The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born around 570 CE.

At the age of 40, Muhammad received his call to become a prophet. He received the word of God through the Angel Gabriel and the divine message was recorded in the Holy Qur'an.

The God that spoke to Muhammad was the God of Ibrahim (Abraham). Islam is thus essentially part of the great monotheistic movement that emerged and developed in the Near East. In Muhammad, regarded as the "seal of the prophets", the message of God for man was finally comprehended and Islam (submission to the will of Allah) is seen by Muslims as the apotheosis of the Judaeo-Christian tradition.

List of Sections:

Childhood Marriage Revelation Conflict with Makkans Migration Consolidation Battle of Badr Battle of the Ditch The Taking of Makkah The Death of the Prophet The Spread of Islam

Childhood

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born in Makkah on the west side of the Arabian peninsula about 570 CE into a prosperous family of the Quraysh tribe. His father Abdullah died before his son was born so, from birth through his early years, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was brought up by his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, the father of Abdullah. As an infant, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was taken out of Makkah to benefit from the healthier climate of the desert and placed in the care of a Bedouin wet nurse, Halima. At the age of six, Muhammad (peace be upon him) lost his mother Aminah and, two years later, his grandfather who had been his guardian also died.

The young Muhammad (peace be upon him), who had now lost both his parents and his grandfather, came under the care and protection of his uncle Abu Talib who succeeded Abdul Muttalib as head of the Hashem clan of the Quraysh tribe. Abu Talib, a prominent figure in Quraysh society, was a successful merchant. As soon as Muhammad (peace be upon him) was old enough, he began to gain experience of Makkah's commercial life, accompanying his uncle on business trips to Syria

The world into which Muhammad (peace be upon him) had been born was a pagan world of polytheism. Pagan rites desecrated the Kaaba (the House of God) which, long before, the Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and his first-born son Ishmael (peace be upon him) had built in Makkah as the House of the one true God. While the young Muhammad (peace be upon him) led the life of a typical young Qurayshi male, he distinguished himself quickly in two respects. First, his honesty and sincerity in all his dealing with others soon earned him the soubriquet Al Amin (the trustworthy one). Secondly, he showed an untypical revulsion at the pagan rites of idolatry which were the focus of Makkah's religious life at this time.

Marriage

At the age of 25, Muhammad (peace be upon him) married Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her), a wealthy Makkan widow. At her invitation, Muhammad (peace be upon him), whose reputation for integrity was widely recognised amongst the Makkans, had taken care of some of her business and, on one trip to Syria, had succeeded in providing his employer with a much better than expected return. The trust between the two quickly developed and very soon the noble Khadijah expressed interest in marrying Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the wedding was arranged.

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this union. Although Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) was fifteen years older than Muhammad (peace be upon him), their marriage was fruitful, happy and enduring. Khadijah bore Muhammad's (peace be upon him) six children. There were two boys, Qasim and Abdullah, neither of whom survived infancy; and four daughters, Zainab, Ruqaiyyah, Umm Kulthum, and Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with them all). The marriage lasted until Khadijah's death and, throughout the twenty five years of the marriage, Muhammad (peace be upon him) took no other wife.

Revelation

Although Muhammad (peace be upon him) followed the pursuits of a successful trader in a busy commercial centre, he exhibited from an early age a contemplative frame of mind which, from time to time, required solitude. At such times Muhammad (peace be upon him) would retreat from the city to a cave (Hira cave) on al Noor Mountain at the outskirts of Makkah.

In 610 CE, Muhammad (peace be upon him) received his first revelation. He was alone, within his cave on the mountain side, when an Angel visited him,

and called on him to recite in the name of God. Twice Muhammad (peace be upon him) declined, declaring that he was not a reciter. But a third time, the Angel spoke and said: 'Recite in the name of thy Lord who created! He createth man from a clot of blood. Recite!; and thy Lord is the Most Bountiful, He who hath taught by the pen, Taught man what he knew not.'

