50 Fun Facts About Imam Ali

Shia and some Sunni sources say Ali was born inside which Meccan site?

The Kaaba is said to have opened its wall for Ali's mother as she prayed beside it and closed again once she was inside. The Sunni historian al-Mas'udi records the birth there, as Shia tradition unanimously does.

In the best-known account, which nickname did Muhammad give Ali after finding him asleep on a mosque floor?

Abu Turab means 'father of dust': Muhammad is said to have woken him with 'Get up, Abu Turab'. Umayyad preachers later used the name as an insult, yet Ali is reported to have held no name dearer.

Which sword of Ali, hailed by a voice Muhammad reported at Uhud, is drawn with a two-pointed blade?

Zulfiqar is said to have been taken as booty at Badr and handed to Ali by Muhammad at Uhud, where al-Tabari records the cry 'no sword but Zulfiqar, no hero but Ali'. It later spread across flags and talismans.

The title Nahj al-Balagha, the collection of Ali's sermons, letters and sayings, is commonly rendered in English as what?

Peak of Eloquence is the familiar English title, though nahj more literally means a path or way. Its compiler gave no chains of transmission, which has fed long debate over how much of the text is truly Ali's.

What kind of place was Ghadir Khumm, where Muhammad spoke of Ali after his final pilgrimage in 632?

A pond, ghadir in Arabic, named the spot. There Muhammad said 'whoever I am mawla of, Ali is his mawla', which Shia read as naming a successor and Sunnis as a call to loyalty.

Which son of Ali, hailed caliph in Kufa in 661, ceded power to Mu'awiya in a peace treaty months later?

Hasan abdicated on terms that Mu'awiya rule by the Quran and Sunnah, name no heir and leave Hasan's supporters unharmed; once in power, Mu'awiya kept none of them. Shia count Hasan as the second Imam.

Which daughter of Ali denounced Husayn's killers in Kufa and Damascus after Karbala in 680?

Zaynab led the survivors through captivity. When the governor of Kufa ordered her sick nephew, Husayn's son Ali, put to death, she is said to have clung to him and demanded to be killed first, and he was spared.

Which Iraqi city holds Ali's gold-domed shrine and the vast Wadi al-Salam cemetery beside it?

Najaf draws millions of pilgrims a year, and Shia tradition holds that Ali called the cemetery a part of heaven, which is why so many Shia ask to be buried there, near him.

Whose killing by rebels in Medina in 656 led to Ali being acclaimed caliph days later?

Uthman, the third caliph, was besieged in his own house by provincial rebels. Ali had sent his sons to guard the door, and after the murder he at first held back from the office, accepting it only when the people of Medina pressed him.

Which Arabic term names the first civil war of Islam, the conflict that ended the Rashidun era under Ali?

The First Fitna set Ali's supporters against those demanding vengeance for his murdered predecessor and, from 657, the Kharijites who walked out of his camp after Siffin. It brought the Umayyad dynasty to power.

At Siffin, what did Mu'awiya's Syrians raise on their lances as Ali's side gained the upper hand?

Pages of the Quran on lances, a call to let scripture settle the quarrel, stopped the fighting. The ruse is credited to Amr ibn al-As, and Ali's own troops forced him to accept arbitration, a choice that split his army.

Which two early converts led the revolt beside Aisha that Ali defeated at the Battle of the Camel?

Talha and Zubayr had pledged allegiance to Ali before turning on him with Aisha, and neither survived: Talha was fatally wounded in the battle and Zubayr was killed after leaving the field. The battle is named for the camel Aisha rode.

Which honorific marks descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali?

Sayyid families are found across the Muslim world, and the title can show in dress: Ottoman sayyids had the privilege of a green turban, and among Shia clerics today a black turban marks one out.

Ali penned the Hudaybiya treaty; when Suhayl ibn Amr objected to its wording, what did Muhammad allow?

Writing only his own name, Muhammad son of Abdullah, settled it: Suhayl would not sign a text calling him the Messenger of God. With Mecca bound by the truce, Muhammad marched on Khaybar soon afterwards.

In a hadith cherished by Shia, Muhammad called himself 'the city of knowledge' and Ali its what?

Its gate, bab in Arabic: the saying goes on that whoever seeks knowledge must come in through the gate, and it left Ali the title Bab al-Ilm, the gate of knowledge.

Ali accepted Islam as a boy in Muhammad's household, second only to which woman by most accounts?

Khadija, Muhammad's first wife, believed first. Ali had lived with the couple since hard times struck his father's household, and Sunni and Shia scholars still debate whether he or Abu Bakr was the first male Muslim.

By the usual account, why do Sunnis reserve 'may God honour his face' for Ali?

