ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib
علي بن أبي طالب
Abū al-Ḥasan
- Dates
- 600–661 CE / 23 BH–40 AH
- Relation to the Prophet ﷺ
- Cousin, son-in-law through Fāṭimah, raised in the Prophet's ﷺ household
The first young man to accept Islam — aged 9 or 10. The Prophet ﷺ said of him: "I am the city of knowledge, and ʿAlī is its gate."
Life
ʿAlī was raised by the Prophet ﷺ from childhood. On the night of the Hijrah, he slept in the Prophet's ﷺ bed to deceive the assassins gathered outside the door — an act of trust only given because it would never be betrayed. He married Fāṭimah, the Prophet's ﷺ daughter. Their sons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn are the Prophet's ﷺ direct lineal descendants.
As the fourth caliph, ʿAlī inherited a community torn by the grief and controversy following ʿUthmān's assassination. His caliphate was spent in civil war — at Jamal and Ṣiffīn — not of his making. He moved the capital to Kufa. He was assassinated while leading Fajr prayer in 661. His eloquence, preserved in Nahj al-Balāghah, remains one of the great works of Arabic prose.
Passages that mention ʿAlī
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"Muhammad Ibn Ali reported that after being struck Ali advised his sons and did not utter except there is no deity"
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"He would give her something al-asmai mentioned that Hassan Ibn Ali wrote to his brother Hussain Ibn Ali"
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"Sheikh Ali al-Haidari was brought before them, and it was confirmed that he had given his turban to the rebel and prayed for him, so they judged him to be executed."
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"Ali rose saying tighten your waist for death for death will indeed meet you do not be troubled by death if it lands in your valley"
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"After their deaths, Hajib Khawaja Amir Ali Tabrizi told Chief Judge Kamal al-Din that young one did not deserve to be killed."
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"This hadith was narrated by Ahmad from Muad and in the authentic collections from Sahal Ibn Saad that he said this to Ali"
Also from this generation
- Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq
أبو بكر الصديق
The first man outside the Prophet's ﷺ household to accept Islam. His friendship is the single most documented companionship in Islamic history.
- ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb
عمر بن الخطاب
The Prophet ﷺ made duʿāʾ that Islam be strengthened through ʿUmar. It was answered dramatically — his conversion changed the religion's trajectory in Makkah.
- ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān
عثمان بن عفان
The caliph who unified the Qurʾanic script. The standard muṣḥaf used today descends directly from his committee's edition.