Muhammad (peace be upon him) recited these words, whereupon the Angel departed. As Muhammad (peace be upon him) descended from the mountain, he was halted by a voice which said: 'O Muhammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.' When he looked, in whichever direction, for the source of the voice, he beheld his visitor, standing astride the horizon.

That night, in Ramadan in the year 610, was to become known as the "Night of Ordainment", a night declared in the Holy Qur'an to be worth a thousand months.

On his return home, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was clearly shaken by the overwhelming experience of the Archangel's appearance and the announcement of his calling as Messenger of God. Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) immediately reassured him of the reality of the vision and the authenticity of his calling as Prophet. Thus Khadijah became the Prophet's (peace be upon him) first follower.

Further revelations followed, passing to mankind the word of God in the wondrous language of the Holy Qur'an. And yet, in the first two years, Muhammad (peace be upon him) kept his own council, telling only those closest to him of the message the Archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him) had delivered to him.

In 612 CE, the time had come for Muhammad (peace be upon him) to announce his mission. He began to preach the uncompromising message of the one true God, of the urgent need to abandon paganism and idolatry and to replace the materialism and greed of much of Qurayshi society with the God-given values of justice, charity and compassion.

Gradually, the number of converts to Islam increased. His cousin Ali bin Abu Talib, his close friend Abu Bakr, and Uthman bin Affan, a wealthy merchant of the Umayyad family, were amongst the first. Others began to accept Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a prophet and the verses of the Holy Qur'an as divine revelation. The message he brought resonated with those who were disillusioned with the gross inequalities in Makkan life. Those who accepted Islam joined the Prophet (peace be upon him) in common worship, prostrating themselves on the ground which they touched with their foreheads in acknowledgement of God's absolute supremacy and their submission to His will.

Conflict with Makkans

As the number of converts grew, it was inevitable that the message of the Prophet (peace be upon him) would bring him into conflict with the Qurayshi establishment. It seemed to many of the wealthy Makkan merchants that revulsion of Muhammad (peace be upon him) at idolatry undermined one of the factors that made Makkah a place of pilgrimage for so many pagans who could pick which god to worship from amongst the pantheon of idols in the House of God (the Kaaba). The reaction of the Qurayshi, Muhammad's own tribe, was particularly hostile since, at the time, they were the guardians of the Kaaba and all the idols therein. These same merchants felt that Muhammad's (peace be upon him) uncompromising message that they should acknowledge that their prosperity ensued from the beneficence of God and that they should show more generosity to those less fortunate than themselves was an overt criticism of their way of life and their values.

An essential part of the message that Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought was a call for social justice. Muslims were enjoined, as a first duty, to form a community (ummah) based on social justice, compassion and, through regular acts of charity, a fair distribution of wealth. In this respect, Islam endorsed all earlier prophets (peace be upon them all) who had based their exhortations on the same principles (belief in and the worship of the one supreme God and social justice on earth), acknowledging that their revelations came from the same source. The Holy Qur'an makes it clear that there should be respect for other monotheistic heavenly religions and that there should be no coercion in matters of faith.

While Islam respected all those who sought social justice, there was no room for compromise with idolators who were driven by selfishness and greed. By 616 CE, the disquiet of the Makkan establishment had turned to anger against Muhammad (peace be upon him). They were particularly incensed by his insistence that, on the Day of Judgement, all would be judged on merit, not on the status, wealth and power they had acquired in life.

Despite Muhammad's (peace be upon him) denial that he had political ambitions, many members of the merchant class saw Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a threat to their power and prosperity. There was talk of offering Muhammad (peace be upon him) trade incentives to persuade him to moderate his criticisms but these were emphatically rejected by the Prophet (peace be upon him). Conflict became inevitable.