He never bowed to an idol, even as a boy before Islam, is the usual reason given for 'karram Allahu wajhah'. Shia writers prefer 'peace be upon him', a formula otherwise kept for prophets.

Which supplication, attributed to Ali, do Shia traditionally recite on Thursday nights?

Du'a Kumayl takes its name from Kumayl ibn Ziyad, who is said to have learned it from Ali. Ali is reported to have credited the prayer, a plea for mercy and forgiveness, to the mysterious figure al-Khidr.

By Shia tradition, what happened to Ali's grave after his burial outside Kufa in 661?

It was kept secret for fear his enemies would dig up the body. Only the Shia Imams and a few close followers knew the place until the Umayyads fell, about a century later.

After the Hijra, Muhammad paired each emigrant with a Medinan host; he took Ali as his own what?

Brother was the bond, sworn in the fraternity pacts that tied Muhajirun to Ansar, and Muhammad sealed it by giving Ali his daughter Fatima in marriage soon after.

Shia versions of the adhan, the call to prayer, add a line declaring Ali to be God's what?

Wali, here God's friend or guardian, is the word. Yet most Shia jurists hold that the line is not part of the adhan itself: it is recommended, not required, and some add a second line calling Ali God's proof.

In the best-known account, what did Ali sell at Muhammad's suggestion to raise the bridal gift for Fatima?

His shield, in some tellings his coat of mail, paid the mahr, a sign of how little Ali owned. Muhammad had already turned down earlier suitors for his daughter, Abu Bakr and Umar among them.

Who was Ali's mother, the aunt who helped raise the orphaned Muhammad in Abu Talib's house?

Fatima bint Asad cared for Muhammad after he came to her husband's house as an orphaned boy. When she died in Medina he is said to have given his own shirt for her shroud and gone down into her grave himself.

Ali stayed behind in Mecca for a time after Muhammad's flight of 622 in order to do what?

Return goods held in trust: Meccans had left valuables with Muhammad, known as al-Amin, the trustworthy. Ali, who had slept in Muhammad's bed as a decoy on the night of the escape, handed them back and then slipped away.

Muhammad sent Ali after Abu Bakr to the Hajj to proclaim new terms for the pagans from which surah?

At-Tawba, also called Bara'a, is the only surah that opens without 'In the name of God'. Abu Bakr had set out to announce it, but Muhammad sent Ali to take over, holding that only he or a man of his own house should deliver it.

Shia exegesis ties Quran 5:55, on believers who give alms while bowing, to Ali handing a beggar what?

His ring, slipped off mid-prayer, is the occasion that Shia and some Sunni commentators attach to the verse. Shia read it as scripture granting Ali authority over the believers; Sunnis read it as a call to friendship.

Breaking with Umar's stipend register, how did Ali as caliph distribute surplus state revenue?

In equal shares to all, where Umar's register had paid by precedence in Islam. Ali held that this was the practice of Muhammad and Abu Bakr, but his even hand cost him support among those used to privilege.

In the usual account of the 644 council, Ibn Awf offered Ali the caliphate on two conditions; which did Ali decline?

Following Abu Bakr and Umar in all things was the condition Ali would not accept: he would be bound by the Quran and the Prophet's example, and beyond them by his own judgment. His rival agreed at once and became the third caliph.

Where was Abu Bakr acclaimed caliph in 632 while Ali was away preparing Muhammad's body for burial?

The Saqifa of Banu Sa'ida, a Medinan clan's meeting place, is where Umar took Abu Bakr's hand in pledge while the Prophet's kin were busy with the burial. Ali probably did not know the meeting was happening.

Which former governor of Kufa represented Ali's side in the arbitration that followed Siffin?

Abu Musa al-Ash'ari was pressed on Ali by his own camp; most accounts say Ali wanted Ibn Abbas or al-Ashtar. Mu'awiya's envoy, Amr ibn al-As, is said to have outwitted him, and the talks left Ali weaker than before.

At which battle in Iraq did Ali rout the men who had walked out of his army?

Nahrawan broke the Kharijites, Quran-reciters who had seceded when Ali agreed to arbitration with Mu'awiya, but their insurrection went on and one of them would assassinate Ali in 661.

Ali's letter of instruction to Malik al-Ashtar, preserved in Nahj al-Balagha, sent him to govern where?

Egypt never received him: Malik was poisoned on the road at al-Qulzum, by most accounts with a drink of honey and at Mu'awiya's instigation. The letter outlived him as Ali's charter of just rule.

Which son of Ali by Umm al-Banin was Husayn's standard-bearer at Karbala, dying as he sought water?

Abbas ibn Ali could have walked away: Shimr, an enemy commander from his mother's tribe, offered him and his brothers safe conduct, and they refused it while Husayn had none. He was cut down fetching water from the Euphrates.

