Imam Ali Amir al-Mu’mineen (a.s.)
Hazrat Ali (A.S.) was born in the Holy Kaaba at Mecca on Friday, the 13th day of Rajab, 600 A.D. Both the Holy Prophet and Hazrat Ali belonged to the same clan. They were Hashimites, the clan of Bani Hashim. Muhammad's father was Abdulla, and that of Hazrat Ali, Abu Talib. They were brothers and their father was Abdul Muttalib. Thus the Holy Prophet and Hazrat Ali were cousins. Hazrat Ali had two brothers, Ja'far and Aquil.
Hazrat Ali's mother Fatima was the daughter of Asad, a famous magnate of the Quraish clan. She was also the aunt of the Holy Prophet, being the wife of Abu Tabb, the Prophet's paternal uncle. When she was pregnant, she promised Muhammad to make over to him whatever child was born to her, be it male or female. Muhammad, aware of the issue that would be brought forth, gladly.
Ali's holy personality began its wonderful manifestation even during the period of his mother's pregnancy. At that time, Muhammad had not yet announced his prophethood, and yet when he passed before Fatima, who being his aunt was senior to him, she used to stand up in reverence and respect for him, and somehow something within her never allowed her to turn her face away from Muhammad as long as he was around.
When people asked her about this peculiar behaviour of hers, she would say that she could not help it, that some irresistible urge from within made her do so.
This statement was disbelieved by those who wished to test her. So one day they made her sit and they asked two strong men to hold her down when Muhammad passed by. Then they asked Muhammad if he would walk in front of her, to which he gladly agreed. As he came in front of her, Fatima began to rise and she stood erect throwing both men aside. Muhammad who alone was aware of this mystery, used to smile.
He was keenly awaiting the birth of his cousin Ali.
During her pregnancy whenever Fatima was alone, she heard from within her a mysterious whisper which was to the glorification of God.
To understand the significance and importance of his place of birth, it is essential to know a little of the history of the Kaaba.
The first House of God was rebuilt and renovated at the command of Allah by the Prophet Abraham assisted by his worthy successor, his son Ismail, under the supervision and guidance of the Angel Gabriel. The verses of the Koran say
"And remember when Abraham raised the foundation of the House with Ismail, (Praying) Our Lord! accept (this service) from us; verily Thou and Thou (alone) art the All-hearing and All-knowing."
Chap. 2 Verse 127.
"And remember when we made the House a resort for mankind and a sanctuary (saying), Take ye the station of Abraham a place of prayer (For you); and covenanted with Abraham and Ismail (saying) purify ye two my House for those who make the circuit, and for those who prostrate (adoring)".
Chap. 2-Verse 125.
This verse clearly depicts the purpose of the Kaaba, namely that it was to be a place of worship and that it was pure and sacred.
It was to this sacred place, the Holy Kaaba, that Providence led the mother of Hazrat Ali. She felt weighed down by intense pain when Ali was due to be born. She knelt to pray. When she raised her head from her supplication, the wall of the House split as if by a miracle, to admit her within, and a portion of the wall returned to its normal position. The Kaaba was sealed, with Fatima within.
This news spread fast all over Mecca. The keys of the shrine were brought to unlock the door but all efforts ended in failure.
On the third day of this happening, with awe the wonderstruck crowds surrounding the Kaaba witnessed the lock falling of its own accord, anti to their surprise Fatima emerged radiant from the sacred premises, cheerfully holding her new-born babe in her arms. Muhammad was waiting to receive her and her new-born child, and the first face that little Ali saw in this world was the smiling face of the Apostle of God, Muhammad, whom he greeted thus:
"Assalaamo alaika ya Rasoolallah" (Peace be upon thee 0 Prophet of Allah). Thus it is an undisputed fact that Ali was born a Muslim, and his first words testified to the Prophethood of Muhammad. Muhammad lovingly took him into his arms. Ali's first bath after his birth was given by Muhammad with a prediction that this babe would give him his last bath. This Prophecy was fulfilled on the death of the Holy Prophet. The child accepted no other food other than the moisture of Muhammad's tongue, which he sucked for several days after his birth. Muhammad fondled him in his lap in his infancy, and chewed his food and fed Ali on it; he often made him sleep by his side, and Ali enjoyed the warmth of Muhammad's body and inhaled the holy fragrance of his breath.
The superstitious Arabs of those times, held that every person as he came into the world was touched b y the devil, and that was why new-born babies cried at birth. Since Ali was born in the sanctuary of God, to which the devil had no access, he did not cry at birth but was found smiling. Thus God had interposed a veil between the evil spirits and the child who was to grow up to exalt His Holy Name. Ali has been described as having been found like a priceless pearl in the shell.. of the Kaaba, or a sword in the sheath of Allah's House, or as a lamp found in Allah's abode shedding light all around.
