The prophet and Imam Ali

The prophet and Imam Ali



A very good and pure spirit existed in the family of Abu Talib. It looked at the world in a peculiar manner and saw all things connected and united with one another.

This spirit was very strong in the prophet and Ali and a very firm relationship existed between them, because Ali had been brought up by the prophet from his childhood till he grew up to be a youth. When we admit that it is possible that good morals should become firm naturally in a heart and a soul we hav a also to say that Ali was born with perfect faith in the prophethood of Muhammad and support for him, because the qualities and virtues of the Family of Abu Talib in which the prophet was brought up were transferred to his cousin from his birth. (The correct position is this that Abu Talib and the members of his family or the ways and manners of the time or the environments had no influences on the prophethood of Muhammad or the Imamate of Ali. These things were related with divine inspiration and neither Abu Talib nor the members of this family shared the secrets of prophethood and imamate.)

The personality of Ali developed with the virtues of his family. It was this place where he heard Muhammad speak and the call to Islam also started from here.

Ali was quite young when the prophet attached him with himself and called him his brother.

In his sermon entitled "Qase`a" Ali mentions the attention paid to him by the prophet and says: "Do you know, that due to my relationship and on account of my worth and merit, what were my relations with the prophet.

From the very beginning of my life he loved me and I loved him. He took me in his lap when I was a baby and thence I was always with him, he often kept me embraced to his heart, he used to make me sleep next to him; we used to be so close to each other that I felt the warmth of his body and smelled the fragrance of his breath. When I was a baby, he fed me with his hands often chewing hard bits for me. He never found me lying nor weak and wavering. From the time of his babyhood God had appointed the Holy Ghost to be always with him and this archangel was leading him towards exemplary qualities and high moral values and I followed the prophet step by step as a baby camel follows its mother. Daily he used to place before me a fresh standard of efficiency and used to order me to follow it. Every year he used to stay in a grotto of the Hira Mountains for sometime, and nobody used to be with him but I. None could then see or hear him or be near him but I. During those days Islam was the religion of only the prophet and his wife Khadijah, I was the third of the trio (the prophet, Khadijah and Ali himself). Nobody else in this world had accepted Islam I even then used to see the divine light of revelation and prophethood and smell the heavenly fragrance of prophethood. When the prophet received the first revelation Satan lamented loudly. I asked the prophet "Who is lamenting and why". He replied, "It is Satan who had given up hopes of acquiring complete sway over human mind. In this disappointment he is lamenting over the chance lost. Verily, Ali, you also hear whatever is revealed to me and you also see whatever is being shown to me. With this difference that you are not entrusted with prophethood, but you will be my successor, helper and vizier, and you will always uphold truth and justice".

Childhood is the age when one is fully capable of acquiring good qualities. Ali spent a good deal of his life with the prophet alone. He imitated the prophet's conduct and remained separated from his community which was leading a miserable life and was firmly bound with the chains of hereditary customs.

For years Ali lived in a pure atmosphere by the side of his cousin and was loved very much by him. None of the companions and followers of the prophet could develop such a close relationship with him. Ali opened his eyes on the path which had been opened for him by his cousin.

He learnt how to worship God from Muhammad's prayers. He enjoyed the prophet's love, kindness and brotherhood. His relationship with Muhammad was similar to the one between Muhammad and Abu Talib. When Ali first felt the sentiment of love in his mind he loved Muhammad. When he spoke for the first time he spoke with Muhammad. On the very first occasion when he was required to display manliness and valour he showed readiness to support Muhammad. Muhammad's friends were friendly with him and his enemies also respected his personality. Ali was such a protege and disciple of the prophet that he became his soul and a part of his limbs.

In the early days of the prophetic mission of the prophet some elders amongst Quraysh who hated worship joined him. The slaves and helpless persons came round him in expectation of justice and freedom. And after he was successful and victorious a third group also joined him, because those people had. no alternative left. They wanted to benefit from the new situation and most. of Bani Umayyah belonged to this group. These different groups embraced Islam on different occasions and although they resembled one another in the matter of obedience to the prophet the degrees of their faith differed. However, as Ali was born and brought up in the lap of prophethood, his faith was natural and innate, and he emerged from the body of his mother with this faith in his heart. His faith had nothing to do with age or the vicissitudes of time. He offered prayers and testified the prophethood of Muhammad at an age when a child cannot even express his thoughts. And he did all this without obtaining any order or advice from anyone. Most of the persons who embraced Islam in the early days of Muhammad's prophethood had worshipped the idols in previous days. However, when Ali prostrated

for the first time it was before the Allah of Muhammad. This was the quality of the faith of the person who was destined to brow up as a supporter and well-wisher of the prophet, to lead the faithful after the prophet, and to save the people from the calamities of time.

- The Voice of Human Justice, by George Jordac.