Abu Jahl, a leading figure in Qurayshi society, attempted to quarantine the band of Muslims, forbidding the Qurayshi tribe to marry or trade with any of the clan of Hashem, on the grounds that the clan had failed to rein in Muhammad (peace be upon him) and suppress his teachings. This boycott, which was sustained for two or three years, extended to the sale of food and undoubtedly caused the Muslims severe hardship. In 616 CE, on the advice of Muhammad (peace be upon him), a small group of Muslims left Makkah for Abyssinia where they were well-received despite the efforts of a Qurayshi delegation to persuade the Abyssinian ruler to hand them over to the Makkan authorities.

In 619 CE, Khadijah, Muhammad's (peace be upon him) wife of 25 years, and Abu Talib, the uncle who had protected him for some 40 years after the death of Abdul Muttalib, Muhammad's (peace be upon him) grandfather, died. Abu Talib was succeeded as head of the Hashem clan by Abu Lahab, another uncle. Abu Lahab was persuaded by other members of the Qurayshi to withdraw his protection from Muhammad (peace be upon him). Both of Muhammad's (peace be upon him) parents were dead and, without the support of a clan chieftain, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was unprotected and vulnerable. It had become impossible for the Prophet (peace be upon him) to preach and for the ummah to live securely in Makkah.

Migration

In 621 CE, a small group of men from Yathrib (Madinah), a town 250 miles to the north, converted to Islam in the course of a pilgrimage to Makkah. These men undertook to carry the word of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to the citizens of Yathrib. Their mission succeeded to the extent that, in 622 CE, 72 people of Yathrib accepted Islam and took an oath to protect the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). They also swore to cease fighting amongst themselves, thus putting an end to the internecine strife that had riven the Yathrib communities in recent years. In accepting Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a Prophet, they acquired a man of undisputed integrity who they believed would be able to act as a powerful and effective arbiter in disputes

In 622 CE, the Muslim families living in Makkah slipped away to find new homes in Yathrib. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Abu Bakr narrowly escaped assassination, taking refuge in a desert cave, before making their way safely to Yathrib as commanded by God. This departure from Makkah is the hijrah (emigration), from which date the Muslim calendar begins. And from this date, Yathrib also became known as Al-Madinah AlMunawwarah. Madinah was to become the model Islamic city. On arrival, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) built a mosque. This was a simple structure which made use of tree trunks to support the roof, a stone to indicate the direction for prayer and a tree stump as a platform from which the Prophet (peace be upon him) could preach. Around the courtyard of the mosque were huts to accommodate the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his wives. The mosque was a place to contain all of life, and, by encompassing all aspects of the temporal as well as the spiritual, to give some indication of the ultimate unity of God.

Consolidation

In removing the growing Muslim community to Madinah, Muhammad (peace be upon him) sent a message to the tribes of Arabia - the message that Islam transcended all tribal and family loyalties. He quickly assimilated the warring Arab factions of Madinah into the ummah. The shedding of Muslim blood by another Muslim was forbidden. Initially Muhammad (peace be upon him) hoped the Jewish tribes, who also had settled in the environs of the oasis of Madinah, would recognise his prophethood but they refused to accept him. Following another revelation, the direction of prayer was changed from Jerusalem to Makkah, the site of the Kaaba, built by Ibraham. This reorientation indicated to all that Islam was centred on the worship of the one God whom Ibrahim had served so diligently, before that pure faith had been extended into Judaism and Christianity.

At about this time (622/623 CE) Muhammad (peace be upon him) drew up the 'Constitution of Madinah', a set of rules to define the rights and responsibilities of the various tribes. This remarkable document established the principle, observed by later Muslim rulers, that, on condition that taxes were paid to the Muslim authorities, the "People of the Book" (i.e. Jews and Christians) should be free to follow their own religions. This religious tolerance was to distinguish Islam as a political power from some other empires of the ancient world which had tended to persecute those who did not adhere to the state-sponsored religion.

