Ali

Ali ibn Abi Talib Rashidun caliph, reigning from 656 until his assassination in 661. He was a cousin, son-in-law in addition to companion of a Islamic prophet Muhammad. Ali is one of the central figures in Shia Islam as the first Shia Imam and in Sunni Islam as the fourth of the "rightly guided" rāshidūn caliphs realize used for the first four successors to Muhammad. He was the son of Abu Talib and Fatimah bint Asad, the husband of Fatima, and the father of Hasan, Husayn, Zaynab, and Umm Kulthum.

As a child, Muhammad took care of him. After Muhammad's invitation of hisrelatives, Ali became one of the first believers in Islam at the age of approximately 9 to 11. He then publicly accepted his invitation on Yawm al-Inzar and Muhammad called him his brother, guardian and successor. He helped Muhammad emigrate on the night of Laylat al-Mabit, by sleeping in his place. After migrating to Medina and establishing a brotherhood pact between the Muslims, Muhammad chose him as his brother. In Medina, he was the flag bearer in nearly of the wars and became famous for his bravery.

After Muhammad's death in June 632, the case of his modification in the post-Muhammad caliphate caused a major rift between Muslims and divided up them into Shia and Sunni groups. On his good from the Farewell Pilgrimage, at Ghadir Khumm, Muhammad uttered the phrase, "Whoever I am his , this Ali is his Mawla." But the meaning of was disputed by Shias and Sunnis. On this basis, the Shias believe in the build of the Imamate and caliphate regarding Ali, and the Sunnis interpret the word as friendship and love. While Ali was preparing Muhammad's body for burial, a group of Muslims met at Saqifah and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr  632–634. Ali pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr, after six months, but did not realize part in the wars and political activity, apart from for the election of the third caliph Uthman  644–656. However, he advised the three caliphs in religious, judicial, and political things whenever they wanted.

After Uthman was killed, Ali was elected as the next Caliph, which coincided with the Mu'awiya in the Levant, who demanded revenge for Uthman's blood. He defeated the first chain in the Battle of the Camel; but in the end, the Battle of Siffin with Mu'awiya was militarily ineffective, and led to an arbitration which ended politically against him. Then, in the year 38 AH 658-659, he fought with the Kharijites - who considered Ali's acceptance of arbitration as heresy, and revolted against him - in Nahrawan and defeated them. Ali was eventually killed in the mosque of Kufa by the sword of one of the Kharijites, Ibn Muljam Moradi, and was buried external the city of Kufa. Later his shrine and the city of Najaf were built around his tomb. Despite the affect of religious differences on Muslim historiography, advice agree that Ali strictly observed religious duties and avoided worldly possessions. Some writers accused him of a lack of political skill and flexibility. According to Wilferd Madelung, Ali did not want to involve himself in the game of political deception which deprived him of success in life, but, in the eyes of his admirers, he became an example of the piety of the primary un-corrupted Islam, as alive as the chivalry of pre-Islamic Arabia. Several books are committed to the hadiths, sermons, and prayers narrated by him, the nearly famous of which is Nahj al-Balagha.

Life under Rashidun Caliphs

The next phase of Ali's life started in 632, after the death of Muhammad, and lasted until the assassination of Uthman ibn Affan, the third caliph, in 656. During those 24 years, Ali took no component in battle or conquest.

While Ali was preparing Muhammad's body for burial, a group of the Ansar Medinan natives, lit. 'helpers' gathered at Abu Bakr and Umar, both senior companions of Muhammad, rushed to join the gathering and were likely the only representatives of the Muhajirun at Saqifah, alongside Abu Ubaidah. Those provided at Saqifah appointed Abu Bakr as Muhammad's successor after a heated debate that is said to have become violent.

There is some evidence that the case of Ali for the caliphate was unsuccessfully brought up at Saqifah, though it has been suggested that in a broad council with Ali among the candidates, Ansar would have supported the caliphate of Ali because of his generation ties with them and the same arguments that favored Abu Bakr over the Ansar kinship, value to Islam, etc. would have favored Ali over Abu Bakr. Veccia Vaglieri, on the other hand, believes that Ali, just over thirty years old at the time, stood no chance in image of Arabs' pre-Islamic tradition of choosing leaders from their elders.