The sanctified birth of Ali, as that of Prophet Muhammad, was foretold in the scriptures, when God said to Abraham, who asked for a blessing on Ishmael; "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him ex-ceedingly, twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 17 : 20).
The felicitous Prophecy in Genesis 17:20 about the advent of a prophet is said to point to the appearance of Muhammad and Ali. While the `Twelve Princes' of the Mosaic Scriptures are held to be none other than the twelve Holy Imams.
Hazrat Ali's birth inside the Kaaba is unique. This is the only known occasion on which a child was born within the precincts of the holy place ever since its foundation thousands of years ago.
When Ali was about five years of age, Muhammad took him away from his uncle Abu Talib to bring him up as his own child. Thus from his earliest days, Ali came directly under the tutelage of the Apostle of God, to share his high ethics and morals. Ali was ever ready to run the risk of his own life for Muhammad at times of danger and he was affectionately attached to him with unswerving faithfulness. The cousins were so fond of each other that they lived together till death parted them.
As Hazrat Ali says : "The Holy Prophet brought me up in his own arms and fed me with his own morsel. I follower', him wherever he went, like a baby camel which follows its mother. Each day an aspect of his character would beam out of his noble soul and I would accept it and follow it as a command."
Ten years in the company of Muhammad had kept him so close and inseparable that he was one with him in character, knowledge, self-sacrifice, forbearance, braverv, kindness, generosity, oratory and eloquence. From his very infancy, he prostrated himself before God along with the Holy Prophet, as he himself said, "I was the first to pray to God along with the Holy Prophet."
According to Ibne-e-Maja page 12, Raizunnazarah Vol. lI page 158, Usdul Ghulia Vol. IV page 1, and Izalathul Khofa page 252, Ali used to say : " I have prayed to God along with the Holy Prophet seven years before any other person did."
The First Believers : Ibn Abbas, Anas, Zaid bin Aqram, Salman Farsi, and others have said, "Indeed it was Ali who was the first to declare his Islam, and some say that there is a consensus for this!" Major Jarret's translation of Suyuti's History of the Caliphs page 171.
The illustrious Ali was thus the first to readily embrace Islam and testified to Muhammad being the Apostle of God.
Muhammad used to say the three men viz., Ezekiel, Habib Najjar and Ali, who came forward first to bear testimony to the faith of their Prophets, Moses, Jesus, and himself respectively, were acknowledged as iSiddiq. Ali repudiated the claim of any other to this epithetZ.
Often did the Holy Prophet go into the depths of the solitary desert around Mecca with his wife Khadija and his young cousin and disciple, Ali, so that they might together offer their thanks to their God for His manifold blessings.
Once they were surprised in this attitude of prayer by Abu Talib, the father of Ali, who said unto Muhammad "O son of my brother, what is this religion that thou art following?
"It is the religion of God, of His angels, of His prophets, and of our ancestor Abraham", answered the Prophet. "God has sent me to His servants to direct them towards the truth".
Then turning to Ali, his son, the venerable patriarch Abu Talib enquired what his religion was. 110 Father", answered Ali, I 'believe in God and His Prophet and go with him."
"Well my son," said Abu Talib, "He will not call thee to aught save what is good, wherefore thou art free to cleave unto him".
The first occasion where the Holy Prophet nominated Hazrat Ali as his vicegerent was the meeting of Dawat-eAsheera.
(This part gives) an account of the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, the first of the Imams of the believers, of the rulers (wulat) of the Muslims and of God's (appointed) successors in religion after the Apostle of God, the truthful one and the trusted one, Muhammad b. Abd Allah, the seal of the Prophets, blessings on him and his pure family. (He was) the brother of the Apostle of God and his paternal cousin, and his helper (wazir) in his affair, his son-in- law (being married) to his daughter, Fatima the chaste, mistress of the women of the universe. (The full name of) the Commander of the faithful is Ali b. Abi Talib b. Abd al Muttalib b. Hashim b. Abd Manaf. (He was) the Lord of the testamentary trustees of authority (wasiyyin), the best of blessing and peace be upon him. His kunya was Abu al-Hasan.
He was born in the Sacred House (i.e. the Kaba) in Mecca on Friday, the thirteenth day of the month of Rajab, thirty years after the Year of the Elephant (c.570). Nobody before or after him has ever been born in the House of God, the Most High. (It was a mark) of him being honoured by God, the Most High, may His name be exalted, and of his position being dignified in its greatness.
