The lesson
- God says of him: Indeed you possess a great character (68:4). He was quiet and spoke only when needed, smiled and never laughed aloud, and loved cleanliness and perfume. Imam Ali said that whoever met him for the first time was in awe of him, and whoever kept his company came to love him (al-Shifa of al-Qadi Iyad); he looked at all his companions equally, and when he shook hands he was never the first to withdraw his hand (Bihar al-Anwar).
- He forgave those who wronged him, even Wahshi, the killer of his uncle Hamza, and Abu Sufyan (Hayat al-Sahaba of al-Kandhlawi). Among his sayings: The best of you are the best of you to their wives (Nahj al-Fasaha).
- He lived simply: a leather bed stuffed with palm fibre, coarse clothes, barley bread and dates, and months in which no fire was lit in his house to cook. Once Fatima brought him barley bread, and he told her it was the first food her father had eaten in three days. When he passed away, his armour was pledged with a Jewish man for thirty measures of barley (Nahj al-Fasaha).
Questions
According to Imam Ali, what was the experience of meeting the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) for the first time?
Whom did the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) forgive, despite the wrong they had done to him?
What was pledged with a Jewish man when the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) passed away?
Questions are written by AI from the lesson’s facts, and each answer was checked against its fact.