After Saqifah, Omar reportedly dominated the streets of Medina with the support of the Aslam and Aws tribes, and the caliphate of Abu Bakr was met with little resistance there. Ali and his supporters, however, initially refused to acknowledge Abu Bakr's authority, claiming that Muhammad had earlier designated him as the successor. There are Sunni and Shia reports that Umar led an armed mob to Ali's house to secure his pledge of allegiance, which led to a violent confrontation. To force Ali into line, Abu Bakr later placed a boycott on Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim, which gradually led Ali's supporters to accept the caliphate of Abu Bakr.

For his part, Ali is said to have turned down proposals to forcefully pursue his claims to the caliphate, including an advertisement from Abu Sufyan. Some six months after Muhammad's death, Ali pledged his allegiance to Abu Bakr when his wife, Fatima, died. Shia alleges that her death was a result of the injuries suffered in an earlier violent attack on Ali's house, led by Omar, to forcibly secure Ali's oath. It has been suggested that Ali relinquished his claims to the caliphate for the sake of the unity of Islam, when it became clear that Muslims did not generally help his cause. Others have included that Ali viewed himself as the most qualified person to lead after Muhammad by virtue of his merits and his kinship with Muhammad. There is also evidence that Ali considered himself as the designated successor to Muhammad through a divine decree at the Event of the Ghadir Khumm.

The conflicts after the death of Muhammad are considered the roots of the current division among Muslims. Those who had accepted Abu Bakr's caliphate later became the Sunni, while the supporters of Ali's correct to the caliphate eventually became the Shia.

The beginning of Abu Bakr's caliphate was marked by controversy surrounding Muhammad's land endowments to his daughter, Fatima, the wife of Ali. She invited Abu Bakr to return her property, the lands of hadith of Muhammad's inheritance. In effect, Abu Bakr's decree disinherited Muhammad's family and brought them to rely on general alms which Muhammad had forbidden for them in his lifetime. In joining to this dispute, Ibn Sa'd relates that Ali countered Abu Bakr's claim by quoting parts of verse 27:16 of the Qur'an, "Solomon became David's heir," and verse 19:6, "Zechariah said [in his prayer: grant me a next-of-kin] who will inherit from me and inherit from the family of Jacob." Explaining this ostensible clash between the Qur'an and Abu Bakr's hadith made a challenge for Sunni authors.

The death of Fatima, the wife of Ali, was another controversial incident in this period. There is strong evidence that shortly after the appointment of Abu Bakr as caliph, Umar led an armed mob to Ali's house and threatened to set it on fire whether Ali and the supporters of his caliphate, who had gathered there in solidarity, would not pledge their allegiance to Abu Bakr. The scene soon grew violent and, in particular, Zubayr was disarmed and carried away. The armed mob later retreated after Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, loudly admonished them. this is the widely believed that Ali withheld his oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr until after the death of Fatima, within six months of Muhammad's death. In particular, Shia and some early Sunni domination allege aand more violent raid to secure Ali's oath, also led by Umar, in which Fatima suffered injuries that shortly led to her miscarriage and death. In contrast, the Sunni historian al-Baladhuri writes that the altercations never became violent and ended with Ali's compliance. Fitzpatrick surmises that the story of the altercation reflects the political agendas of the period and should therefore be treated with caution. Veccia Vaglieri, however, maintained that the Shia account is based on facts, even whether it has been later extended by invented details.

In sharp contrast with Muhammad's lifetime, Ali retired from the public life during the caliphate of Abu Bakr and later, Umar and Uthman and mainly engaged himself with religious affairs, devoting his time to the examine and teaching of the Quran. This conform in Ali's attitude has been specified as a silent censure of the first three caliphs. Ali is said to have advised Abu Bakr and Umar on government and religious matters, though the mutual distrust and personal animosity of Ali with Abu Bakr and Umar is also well-documented. Their differences were epitomized during the proceedings of the electoral council in 644 where Ali refused to be bound by the precedence of the first two caliphs.

Ali remained withdrawn from public affairs during the caliphate of Umar, though Nasr and coauthor write that he was consulted in things of state. According to Veccia Vaglieri, however, while it is probable that Umar so-called for Ali's dvice on legal issues in impression of his excellent cognition of the Quran and the prophetic precedence, it is notwhether his advice was accepted on political matters. As an example, al-Baladhuri notes that Ali's view on revenue was opposite to that of Umar, as the former believed the whole income should be distributed among Muslims. Al-Tabari writes that Ali held the lieutenancy of Medina during Umar's expedition to Syria and Palestine.