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