Imam Ali
Cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet and fourth Rashidun caliph (c. 600–661 CE); Shia Muslims regard him as the first Imam and the Prophet's rightful successor.
Read in context →Biography
Ali ibn Abi Talib (c. 600–661 CE) was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, husband of Fatima, and the first Imam of Shia Islam. Raised in Muhammad's household, he was among the earliest to accept Islam and became a central figure in the early community as a warrior, judge, and counsellor. He ruled as the fourth Rashidun caliph (656–661) during the civil war known as the First Fitna and was assassinated in the mosque of Kufa by a Kharijite, Ibn Muljam. Shia Islam holds that Ali was the Prophet's divinely designated successor, pointing to the event at Ghadir Khumm, which makes the question of succession the defining doctrinal divide between Shia and Sunni Islam. The central contested point is precisely this: Shia tradition reads Ghadir Khumm as an explicit appointment to leadership, while Sunni tradition understands it as an expression of affection rather than political designation.
Quotes & narrations
«People are of two kinds: either your brothers in faith or your equals in creation.»
«The worth of every person is measured by what he does well.»
Related entities
Also appears in
Sources
- Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad (Cambridge, 1997)
- Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill), "ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib"
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Ali"