His mother was Fatima, daughter of Asad b. Hashim b. Abd Manaf, may God be pleased with her. She was like a mother to the Apostle of God, may God bless him and his family, and he (the Apostle) was brought up under her care.
He was grateful for her kindness and she was among the first to believe in him and she emigrated with him in the group of the emigrants. When she died, the Prophet shrouded her with his own shirt in order to protect her from the insects of the earth, and he laid her to rest in her grave in order that, through that, she might be protected from (the crushing pressure of) the narrow space within the grave. He dictated to her last words (which were) the statement of the authority (wilaya) of her son, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, so that at the examination after burial, she would be able to reply with those words. He singled her out with this great favour because of her position with God, may He be magnified and exalted, and with him, peace be upon him. The report of that is well known.
The Commander of the faithful, Ali b. Abi Talib, peace be on him, and his brothers were among the leading members of the second generation of descendants of Hashim. In this way he gained two marks of nobility, through his growing up under the care and education of the Apostle of God, may God bless him and his family. He was the first of the family of the House and of the Companions to believe in God and His Apostle. He was the first male whom the Prophet, may God bless him and his family, summoned to Islam and who answered. He never ceased to support the religion and to strive against the polytheists. He constantly defended the faith and fought against those who supported deviation (from the truth) and despotism. He spread the teachings of the sunna (the practice of thc Prophet) and the Qur'an, judged with justice and enjoined (people) to do good.
He was with the Apostle of God, may God bless him and his family, twenty-three years after the (coming) of the (prophetic) mission. Of these, thirteen years were in Mecca before the migration when he shared with him all the persecutions and bore most of his hardships. Then there were ten years in Medina after thc emigration when he defended him against the polytheists and strove with him against the unbelievers. He protected him with his own life from the enemies of religion until the time God, the Exalted, took (the Prophet) to His heaven, raised him to the highest place in heaven and bestowed His blessings and peace on him and his family. On that day the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, was thirty-three years of age.
On the day of the death of the Prophet, may God bless him and his family, the community differed over his Imamate. His Shia who were all the Banu Hashim, Salman, Ammar, Abu Dharr, al-Miqdad, Khuzayma b. Thabit - the man who is known as the possessor of two testimonies - Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Jabir b. Abd Allah al-Ansari Abu Said al-Khudri and people like them among the important emigrants and Ansar, (all these) maintained that he was the successor (khalifa) after the Apostle of God, may God bless him and his family, and the Imam. (They did this) because of his outstanding merit (fadl) above all mankind, through the fact that there were gathered in him the qualities of outstanding merit, judgement and perfection, such as him being the first of the community to enter the faith, his superiority over them in knowledge of the laws, his precedence over them in fighting (jihad) and the distinction which set him apart from them in the extent of his piety, asceticism and righteousness.
Furthermore he had been specially singled out by the Prophet from among (all) his relations because of (the qualities) which no other relation, apart from him, shared with the Prophet and because of the nomination (nass) of his authority (wilaya) by God, may God be magnified and exalted, in the Qur'an where He, may His name be exalted, says:
Your authority (wali) is God and His Apostle and those believers who perfrom the prayer and pay alms (zakat) while they are bowing (in prayer). [ V 55 ]
It is known that no one except him paid alms while bowing (in prayer).
It has been established in language that wali means "the most appropriate for authority" (awla), without there being any opposition (to this definition). If the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, was, by the stipulation of the Qur'an, more appropriate for authority among the people than themselves because of his being their wali according to the textual nomination (nass) in the Clear Explanation (i.e. the Qur'an, tibyan), it was obviously necessary for all of them to obey him, just as obedience to God, the Most High, and obedience to His Apostle, peace be on him and his family, was required because of the information about their authority (wilaya) over creatures which is given in this verse with clear proof.
(Another reason for their support for the Commander of the faithful was) because of what the Prophet, may God bless him and his family, said on the day (of the assembly) at his house. He had especially gathered the Banu Abd al-Muttalib there in order to make the (following) solemn pledge:
Whoever helps me in this matter will be my brother, my testamentary trustee (wasi) my helper (wazir), my heir and my successor after me.
Then the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, stood up before him among all the gathering of them, and on that day he was the youngest of them, and he said:
O Apostle of God, I will help you.
Then the Prophet, may God bless him and his family, said:
Sit down, you are my brother, my trustee, my helper, my inheritor and successor after me.
This is a clear statement about the succession (after the Prophet).
In addition, there is also what (the Prophet), peace be on him and his family, said on the day of Ghadir Khumm. The community had gathered to listen to the sermon (in which he asked):
Am I not more appropriate for authority (awla) over you than yourselves?
Yes, they answered.
