The Lion Of God

Ali ibn Abu Talib, was the cousin, son-in-law and one of the Ahl al-Bayt, people of the house, of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, reigning over the Rashidun empire from 656 to 661. Sunni Muslims consider Ali as the fourth and final Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliph). Shia Muslims regard Ali as the first infallible Imam and consider him and his descendants as the rightful successors to Muhammad. This disagreement split the Muslim community into the Sunni and Shi'a branches.

Ali was the only person born in the Kaaba sanctuary in Mecca. His father was Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib and his mother was Fatima bint Asad^[1] but he was raised in the household of Muhammad, who himself was raised by Abu Talib. When Muhammad reported receiving a divine revelation, Ali was among the first to accept his message, dedicating his life to the cause of Islam. Ali migrated to Medina shortly after Muhammad. There Muhammad told Ali that he had been ordered by God to give his daughter, Fatimah, to Ali in marriage.^[1] For the ten years that Muhammad led the community in Medina, Ali was extremely active in his service, leading parties of warriors on battles, and carrying messages and orders. Ali took part in almost all the battles fought for Islam. Muslims greatly respect Ali for his knowledge, belief, honesty, unbending devotion to Islam, deep loyalty to Muhammad, equal treatment of all Muslims and generosity in forgiving his defeated enemies. Ali retains his stature as an authority on Qur'anic exegesis, Islamic jurisprudence and religious thought. Ali holds a high position in almost all Sufi orders which trace their lineage through him to Muhammad. Ali's influence has thus continued throughout Islamic history.

Ali was the only person born inside the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, where he stayed with his mother for three days. Some sources contend that he was born beside the Kaaba. According to the tradition, Muhammad was the first person whom Ali saw as he took the newborn in his hands. Muhammad named him Ali, meaning "the exalted one". When Ali was five or six years old, a famine occurred in and around Mecca, affecting the economic conditions of Ali's father, who had a big family to support. Muhammad was then requested to become Ali's guardian. The second period of Ali's life begins in 610 when he converted to Islam and ends with the Hijra of Muhammad to Medina in 622. When Muhammad reported that he had received a divine revelation, Ali, then only about ten years old, believed him and professed to Islam. According to Ibn Ishaq, Ali was the first male to enter Islam. Tabari adds other traditions making the similar claim of being the first Muslim in relation to Zayd or Abu Bakr.

Muhammad designated Ali as one of the scribes who would write down the text of the Qur'an, which had been revealed to Muhammad during the previous two decades. As Islam began to spread throughout Arabia, Ali helped establish the new Islamic order. He was instructed to write down the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the peace treaty between Muhammad and the Quraysh in 628. Ali was so reliable and trustworthy that Muhammad asked him to carry the messages and declare the orders. In 630, Ali recited to a large gathering of pilgrims in Mecca a portion of the Qur'an that declared Muhammad and the Islamic community were no longer bound by agreements made earlier with Arab polytheists. During the Conquest of Mecca in 630, Muhammad asked Ali to guarantee that the conquest would be bloodless. He ordered Ali to break all the idols worshipped by the Banu Aus, Banu Khazraj, Tayy, and those in the Kaaba to purify it after its defilement by the polytheism of the pre-Islamic era. Ali was sent to Yemen one year later to spread the teachings of Islam. Ali also was charged with settling several disputes and putting down the uprisings of various tribes.

After Muhammad died his daughter, Fatimah, asked Abu Bakr to turn over their property, the lands of Fadak and Khaybar but he refused and told her that prophets didn't have any legacy and Fadak belonged to the Muslim community. Abu Bakr said to her, "Allah's Apostle said, we do not have heirs, whatever we leave is Sadaqa." Ali together with Umm Ayman testified to the fact that Muhammad granted it to Fatimah Zahra, when Abu Bakr requested Fatima to summon witnesses for her claim. Fatimah became angry and stopped speaking to Abu Bakr, and continued assuming that attitude until she died.

Ali did not give his oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr until some time after the death of his wife, Fatimah. Ali participated in the funeral of Abu Bakr but did not participate in the Ridda Wars.

He pledged allegiance to the second caliph Umar ibn Khattab and helped him as a trusted advisor. Caliph Umar particularly relied upon Ali as the Chief Judge of Medina. He also advised Umar to set Hijra as the beginning of the Islamic calendar‎. Umar used Ali's suggestions in political issues as well as religious ones.

On the 19th of Ramadan, while Ali was praying in the mosque of Kufa, a KharijiteAbd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam assassinated him with a strike of his poison-coated sword. Ali, wounded by the poisonous sword, lived for two days and died in Kufa on the 21st of Ramadan in 661 CE.^[95]

Ali ordered his sons not to attack the Kharijites, since the assassination was performed by a single member of the group. They had to take vengeance against only Ibn Muljam.^[96] Thus, Hasan fulfilled Qisas and killed ibn Muljam.

After Ali's death, Kufi Muslims pledged allegiance to his eldest son Hasan without dispute, as Ali on many occasions had declared that just Ahl al-Bayt of Muhammad were entitled to rule the Muslim community.^[102] At this time, Muawiyah held both Levant and Egypt and, as commander of the largest force in the Muslim Empire, had declared himself caliph and marched his army into Iraq, the seat of Hasan's caliphate. War ensued during which Muawiyah gradually subverted the generals and commanders of Hasan's army with large sums of money and deceiving promises until the army rebelled against him. Finally, Hasan was forced to make peace and to yield the caliphate to Muawiyah. In this way Muawiyah captured the Islamic caliphate and in every way possible placed the severest pressure upon Ali's family and his Shi'a.

Ali is respected not only as a warrior and leader, but as a writer and religious authority. Numerous range of disciplines from theology and exegesis to calligraphy and numerology, from law and mysticism to Arabic grammar and Rhetoric regarded as having been first adumbrated by Ali.

Shia and Sufis believe that Muhammad told about him "I'm the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate..." Muslims regard Ali as a major authority on Islam.