Battle of Badr

Relations between Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Makkan establishment went from bad to worse. The Makkans seized all the property left behind by the Muslims when they had migrated to Madinah. In 624 CE, Muhammad (peace be upon him) led an attack party against a heavily laden caravan belonging to the eminent Makkan trader and head of the Umayyah clan, Abu Sufyan. The caravan escaped unharmed but a punitive expedition of some 800 men, under the command of Abu Jahl, was sent against Muhammad (peace be upon him). The two sides met at near a place called Badr and, in the ensuing battle, although the Muslims were outnumbered, they were victorious. Abu Jahl was amongst those who fell. The battle of Badr was a major turning point in the history of Islam.

This success strengthened the resolve of the Muslims for, against the odds, they had won a decisive victory. Through military success and the astute use of marriage relationships (he had married A'ishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr and his own daughter Fatimah married Ali, who was to become the fourth Caliph), he increased cohesion amongst his followers and strengthened his position in Madinah.

But the ummah was still far from secure. There were pagan enemies in Madinah who rejected Islam and resented the power of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his followers whom they saw as interlopers. There was a still more serious threat from the Makkans who, under Abu Sufyan, decided to expunge the humiliation they had suffered at Badr by wiping out the Muslim community. In 625 CE at Uhud, the Makkans joined battle with the Muslims and, although things went well for the Muslims initially, the Makkan gained the upper hand and defeated them.

Battle of the Ditch

The turning point came at the Battle of the Ditch. A large force of some 10,000 men, under the command of Abu Sufyan advanced towards Madinah, determined to put an end to Islam and its Prophet (peace be upon him). Muhammad (peace be upon him), with a mere 3,000 men at his disposal, ordered the digging of a defensive trench. He himself joined in the strenuous work. The trench rendered the Makkan cavalry useless and the confusion in the Makkan ranks that ensued, combined with the unflinching determination of the Muslims to defend their faith, their Prophet (peace be upon him) and their city, gave Muhammad (peace be upon him) a great victory. A Prophet of the one God, who could defeat a large army with the whole pantheon of pagan gods to support it, was a leader worthy of respect, even, perhaps especially, amongst his enemies.

The Taking of Makkah

In 628 Muhammad (peace be upon him) embarked on an audacious but dangerous mission. He announced he was going on pilgrimage to Makkah. Since it was forbidden for pilgrims to bear arms in Makkah, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was proposing to walk, unarmed, into the heartland of his bitterest enemies. More than a thousand of his followers decided to walk with him. The Makkans were not yet ready to concede to the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him), but equally they knew that they must find some accommodation with him. At the border town of Hudaybiyah, the Makkans refused to allow the Muslims to complete their pilgrimage but agreed that all hostilities between Muslims and Makkans should end and that the Muslims should be allowed full pilgrimage the following year.

Two years later, the Makkans broke their agreement. The Prophet (peace be upon him), now even stronger following further conversions to Islam in the wake of the Hudaybiyah agreement, marched on Makkah at the head of an army of 10,000 followers. The city yielded without a fight; and Muhammad (peace be upon him) took Makkah, as he wished, without bloodshed. He destroyed the idols that so offended him, and reconsecrated the Kaaba to the one God. He adapted the pagan rites of pilgrimage by tying it to the story of Ibrahim, Haajar (Ibrahim's wife), and Ibrahim's first born son, Ishmael (peace be upon him).

The Death Of The Prophet

Muhammad (peace be upon him) died in 632 CE. He had founded a new world religion. He had also presented the world with a concept, the ummah (or community), which stood for social justice, compassion and tolerance. Out of the incorrigible warring factions of the tribes of the Arabian peninsula, Muhammad (peace be upon him) had, with God's help, forged a coherent force capable of spreading out from the Arabian peninsula to the rest of the world.

