۡمُنۡخَنِقَةُ وَٱلۡمَوۡقُوذَةُ وَٱلۡمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَٱلنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَآ أَكَلَ ٱلسَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيۡتُمۡ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى ٱلنُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسۡتَقۡسِمُواْ بِٱلۡأَزۡلَٰمِۚ ذَٰلِكُمۡ فِسۡقٌۗ ٱلۡيَوۡمَ يَئِسَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ مِن دِينِكُمۡ فَلَا تَخۡشَوۡهُمۡ وَٱخۡشَوۡنِۚ ٱلۡيَوۡمَ أَكۡمَلۡتُ لَكُمۡ دِينَكُمۡ وَأَتۡمَمۡتُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ نِعۡمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡإِسۡلَٰمَ دِينٗاۚ فَمَنِ ٱضۡطُرَّ فِي مَخۡمَصَةٍ غَيۡرَ مُتَجَانِفٖ لِّإِثۡمٖ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٞ رَّحِيمٞ ٣

You are prohibited carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, and what has been offered to other than Allah, and the animal strangled or beaten to death, and that which dies by falling or is gored to death, and that which is mangled by a beast of prey—barring that which you may purify —and what is sacrificed on stone altars [to idols], and that you should divide by raffling with arrows. All that is transgression. Today the faithless have despaired of your religion. So do not fear them, but fear Me. Today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed My blessing upon you, and I have approved Islam as your religion. But should anyone be compelled by hunger, without inclining to sin, then Allah is indeed all-forgiving, all-merciful.

The verse of the perfection of religion · Al-Maaida 5:3

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَشۡرِي نَفۡسَهُ ٱبۡتِغَآءَ مَرۡضَاتِ ٱللَّهِۚ وَٱللَّهُ رَءُوفُۢ بِٱلۡعِبَادِ ٢٠٧

And among the people is he who sells his soul seeking the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is most kind to [His] servants.

The verse of the night Ali slept in the Prophet’s bed · Al-Baqara 2:207

فَمَنۡ حَآجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مَا جَآءَكَ مِنَ ٱلۡعِلۡمِ فَقُلۡ تَعَالَوۡاْ نَدۡعُ أَبۡنَآءَنَا وَأَبۡنَآءَكُمۡ وَنِسَآءَنَا وَنِسَآءَكُمۡ وَأَنفُسَنَا وَأَنفُسَكُمۡ ثُمَّ نَبۡتَهِلۡ فَنَجۡعَل لَّعۡنَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَى ٱلۡكَٰذِبِينَ ٦١

Should anyone argue with you concerning him, after the knowledge that has come to you, say, ‘Come! Let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, our souls and your souls, then let us pray earnestly, and call down Allah’s curse upon the liars.’

The verse of the Mubahala · Aal-i-Imraan 3:61

إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيُذۡهِبَ عَنكُمُ ٱلرِّجۡسَ أَهۡلَ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمۡ تَطۡهِيرٗا ٣٣

Indeed Allah desires to repel all impurity from you, O People of the Household, and purify you with a thorough purification.

The verse of purification · Al-Ahzaab 33:33

Peace be upon you, O trustee of God on His earth and His proof over His servants.

Peace be upon you, O Commander of the Faithful.

I bear witness that you strove in the way of God as He should be striven for, acted upon His Book and followed the ways of His Prophet.

Sources