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LOVE FOR 'ALI IN THE QUR'AN AND SUNNAH







What we have said so far has shed light on the value and influence of love, and it has incidentally become clear that love for the pure ones is a means for the reform and refinement of the soul, not that it is an end in itself. Now we must see whether Islam and the Qur'an have chosen someone we should love or not. When the Qur' an relates what the previous prophets have said, it points out that they have all said: "we do not ask a wage from people, our only reward is from God." However it addresses the Seal of the Prophets thus:

"

Say: "I do not ask of you a wage for this, except love for (my) relatives." (ash-Shura,42:23 )

Here there is a need to ask why the rest of the prophets looked for no wage but the most noble Prophet asked for one for his message; why did he want friendship for his near relatives as a requital for his message?

The Qur'an itself provides an answer to this question:

Say: "I have asked no wage of you; that shall be yours. My wage falls only upon God. " (Saba', 34:47 )

That is to say, that which I ask for as a wage accrues to you, not to me; this friendship is a halter for your own perfection and reformation, and it is called a wage. Otherwise it is in fact another good which I recommend to you from the point of view that the Household and relatives of the Prophet are people who do not gather round defilement, and whose hems are clean and pure.

Love and devotion to these people brings no other result apart from obedience to the truth and adherence to virtues, and it is friendship for them which transmutes and perfects like the elexir.

Whatever the meaning of "relatives" may be, it is certain that the most obvious person to whom it is applicable is 'Ali. Imam Fakhru'd-Din ar-Razi says:

"Zamakhshari relates in his (Qur'anic exegesis) al-Kashshaf: `When this verse was sent down they said: "O Messenger of Allah ! Who are the relatives to whom our love is due?" He said: "`Ali and Fatimah and their sons."'

"It is thus established from this tradition that these four persons are "relatives" of the Prophet, and that they should enjoy the respect and love of the people, and this matter can be reasoned out in a number of ways:

" 1 - The verse: except love for my relatives.

" 2 - There is no doubt that the Prophet dearly loved Fatimah, and he said: `Fatimah is a part of my body; what harms her harms me.' he also loved 'Ali and the Hasanayn (Hasan and Husayn), since a great number of mutawdtir traditions (those which are narrated by so many as to make doubt impossible) have reached us on this subject. Thus friendship of them is obligatory on all the community, 3' because the Qur'an commands:

And follow him (the Prophet), haply you will be guided. (al-A'raf, 7:158)

"It also commands:

You have a good example in Allah's Messenger. (al-Ahzab, 33:21)

"These (considerations) prove that love for the Family of Muhammad - who are `All, Fatimah and the Hasanayn is obligatory on all Muslims.'

There are also many traditions from the Prophet concerning love and friendship for 'Ali:

1: Ibn al-Athir narrates that the Prophet spoke to `Ali and said: "O 'Ali, God has embellished you with things, no dearer embellishment than which exists before his slaves: resignation from the world has been,appointed for you in such a way that neither do you profit from the world, nor it from you. On you has been bestowed the love of the wretched; they are proud of your leadership, and you also of their following you. Content is he who loves you, and is a true friend to you. And woe betide he who shows enmity towards you, and lies about you.'

2: as-Suyuti relates that the Prophet said: "Love of `Ali is faith, and enmity towards him is sedition."

3: Abu Na'im narrates that the Prophet addressed the Ansar and said: "Shall I guide you to something which, if you grasp it after me, you will never go astray?" They said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah ! " He said: "It is 'Ali: love him with the love (you have) for me, and respect him with the respect (you have) for me. For God has ordered me through Gabriel to tell you this."

The Sunnis have also narrated traditions from the Prophet in which observing `Ali's face and talking of his virtues is counted as a form of worship.



1: Muhibb at-Tabari narrates from `A'ishah that she said: "I saw my father (Abu Bakr) gazing often at 'Ali's face. I said: `O my father! I see you gazing often at `Ali's face.' He said: '0 my daughter! I heard the Prophet say: "Looking at the face of 'Ali is worship."

2: Ibn Hajar narrates from `A'ishah that the Prophet said: "The best of my brothers is 'Ali, the best of my paternal uncles is Hamzah, and remembrance of `Ali and speaking about him is worship."

'Ali was the most loved person before God and the Prophet, and thus naturally the best of those who are loved. Anas ibn Malik says: "Every day, one of the children of the Ansar would do some task for the Prophet. One day my turn came. Umm Ayman brought a chicken dish before the Prophet and said: `Messenger of Allah! I have caught this chicken myself and cooked it for you.' He said: `O God! Send the best of (Thy) slaves that he may share with me in eating this chicken.' At that very moment someone knocked on the door and the Prophet said to me: `Anas! Open the door.' I said: `May God make it a man of the Ansar!' But I found 'Ali in front of the door, and I said: `The Prophet is busy.' Then I returned to stand in my place. Again there was a knock at the door, and the Prophet said: `Open the door.' Again I prayed that it would be someone from the Ansar. I opened the door and again it was 'Ali. I said: `The Prophet is busy.' Then I returned to stand in my place. Yet again there was a knock at the door, and the Prophet said: `Anas, go and open the door, and bring him in. You are not the first person to love your own people; that is not one of the Ansar.' I went and brought `Ali in, and he ate the chicken dish with the Prophet."