The Spread of Islam

Abu Bakr succeeded the Prophet (peace be upon him) and, in his short period as Caliph, completed the unification of the Arabs of the peninsula. Under the command of the second Caliph, Umar bin Al-Khattab, the Arabs, now united and a formidable, battle-hardened force, swept north into Iraq and Syria, and west into Egypt. In 636 CE, at the Battle of Yarmuk, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine army and Muslim control of Palestine was established. The fate of the Persian Empire, under the Sassanids, was determined in 637 CE at the battle of Qadisiyyah where another Muslim victory led to the fall of the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon. In the period 639 to 641 CE, Muslim rule was extended to Egypt. By 641 CE, the Muslim empire covered the whole of the Arabian peninsula, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Muslim armies then marched on along the north African coast. In 642 CE, the Muslim commander Amr bin al Aas conquered Cyrenaica. By the end of the decade, Muslim control extended across all of Libya. In 670 CE, the Muslims swept into Tunisia, finally taking Carthage in 693 CE. By 710 CE the Muslims had reached Morocco. Two years leter, the victorious Muslim army crossed the Meditarranean into Spain and, in three years, extended the Muslim writ to all of Spain except for the mountainous northern region.

In one hundred years, the Muslims had grown from a small band of committed followers of the Prophet (peace be upon him) into masters of a massive empire which extended from the Atlantic in the West to the Himalayas in the east.

HAZRAT ALI A.S

Name: Ali ibne Abi Talib (as)

Father: Abu Talib bin Abdul Muttalib bin Hashim.

Mother: Fatimah bint Asad bin Hashim bin Abd Munaf.

Kunniyat (Patronymic): Abul Hasan and Husayn, Abu Turab

Laqab (Title): Al-Wasi, Amir al-Mu'minin

Birth: He was born in the Ka'ba , in thirty 'Am al-Fil (the year of the elephant).

Martyrdom: He was martyred by the Khwariji named Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam at Kufa during the month of Ramadhan in the fortieth year of Hijrah and is buried in Najaf on the outskirts of Kufa.

imam <span style='background-color:yellow'>ali</span> Biography

Amir al-mu'minln Ali (upon whom be peace) was the son of Abu Talib, the Shaykh of the Banu Hashim. Abu Talib was the uncle and guardian of the Holy Prophet (sawas) and the person who had brought the Prophet (sawas) to his house and raised him like his own son. After the Prophet (sawas) was chosen for his prophetic mission, Abu Talib continued to support him and repelled from him the evil that came from the infidels among the Arabs and especially the Quraysh.

According to well-known traditional accounts Ali was born ten years before

the commencement of the prophetic mission of the Prophet (sawas). When six years old, as a result of famine in and around Mecca, he was requested by the Prophet (sawas) to leave his father's house and come to the house of his cousin, the Prophet (sawas). There he was placed directly under the guardianship and custody of the Holy Prophet (sawas).

imam <span style='background-color:yellow'>ali</span> A few years later, when the Prophet (sawas) was endowed with the Divine gift of prophecy and for the first time received the Divine revelation in the cave of Hira', as he left the cave to return to town and his own house he met Ali on the way. He told him what had happened and Ali accepted the new faith. Again in a gathering when the Holy Prophet (sawas) had brought his relatives together and invited them to accept his religion, he said the first person to accept his call would be his vicegerent and inheritor and deputy. The only person to rise from his place and accept the faith was Ali and the Prophet (sawas) accepted his declaration of faith. Therefore Ali was the first man in Islam to accept the faith and is the first among the followers of the Prophet (sawas) to have never worshipped other than the One God.

Ali was always in the company of the Prophet (sawas) until the Prophet (sawas) migrated from Mecca to Medina. On the night of the migration to Medina (hijrah) when the infidels had surrounded the house of the Prophet (sawas) and were determined to invade the house at the end of the night and cut him to pieces while he was in bed, Ali slept in place of the Prophet (sawas) while the Prophet (sawas) left the house and set out for Medina. After the departure of the Prophet (sawas), according to his wish Ali gave back to the people the trusts and charges that they had left with the Prophet (sawas). Then he went to Medina with his mother, the daughter of the Prophet (sawas), and two other women.

In Medina also Ali was constantly in the company of the Prophet (sawas) in private and in public. The Prophet (sawas) gave Fatimah, his beloved daughter from Khadijah, to Ali as his wife and when the Prophet (sawas) was creating bonds of brotherhood among his companions he selected Ali as his brother.

