"Certainly your Master (Wali) is Allah and His
Prophet and those who believe, those who establish prayer and give charity while they bow (in prayer)." (Holy Qur’an 5:55)
It is an undisputed fact that the above verse of the Holy Book was revealed when Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), while in prayer, in the state of "ruku`" (genuflection) with face bowed down towards the Kaba, gave his ring in
charity to a beggar who happened to raise his call for alms at the Masjid an-Nabi (Prophet’s Mosque) in Medina. (Recorded by such prominent Sunni scholars as Wahedi in Asbab-al-Nazul (Reasons of Revelation) and Abu Ishaq Tha`labi in Tafseer al-Kabir).
This verse is one of the many in the Holy Qur’an indicating in clear words the issueof divinely-designated successorship to the Seal of Prophets (SAWA).A successor who should be worthy of donning the mantle of Muhammad (SAWA) and who should stand firm and steadfast as the sacred Kaba itself, when schism and worldly greed sway the minds of Muslims.
"Most surely the first House appointed for mankind is the one at Bekka (Mecca), blessed and a guidance for nations." (Holy Qur’an3:96)
And most surely, the only person ever born in that blessed House, was chosen by the Almighty as a Guide and a Discerner between truth and falsehood for the Umma after the Prophet.
"O Prophet, surely, you are a warner and for every people there is a guide" (Holy Qur’an13:7)
Tha`labi writes in his Tafseer on the authority of Abdullah ibn Abbas that when this verse was revealed, the Prophet said that through Ali (AS), Muslims will be guided.
To further emphasize the pivotal role of his dearest cousin and son-in-law and to warn the Umma against the pitfalls of discord, the Prophet remarked: "O Ali your position is like that of the Kaba." (Kunooz al-Haqa"iq)
The Kaba is the symbol of Islamic unity. Muslims around the world daily turn their faces in unison towards this supreme edifice of monotheism. Imam Ali’s role for the Umma is in exact likeness to the site of his birth. To follow his straight course is Islamic solidarity and to leave his path is outright discord.
"Surely, this is my straight path, so follow it and do not follow other ways or else you will diverge from His ways." (Holy Qur’an 6:153)
The Almighty had arranged that Muhammad (SAWA), the most perfect man ever created, should have a worthy successor, free of the pollution of polytheist Arabia.
The glorious event occurred on Friday the
13th of Rajab in the year 30 `Aam-al-Feel (600 CE). Abu Talib’s virtuous wife, Fatima bint-i Asad, who was full nine months pregnant, clung to the walls of the Kaba imploring the Almighty to ease her burden for the sake of her great ancestor Prophet Abraham (AS). In answer to her prayers, the walls of the sacred House suddenly parted, and when the lady stepped inside they were miraculously sealed up. The Quraysh did all they could do to bring her out, but the locks and the walls of the Kaba remained fast.
Three days later she came out holding in her arms a radiant baby boy. Among those gathered anxiously around the Kaba was Muhammad (SAW) who stepped forward and took the infant in his arms. A smile lit up the face of the baby Ali (AS) as his eyes met those of his first cousin.
"I and Ali are (created) from the same light" (Holy Prophet)
Shortly after, Muhammad and his wife Khadija (SA) decided to adopt the young Ali (AS). Muhammad (SAWA) himself had been brought up by Ali’s father, Abu Talib. Divine Providence was thus at work laying the firm foundations of the great task that lay ahead for the deliverance of mankind through Muhammad. The Prophet was now personally grooming and bringing up his future vicegerent.
When Ali (AS) was ten years old, the Prophet received his first revelation and was commanded by the Almighty to publicly proclaim his mission. "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah” said the Prophet. Before the dumbstruck ignorant minds could say anything, the young Ali (AS) rose and gave testimony of his cousin’s divine mission: "I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." The Prophet called Ali (AS) his vizier and Khalifa (successor)
What could be written of a person, the praise of whom will exhaust ink and paper?
Ameer al-Mu’mineen(Commander of the Faithful), Imam al-Muttaqeen (Leader of the God-fearing), volumes have been written on the merits of Ali (AS) by eminent scholars in every age and era. The famous 11th century CE Sunni historian Ibn Asaker writes in his Tarikh Damishq that the Holy Qur’an contains no less than 300 verses in Ali’s favor, more than any other companion of the Prophet.
Born in the House of God, and martyred while in communion with his Creator in the Great Mosque of Kufa, with his face turned towards that very site of his birth (Ka`ba), every single moment of Imam Ali’s 63 years in this mortal world was dedicated to and spent in the service of Islam.
As a boy, he stood beside his mentor, chasing away the kids who used to throw stones at the Prophet. He endured the three-year siege of the Bani Hashim clan by the infidels of Mecca in the Gorge of Abu Talib. When plots were hatched to extinguish the light of Prophethood, the brave Ali (AS), volunteered to sleep on his cousin’s bed, so that the latter could migrate to Medina undetected. The reward for his self-sacrifice to which Islam will remain ever-indebted, came in the form of the following verse:
"Among men, is he, who sells his soul for the pleasure of Allah" (Holy Qur’an 2:20)
It would be repetitive to recount the valor of Ali (AS) in repelling the retarded infidels, who tried to attack the first-ever Islamic state in Medina. The Lion of God, as he came to be known, Ali (AS) and his flashing blade Dhul-Faqar, won almost single-handedly, the armed encounters that the ignorant of Arabia had imposed upon the Prophet. The fields of Badr, Ohud, Khaybar, Hunayn and several others, still echo with the valor and magnanimity of Imam Ali (AS).
Here I would like to focus on one of his many selfless acts. It happened that during the Battle of the Trench (Khandaq), when during a single combat he had pinned down his giant adversary, `Amr ibn `Abdu-Wadd to the ground, the infidel spat on his face. The God-fearing Ali (AS) at once stepped aside in order not to let his personal feelings interfere with the course of the holy Jihad. The fearsome opponent recovered his poise and renewed the combat. This time, the Commander of the Faithful whose every act was the worship of Allah, made short work of Amr. Before the battle he had offered favorable terms which the infidel had rejected out of vanity.
At the fall of Mecca, he helped the Prophet dismantle the idols that the Arabs had installed in Abraham’s monotheistic edifice. In one instance, the Prophet (SAWA) lifted Ali (AS) on his shoulders to deliver the coup de grace to the chief idol atop the roof of the Kaba.
Valiant in battle, he was magnanimous in victory to his fallen foes, and gave strict orders not to humiliate prisoners or harass and plunder women and children. After the Battle of Jamal (Camel), he ordered his troops to give a decent burial to his slain enemies. At Siffin, having broken the enemy’s hold on the River Euphrates, Ali (AS) allowed them access to the very waters which they had blocked to him.
