History of Khulafah Rashideen by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti - translated by Abdassamad Clarke

Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him - and the name of Abu Talib was cAbd Manaf — ibn cAbd al- A-Muttalib - and his name was Shaybah - ibn Hashim - and his name was cAmr - Ibn cAbd Manaf - and his name was al-Mughirah - ibn Qusayy - and his name was Zaid - ibn Kilab ibn Murrah ibn Kacb ibn Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr ibn Malik ibn Nadr ibn Kinanah. He was Abu’l-Hasan and he was Abu Turab, a kunyah which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave him.

His mother was Fatimah bint Asad ibn Hashim and she was the first Hashimi woman to give birth to a Hashimi child. She accepted Islam and emigrated.

cAli, may Allah be pleased with him, is one of the ten for whom it is witnessed that the Garden is for them, he was the brother of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace, by the act of taking brothers (undertaken between the Muhajirun and the Ansar in Madinah); he was his son-in-law through (marriage to) Fatimah, the mistress of the women of the worlds, may Allah be pleased with her; he was one of the first to embrace Islam, one of the lordly learned ones, one of the famously courageous ones, one of those mentioned for being abstinent, one of the recognised deliverers of the khutbah, one who memorised the entire Qur’an and recited it before the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and Abu’l-Aswad ad-Du’ali and cAbd ar-Rahman as-Sulami, in turn, recited it before him. He was the first khalifah from Bani Hashim, the father of the two grandsons (of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He accepted Islam very early on; rather, Ibn cAbbas, Anas, Zaid ibn Arqam, Salman al-Farisi and a whole group of others said that he was the first to accept Islam, and some of them relate that there is a consensus on that.

Abu Yacla narrated that cAli, may Allah be pleased with him, said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent (on his prophetic mission) on Monday and I accepted Islam on the Wednesday.’ His age when he accepted Islam was ten years old. It has been said that it was nine, eight, and it has even been said that it was less than that. Al-Hasan ibn Zaid ibn al-Hasan said: He didn’t ever worship idols, because of his youth.

Ibn Sacd narrated it.

When he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told him to remain some days behind after him in Makkah, in order to repay some things entrusted to and deposited with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and for him then to join his family, he did that.

He was present with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace, at Badr, Uhud and all the rest of the battles except for Tabuk, because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made him his deputy in Madinah. In all of the battles there are famous stories about him, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave him the standard on many occasions.

Sacid ibn al-Musayyab said: On the day of Uhud, cAli received sixteen wounds.

It is well established in the two Sahih collections, ‘That he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave him the standard on the day of Khaybar and told that victory would be at his hands.’ The accounts of his bravery and stories of him in the wars are famous.

cAli, as an old man, was stout, balding over the forehead, with much hair, of middle stature inclining to shortness, full-bellied, with an extremely full beard which filled between his two shoulders and was white as if it were cotton, and he was very tawny complexioned.

Jabir ibn cAbdullah said: cAli carried the gate upon his back on the day of Khaybar until the Muslims ascended upon it and conquered it. They tried to drag it afterwards and it was only possible for forty men to carry it. Ibn cAsakir narrated it.

Ibn Ishaq in al-Maghazi and Ibn cAsakir narrated from Abu Rafic that: cAli took hold of the gate of the fortress, the fortress of Khaybar; he used it as a shield to protect himself, and it continued in his hand while he fought until Allah gave us the victory. I certainly saw eight of us struggling to turn that gate over and we were not able to turn it.

Al-Bukhari narrated in al-Adab that Sahl ibn Sacd said: The name that cAli, may Allah be pleased with him, loved the most was Abu Turab (‘Dusty One’ or literally ‘Father of Dust’), and he rejoiced in being called by it. No-one named him Abu Turab except for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. That was because one day, when he was angry with Fatimah, he went out and laid down against the wall of the mosque, and then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came and his back was covered in dust. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began to rub the dust from his back saying, ‘Sit down Abu Turab.’ He related five hundred and eighty-six hadith from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace.

His three sons, al-Hasan, al-Hussein and Muhammad ibn al- Hanafiyyah, related from him, and Ibn Mascud, Ibn TJmar, Ibn cAbbas, Ibn az-Zubayr, Abu Musa, Abu Sacid, Zaid ibn Arqam, Jabir ibn cAbdullah, Abu Imamah, Abu Hurayrah, and a great number of other Companions and Followers, may Allah be pleased with all of them.