Ali was present in all the wars in which the Prophet (sawas) participated,

except the battle of Tabuk when he was ordered to stay in Medina in place of the Prophet (sawas). He did not retreat in any battle nor did he turn his face away from any enemy. He never disobeyed the Prophet (sawas), so that the Prophet (sawas) said, "Ali is never separated from the Truth nor the Truth from Ali."

On the day of the death of the Prophet (sawas), Ali was thirty-three years old. Although he was foremost in religious virtues and the most outstanding among the companions of the Prophet (sawas), he was pushed aside from the caliphate on the claim that he was too young and that he had many enemies among the people because of the blood of the polytheists he had spilled in the wars fought alongside the Prophet (sawas). Therefore Ali was almost completely cut off from public affairs. He retreated to his house where he began to train competent individuals in the Divine sciences and in this way he passed the twenty-five years of the caliphate of the first three caliphs who succeeded the Prophet (sawas). When the third caliph was killed, people gave their allegiance to him and he was chosen as caliph.

During his caliphate of nearly four years and nine months, Ali followed the way of the Prophet (sawas) and gave his caliphate the form of a spiritual movement and renewal and began many different types of reforms. Naturally, these reforms were against the interests of certain parties that sought their own benefit. As a result, a group of the companions (foremost among whom were Talhah and Zubayr, who also gained the support of A'ishah, and especially Mu'awiyah) made a pretext of the death of the third caliph to raise their heads in opposition and began to revolt and rebel against Ali.

In order to quell the civil strife and sedition, Ali fought a war near Basra, known as the "Battle of the Camel," against Talhah and Zubayr in which Ummul Mu'mineen A'ishah, was also involved. He fought another war against Mu'awiyah on the border of Iraq and Syria which lasted for a year and a half and is famous as the "Battle of Siffin." He also fought against the Khawarij at Nahrawan, in a battle known as the "Battle of Nahrawan." Therefore, most of the days of Ali's caliphate were spent in overcoming internal opposition. Finally, in the morning of the 19th of Ramadan in the year 40 A.H., while praying in the mosque of Kufa, he was wounded by one of the Khawarij and died as a martyr during the night of the 21st of Ramadan. imam <span style='background-color:yellow'>ali</span>

According to the testimony of friend and foe alike, Ali had no shortcomings from the point of view of human perfection. And in the Islamic virtues he was a perfect example of the upbringing and training given by the Prophet (sawas). The discussions that have taken place concerning his personality and the books written on this subject by Shi'ites, Sunnis and members of other religions, as well as the simply curious outside any distinct religious bodies, are hardly equalled in the case of any other personality in history.

In science and knowledge Ali was the most learned of the companions of the Prophet (sawas), and of Muslims in general. In his learned discourses he was the first in Islam to open the door for logical demonstration and proof and to discuss the "divine sciences" or metaphysics (ma'arif-i ilahlyah). He spoke concerning the esoteric aspect of the Quran and devised Arabic grammar in order to preserve the Quran's form of expression. He was the most eloquent Arab in speech (as has been mentioned in the first part of this book).

The courage of Ali was proverbial. In all the wars in which he participated during the lifetime of the Prophet (sawas), and also afterward, he never displayed fear or anxiety. Although in many battles such as those of Uhud, Hunayn, Khaybar and Khandaq the aides to the Prophet (sawas) and the Muslim army trembled in fear or dispersed and fled, he never turned his back to the enemy. Never did a warrior or soldier engage Ali in battle and come out of it alive. Yet, with full chivalry he would never slay a weak enemy nor pursue those who fled. He would not engage in surprise attacks or in turning streams of water upon the enemy. It has been definitively established historically that in the Battle of Khaybar in the attack against the fort he reached the ring of the door and with sudden motion tore off the door and cast it away. Also on the day when Mecca was conquered the Prophet (sawas) ordered the idols to be broken. The idol "Hubal" was the largest idol in Mecca, a giant stone statue placed on the top of the Ka'bah. Following the command of the Prophet (sawas), Ali placed his feet on the Prophet (sawas)'s shoulders, climbed to the top of the Ka'bah, pulled "Hubal" from its place and cast it down.

