Alī ibn Abu Talib 4th Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate and Islam to the death of Muhammad

Alī 

ibn Abu Talib 4th Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate and Islam to the death of Muhammad

ʿAlī was 22 or 23 years old when he migrated to Medina. Shortly after his arrival, the Prophet told ʿAlī that he (the Prophet) had been ordered by God to give his daughter Fāṭimah to ʿAlī in marriage. This union affected the entire history of Islam, for from it were born a daughter, Zaynab—who played a major role during the Umayyad period in claiming the rights of the family of the Prophet after her brother Ḥusayn was killed in Iraq—and two sons, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn. The latter two are the ancestors of those known as sharīf or sayyid (meaning “noble” and “master” respectively)—that is, descendants of the Prophet and thus, in the eyes of some Muslims, legitimate heirs to leadership of the Islamic community. Ḥasan and Ḥusayn also became the second and third imams of the Shiʿah (respectively) after ʿAlī. Although polygyny was permitted, ʿAlī did not marry another woman while Fāṭimah was alive, and his marriage to her possesses a special spiritual significance for all Muslims because it is seen as the marriage between the greatest saintly

figures surrounding the Prophet. The Prophet, who visited his daughter nearly every day, became even closer to ʿAlī, once telling him, “You are my brother in this world and the Hereafter.” After Fāṭimah’s death, ʿAlī married other wives and fathered many other children.During this period ʿAlī was given several important assignments, such as reciting to a large gathering of pilgrims in Mecca in 630 a portion of the Qurʾān that declared that Muhammad and the Islamic community were no longer bound by agreements made earlier with polytheists. One year later ʿAlī was sent to Yemen to spread the teachings of Islam. The Prophet also designated him as one of the scribes who would write down the text of the Qurʾān, which had been revealed to Muhammad during the previous two decades. ʿAlī’s role in the establishment of the written version of the Qurʾān is among the most important of his contributions to Islam.

ʿAlī was also deeply involved in the military defense of the Islamic community, according to both Sunni and Shiʿi sources. The Quraysh sought to destroy the community in Medina in a series of attacks that are known in Islamic history as ghazwah (“raid” or “conquest”). ʿAlī participated in all but one of these battles, and he was commander at the battles of Fadak in 628 and Al-Yamān in 632. He also had the special role of protecting Muhammad at the battles of Uḥud in 625 and Ḥunayn in 630. He fought the leading warrior of the Quraysh, Talḥah ibn Abī Talḥah, who boasted that he would defeat any Muslim sent against him. When Talḥah himself was defeated, he pleaded for mercy from ʿAlī, saying “Karrama Allāhu wajhahu” (“May God illuminate his face with nobility”). This benediction became one of ʿAlī’s titles; used especially by Sunnis, it is usually accompanied by other customary formulae of peace and benediction.