Shia tradition places Ali's birth in which month, also linked to Muhammad's Night Journey and ascension?

Rajab is one of the four sacred months in which fighting was forbidden, and Shia keep Ali's birthday on its 13th. Where many Sunnis mark the 27th for the Night Journey, Shia tradition holds that day to be Muhammad's first revelation.

Eid al-Ghadir, the Shia festival of Muhammad's speech about Ali, falls in which month of the Islamic calendar?

Dhu al-Hijjah, the month of the Hajj: Muhammad spoke on its 18th, as his caravan headed home from the Farewell Pilgrimage, so the feast comes eight days after Eid al-Adha.

Ali's preaching mission to which region ended with the peaceful conversion of the Hamdan tribe?

Yemen's Hamdan tribe converted without a fight after Ali preached there. By the usual dating he went on from Yemen to join Muhammad in Mecca for the Farewell Pilgrimage.

Which Kharijite struck Ali with a poisoned sword at the mosque of Kufa in 661?

Ibn Muljam struck Ali on the head at the dawn prayer, and Ali died two days later. In al-Tabari's telling he had promised the killing as a wedding gift to a woman whose kinsmen had died fighting Ali.

Christians from which town did Muhammad face in the mubahala, bringing Ali, Fatima and their sons?

Najran's delegation came to Medina to debate the nature of Jesus; faced with Muhammad's own family, they declined the mutual curse and settled for a treaty and tribute. Shia read 'ourselves' in the verse (3:61) as Ali.

Which Quraysh champion, reputed to equal a thousand men, did Ali defeat in single combat at Medina in 627?

Amr ibn Abd al-Wud had forced a crossing of the trench with Ikrima, and Muhammad at first refused Ali leave to face him, relenting only when Ali kept insisting.

Which commander of Khaybar's defenders did Ali reportedly kill in single combat as the oasis fell in 628?

Marhab ibn al-Harith's death is credited to Ali in Sahih Muslim, though Ibn Hisham's Sira gives it to Muhammad ibn Maslama; Ali had been handed Muhammad's banner for the assault.

In the single combats that opened Badr in 624, which Meccan champion did Ali kill?

Al-Walid ibn Utba stepped out with his father and his uncle to challenge the Muslims to single combat. Ali killed him, the other two Meccans fell as well, and the Muslim champion Ubayda died of the wound he took.

Which of Muhammad's mounts, by Shia tradition, carried Ali into the Battle of the Camel?

Duldul was a mule, by most accounts a gift to Muhammad from the Muqawqis, the ruler of Alexandria. She outlived the Prophet and passed to Ali, and she remains a symbol of devotion to him.

Which poet-companion of Ali is counted the earliest Arab grammarian and the inventor of Arabic diacritics?

Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali is credited with marking the Quran's short vowels with dots set above, below or beside a letter, the forerunners of today's vowel signs. He is also credited with the first treatise on Arabic grammar.

Which Iranian ruler had the dome of Ali's shrine covered in gold in 1743?

Nader Shah had the dome, the entrance iwan and both minarets gilded, and rich gifts came to the shrine with the work. The building he covered in gold was the work of the Safavid shahs, who had restored the shrine a century earlier.

Which Abbasid caliph is credited with raising the first shrine over Ali's grave, around 786?

Harun al-Rashid built it after the sixth Shia Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, had shown his followers where Ali lay. It was the first of several buildings: later rulers tore down, rebuilt and enlarged the shrine.

Which Baghdad poet-scholar, born in 970 into a leading Shia family, compiled Nahj al-Balagha?

Al-Sharif al-Radi was a teacher as well as a poet: he founded his own school for his students in Baghdad and named it Dar al-Ilm, the House of Knowledge.

Which relative of Aisha, raised in Ali's household, was told to escort her away after the Camel?

Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr shared a father with Aisha but had grown up under Ali's roof, so at the Camel he fought against her army. Ali later sent him to govern a province, where Mu'awiya's forces defeated and killed him.

Which son of Ali, born after Fatima's death, did the rebel Mukhtar proclaim as the Mahdi in Kufa?

Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, 'son of the Hanafi woman', is named for the tribe of his mother Khawla. He kept his distance from the revolt raised in his name, yet followers went on calling him the Mahdi after his death.

Ghadir Khumm lay beside which settlement, a pilgrims' station between Mecca and Medina?

Al-Juhfa, a few kilometres from Ghadir Khumm, is a station where pilgrims put on ihram and where the caravan roads divided. Muhammad is said to have halted the travellers there before they went their separate ways.

Which widow of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib and then of Abu Bakr became a wife of Ali after Abu Bakr's death?

Asma bint Umais had crossed to Abyssinia with Ja'far among the first Muslim refugees and came back to Arabia only in 628, a year before he fell in battle at Mu'ta.