Ali ibn Abi Talib

In short

In Arabic

علي بن أبي طالب

Name

Ali ibn Abi Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib

Kunyah

Abu al-Hasan; the Prophet ﷺ also called him Abu Turab

Tribe

Banu Hashim, of Quraysh: the Prophet's ﷺ first cousin

Mother

Fatimah bint Asad

Born

In Makkah, about ten years before the prophethood (about 600 CE)

Accepted Islam

As a boy of about ten, at the start of the call

Wife

Fatimah, the Prophet's ﷺ daughter; their sons were al-Hasan and al-Husayn

Caliph

35 to 40 AH (656 to 661 CE)

Died

Martyred in Kufa, Ramadan 40 AH (January 661 CE)

In short: when Makkah suffered a famine, the Prophet ﷺ took his young cousin Ali into his own home. Ali grew up there and accepted Islam as a boy. On the night of the Hijrah he slept in the Prophet's ﷺ bed to deceive the men waiting outside. In Madinah he married Fatimah, fought at Badr and nearly every battle, and was given the banner at Khaybar. He was one of the most learned of the Companions. He became caliph after Uthman's martyrdom, in a time of great trials, and was killed by a Kharijite in Kufa in 40 AH.¹

How he accepted Islam

Ibn Ishaq reports that Ali was the first male to believe in the Prophet ﷺ and pray with him, when he was about ten years old and living in his house.¹ Zayd ibn Arqam said the first to accept Islam was Ali; Ibrahim al-Nakhai said it was Abu Bakr.² Scholars reconcile the reports: Khadijah was the first of all, Abu Bakr the first free adult man, Ali the first child, and Zayd ibn Harithah the first freed slave.

Key events

The night of the Hijrah

When Quraysh gathered at the Prophet's ﷺ door to kill him, the Prophet ﷺ had Ali sleep in his bed, wrapped in his green cloak, and stay behind to return the things people had left with the Prophet ﷺ for safekeeping. Then Ali followed him to Madinah.¹

Badr, the Trench and Khaybar

At Badr he was one of the three Muslims who went out to single combat, and he said that the verse "These are two adversaries" (22:19) was revealed about them.³ At the Trench he killed Amr ibn Abd Wudd.¹ At Khaybar the Prophet ﷺ said: "Tomorrow I will give the banner to a man through whom Allah will give victory, who loves Allah and His Messenger, and Allah and His Messenger love him." The next morning he called Ali, whose eyes were sore, blew into them, and gave him the banner.⁴ See the Battle of the Trench.

Fatimah and Abu Turab

He married Fatimah in Madinah, and their children were al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum. Once, after a disagreement with Fatimah, he went to sleep in the mosque and the dust covered his side. The Prophet ﷺ came, wiped the dust from him and said, "Get up, Abu Turab", father of dust, and it became Ali's favourite name.⁵ The Prophet ﷺ gathered Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan and al-Husayn under his cloak and recited 33:33.⁶

The caliphate

After the martyrdom of Uthman in 35 AH the people of Madinah pledged allegiance to Ali. His five years as caliph were taken up with the trials that followed Uthman's killing: the Battle of the Camel (36 AH), Siffin (37 AH) and the war with the Kharijites at Nahrawan (38 AH). He moved his capital to Kufa. Ahl al-Sunnah hold that he was the rightful caliph of his time, and that the Companions who differed with him did so by ijtihad, and are spoken of only with respect.⁷

His virtues in the hadith

• Ali said: "By the One who split the seed and created the soul, the Unlettered Prophet ﷺ promised me that none would love me but a believer, and none would hate me but a hypocrite".⁸
• He is one of the ten promised Paradise by name.⁹
• He was one of the scribes of the revelation, and wrote the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah.¹⁰

His martyrdom

Three Kharijites plotted to kill Ali, Muawiyah and Amr ibn al-As on the same night. Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam struck Ali with a poisoned sword as he went out to the Fajr prayer in Kufa, on 17 Ramadan 40 AH (some reports say the 19th). He died two days later. He told his family to treat his killer well while he lived, and to take only one life for his if he died.⁷ His age is given as 63 by many historians, with other reports from 58 to 65. His sons buried him in Kufa, and the exact place is not known for certain.

Lessons from his life

• Faith can begin in childhood: Ali grew up in the home of revelation.
• Courage with humility: the hero of Khaybar loved the name "father of dust".
• Knowledge: he was among the most learned Companions in the Quran and in judgement.
• Justice even towards an enemy, to his last breath.

In the seerah

Ali's life is woven into the life of the Prophet ﷺ. For the whole story in order, see the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ life timeline, and for the battles and turning points, the seerah events. More Companions are on the Sahaba page, and the meaning of the word is on Sahaba meaning.

Questions

Sources

1. Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah, from Ibn Ishaq.
2. Jami at-Tirmidhi 3735; isnad graded sahih.
3. Sahih al-Bukhari 3965 and 3966.
4. Sahih al-Bukhari 3701 and 2942; Sahih Muslim 2406, from Sahl ibn Sad.
5. Sahih al-Bukhari 441 and 6280, from Sahl ibn Sad.
6. Sahih Muslim 2424, from Aishah.
7. Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, the caliphate and killing of Ali.
8. Sahih Muslim 78, from Zirr ibn Hubaysh.
9. Jami at-Tirmidhi 3747, graded sahih.
10. Sahih al-Bukhari 2699, from al-Bara.
11. Sahih Muslim 2404.
12. Quran: Arabic from the Tanzil Uthmani text, transliteration from Tanzil, English by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic is the standard wording of the collection named; gradings are given for every hadith outside al-Bukhari and Muslim.