Then he spoke to them in an ordered manner without any interruption in his speech:
Whomsoever I am the authority over (mawla), Ali is also the authority over.
Thus he (the Prophet) required for him (Ali), through laying down obedience to him and his authority (over them), the same authority as he had over them, and which he made them acknowledge and which they did not deny. This is clear (evidence) of the nomination (nass) of him for the Imamate and for succession to his position.
Furthermore there is (the Prophet's), peace be on him and his family, statement to him at the time of setting out to Tabuk:
You are in the same position with respect to me as Aaron (Harun) was to Moses (Musa) except that there is no prophet after me.
Thus he required him (to have) the office of helping (i.e. administering) and to be characterised by love and outstanding merit over everyone. (He also required) his deputising for him both during his life and after his death. The Qur'an gives evidence for all that coming to Aaron (Harun) from Moses, peace be on them, when God, may He be magnified and exalted, said in giving a report of what Moses, peace be on him, said:
Make Aaron, my brotherly a helper for me from my family. Give me support through him and make him participate in my affair so that we may glorify You much and we may remember You frequently in that You have been a watcher over us. [ XX 29-35]
God, the Most Exalted said:
Your request is granted Moses. [ XX 36 ]
This (verse) confirmed that Aaron had a share with Moses in prophecy, and in helping in delivering the message and his support was strengthened through him by his aid. (Moses) also told him of deputising for him (when he said):
Deputise for me among my people. Act for (their) benefit and do not follow the path of the corrupters. [ VII 142 ]
This confirms his succession by the precise statement of revelation. Therefore when the Apostle of God, may God bless him and his family, gave all the ranks which Aaron had from Moscs to the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, in the same extent, except for prophecy, (all such things) were required of him as helping the Apostle, giving him support, outstanding merit and love, because these qualities were definitely required by that. Then by the clear statement there is his deputising for him during his life and "after the prophethood" which (gives evidence of his succession) by specification of the exception, (of Prophethood) when he excludes him from it by mentioning "after".
The Imamate of the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, was for thirty years after the Prophet, may God bless him and his family. For twenty-four years and six months of these he was prevented from administering the laws (of the office) (and had to) exercise precautionary dissimulation (taqiyya) and withdrawal. For five years and six months of these, he was troubled by wars against the hypocrites, those who broke their pledges, the unjust and those who deviated (from the religion) and he was plagued by the seditions of those who had gone astray. In the same way the Apostle of God, may God bless him and his family, had been prevented from (administering) the laws (of his office) through fear and through being spied upon, and through being a fugitive and through being exiled, so that he had no power to fight the unbelievers and no means of defending the believers. Then he emigrated and for ten years after the emigration he remained making war on the unbelievers and being troubled by the hypocrites until the time that God, may His name be exalted, took him unto Himself and made him dwell in the gardens of Paradise.
The death of the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him occurred before dawn of Friday, the twenty-first of the month of Ramadan, in the year 40 A.H. He was a victim of the sword. Ibn Muljam al-Muradi, may God curse him, killed him at the mosque of Kufa, which he had come out to in order to wake the people for the dawn prayer on the night of the nineteenth of the month of Ramadan. He had been lying in wait for him from the beginning of the night. When he (the Commander of the faithful) passed by him while the latter was hiding his design by feigning sleep amid a group of people who were asleep, he (Ibn Muljam) sprang out and struck him on the top of his head with his sword which was poisoned. He lingered through the day of the nineteenth and the night and day of the twentieth and the first third of the night of the twenty-first. Then he, peace be on him, died a martyr and met his Lord, Most High, as one who has been wronged. He, peace be on him, knew of that before its time and he told the people of it before its time. His two sons, al- Hasan and al-Husayn, peace be on them, performed (the tasks) of washing him and shrouding him according to his bequest. Then they carried him to al-Ghari at Najaf in Kufa and they buried him there. They removed the traces of the place of his burial according to his bequest which was made about that to hath of them by him, because of what he, peace be on him, knew about the regime of the Umayyads (which would come) after him, and their hostile attitude towards him. (For he knew) the evil action and abuse to which they would be led by their wicked intentions if they had been able to know that (place). His grave, peace be on him, remained hidden until al-Sadiq Jafar b. Muhammad, peace be on them, pointed it out during the Abbasid regime. For he visited it when he came to visit Abu Ja'far (al-Mansur) while the latter was in al-Hira. Then the Shi'a knew of it and they began from that time to make visitation to his (grave), peace be on him and on his pure offspring.
On the day of his death he was 63 years of age.
Ref: Kitab al Irshad - Pages 1 - 6 The Book Of Guidance By Shaykh al Mufid Translated by I.K.A Howard
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