Ali was also without equal in religious asceticism and the worship of God. In answer to some who had complained of Ali's anger toward them, the Prophet (sawas) said, "Do not reproach Ali for he is in a state of Divine ecstasy and bewilderment. imam <span style='background-color:yellow'>ali</span>

" Abu Darda'', one of the companions, one day saw the body of Ali in one of the palm plantations of Medina laying on the ground as stiff as wood. He went to Ali's house to inform his noble wife, the daughter of the Prophet (sawas), and to express his condolences. The daughter of the Prophet (sawas) said, "My cousin (Ali) has not died. Rather, in fear of God he has fainted. This condition overcomes him often." There are many stories told of Ali's kindness to the lowly, compassion for the needy and the poor, and generosity and munificence toward those in misery and poverty. Ali spent all that he earned to help the poor and the needy, and himself lived in the strictest and simplest manner. Ali loved agriculture and spent much of his time digging wells, planting trees and cultivating fields. But all the fields that he cultivated or wells that he built he gave in endowment (waqf) to the poor. His endowments, known as the "alms of Ali," had the noteworthy income of twenty-four thousand gold dinars toward the end of his life.

ZIARAAT Ziarat-e-Ameenallah To be recited at his shrine Ziarat-e-Mutlaqah To be recited on Sunday To be recited on 17 Rabiul Awwal To be recited at Eid-e-Ghadeer (1) To be recited at Eid-e-Ghadeer (2) To be recited at Shab-e-Besat Wida / farewell ziarat Salwat recited when visiting Madina Salwat on Imam Ali (as) Dua after Ziarat of Imam Ali (as)

IMAM-E-HUSSAIN A.S

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim Hussein al-Shahd Imam of Twelver Shia Islam Kerbela Hussein Moschee.jpg The Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, Iraq Rank 3rd Twelver/Zaidi/Mustaali Imm 2nd Nizr Imm Name Hussein ibn Ali Kunya Abu Abdillh[1][2] Posthumous: Abu al-Ahrr[3] (Arabic for Father of Freedom) Birth 3rd[1] or 5th[4] Sha'aban 4 AH[1][4] 11 or 13 Jan., 626 C.E. Death 10th Muharram 61 AH[1] 13 Oct., 680 C.E. Birthplace Medina[1]

BuriedImam Husayn Shrine, Karbala Life duration Before Imamate: 46 years (4 50 AH)

 7 years with his grandfather Muhammad 7 years with his mother Fatimah 36 years with his father Ali 46 years with his brother Hasan ibn Ali Immate: 11 years (50 61 AH) Titles ash-Shahd[3] (Arabic for The Martyr) as-Sibt[3] (Arabic for The Grandson) Sayyidu Shabbi Ahlil Jannah[3][5] (Arabic for Leader of the Youth of Paradise) ar-Rashd[3] (Arabic for The Rightily Guided) at-Tbi li Mardhtillh[3] (Arabic for The Follower of Gods Will) al-Mubrak[3] (Arabic for The Blessed) at-Tayyib[3] (Arabic for The Pure) Sayyidush Shuhad[1] (Arabic for Master of the Martyrs) al-Waf[3] (Arabic for The Loyal) nc Ali

(Turkish for Third Ali) Spouse(s) Shahr Bn, Umm Rubb, Umm Layl. Father Ali Mother Children Al ibn al-ussein ibn Al (Zayn al-bidn), Ali Akbar, Ali Asghar, Abu Bakr, Omer, Abdullah, Um Kalthoom, Sakeenah, Fatima, Zainab. Ali Hasan Hussein al-Sajjad al-Baqir al-Sadiq al-Kadhim al-Rida al-Taqi al-Hadi al-Askari al-Mahdi Fatimah