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ALI bin Abu TALIB (R.A.)

During the Life of the Prophet (S.A.W.)
Ali bin Abu Talib (R.A.) was the cousin of Prophet (S.A.W.). He was 10 years old
when he declared Islam (he was not a polytheist). He was the second Muslim after the
Prophet (S.A.W.)’s wife, Khadijah bint Khuwalid (R.A.). He lived with the Prophet
(S.A.W.) and spent his life with him.
Ali (R.A.) was brave and courageous in battles:
 In the Battle of Badr, he fought in single combat in the beginning of the battle. He
defeated and killed Waleed bin Utbah.
 In the Battle of Uhud, he defended the Prophet (S.A.W.) from attack by pagans
alongside other prominent companions.
 In the Battle of Trench, he worked with other companions and defeated a few
pagans who had managed to cross the trench. Ali (R.A.) killed Amr bin Abdu
Wudd, a ruthless and fearless warrior who had challenged Ali (R.A.) to combat.
 Ali (R.A.) played a major role in the Expedition of Khyber. The Prophet (S.A.W.)
announced that he would give the standard (flag) to a man who loved Allah and
Prophet (S.A.W.) and was in turn loved by them. Umar bin Al Khattab (R.A.) said
that it was the only time he longed for leadership, but this particular honor
belonged to Ali (R.A.), and the standard was given to Ali (R.A.).
At the time of Farewell Pilgrimage, Buraydah Aslami (R.A.) complained to
Prophet (S.A.W.) about Ali (R.A.). The Prophet (S.A.W.) ignored this. During their
return to Madinah, he stayed at Ghadir Khumm (the pool of Khumm) and announced
that,
“Allah, he whose patron (maula) I am has Ali as His patron (maula).” (Tirmidhi,
Ahmad)
The word maula means a friend, a helper, or a respected person. According to one
interpretation, it means leader.
After this, Umar bin Khattab (R.A.) congratulated Ali (R.A.).
Ali (R.A.) was very close to Prophet (S.A.W.). It was narrated that Ali (R.A.) said,
“By Him Who split up the seed and created something living, the Apostle of
Allah (May peace and blessings be upon him) gave me a promise that no one but
a believer would love me, and none but hypocrite would nurse grudge against
me.” (Muslim)
According to another tradition, the Prophet (S.A.W.) said,

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“Ali is with the Quran, and the Quran is with Ali.” (Tirmidhi)

As a Rightly Guided Caliph

Assassination of Uthman (R.A.)
A group from Egypt came to Caliph Uthman (R.A.) to complain about their
governor, Abdullah bin Sa’ad (R.A.). Uthman (R.A.) agreed to their demands and the
group returned to Egypt with Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (R.A.), their new governor. On
the way, they intercepted a letter supposedly written by Uthman (R.A.), which told
Abdullah bin Sa’ad (R.A.) to kill the group. They returned to Madinah to interrogate
Uthman (R.A.). He swore that he had not written this letter. It was later proved that the
letter had been written by Marwan bin Al-Hakam. Due to this forged letter, the rebels
sieged Uthman (R.A.). Ali (R.A.) fully supported Uthman (R.A.) in this time. He sent his
two sons Al-Hasan (R.A.) and Al-Husain (R.A.) to protect Uthman (R.A.). However,
rebels climbed the walls and assassinated Uthman (R.A.) while he was reading the
Quran.

Election of Ali (R.A.)

The rebels asked Ali (R.A.) to assume the office of Caliph, but Ali (R.A.) refused.
The rebels also asked several other Companions, including Talha bin Ubaydullah (R.A.)
and Zubayr bin Awwam (R.A.), but all refused. The rebels threatened to take drastic
measures. They also said that the person chosen should possess the qualities of piety,
bravery, knowledge and closeness to Prophet (S.A.W.). Ali (R.A.) possessed all four
qualities. The Companions urged Ali (R.A.) to accept, so he did after laying down some
conditions. The people would obey him, as they wanted him for their leader. Ali (R.A.)
would follow Quran, Hadith and his own wisdom for any decisions. On 21 st Dhul-Hajj
35 A.H. Ali (R.A.) became the fourth Caliph of Islam.

Problems for Ali (R.A.)

Ali (R.A.) faced many problems during his Caliphate, and the immediate problem
was justice for assassination of Uthman (R.A.). Ali (R.A.) was completely sincere to
Uthman (R.A.). He sent his own sons for his protection, and punished them when
Uthman (R.A.) was assassinated when they were guarding him. He wanted justice for the
rebels, as by nature he was a very just person. That being said, the case of the murder of
Uthman (R.A.) was very complicated. No one could understand this better than Ali
(R.A.) himself, as he had been an important member of the Shura (Advisory Council)
and was a great jurist of Madinah. Prophet (S.A.W.) had said,

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If non-Muslims kills Muslims during wartime, but later accept Islam, then their
sins are forgiven. This applied to Khalid bin Waleed (R.A.). If Muslims rebel, but later
surrender, they may be forgiven depending on the circumstances.
At the time of assassination of Uthman (R.A.), there was only one witness, his
wife, Naila (R.A.). She identified Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (R.A.), who had entered the
house first, and grabbed the beard of Uthman (R.A.). Uthman (R.A.) remarked that if his
father Abu Bakr (R.A.) had been alive, he would not be doing this. Hearing this,
Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (R.A.) had left the house, and was not involved in any of the
further proceedings. Both Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (R.A.) himself and Naila (R.A.)
testified to this. Neither could identify any of the other rebels, as they had been
foreigners. Thus, Ali (R.A.) had no suspects. Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (R.A.) was not
guilty of murder; he had only behaved with disrespect. He could not kill all the foreigners
in the city for a crime only a few of them had committed. Therefore, this case would take
some time to sort out.
However, his opponents claimed that Ali (R.A.) delayed justice for personal
reasons. This is false. For example, once he had gathered significant and sufficient proof,
he had Abdullah bin Saba and his followers burned for the false beliefs they spread
during the Caliphate of Uthman (R.A.). In contrast, other Companions wanted justice
immediately. They were close to Uthman (R.A.) and could not bear the thought of his
killers being free. Those who took action against Ali (R.A.) included.) and Talha (R.A.),
Zubayr (R.A.), the widow of Prophet (S.A.W.) Ayesha bint Abu Bakr (R.A Muawiyah
bin Abu Sufyan (R.A.).
As Companions of the Prophet (S.A.W.), we must never insult any of those who
stood against Ali (R.A.). The Prophet (S.A.W.) said,
“Don’t rebuke my Companions; if someone of you spends as much gold as Uhud, he
will not reach the reward of ‘one mud’ of anyone of them, nor half of it.” (Agreed)
The Companions had great affection for each other, so when Ali (R.A.) delayed justice
for murder of Uthman (R.A.) for the reasons mentioned above, misunderstandings arose
which led to conflict. We believe that Ali (R.A.) was correct in his stance, legal thinking
and political approach, but it was a political mistake of Ali (R.A.)’s opponents.

Ali (R.A.) and Muawiyah (R.A.)

Muawiyah (R.A.) accepted Islam after the Conquest of Makkah, while Ali (R.A.)
was amongst the first to accept Islam. Thus, Ali (R.A.) is much more prominent as a
Companion of Prophet (S.A.W.). The opposition of Muawiyah (R.A.) to Ali (R.A.) is
regarded as a political mistake of Muawiyah (R.A.). The reasons for the difference of
opinion between Muawiyah (R.A.) and Ali (R.A.) are listed below:
1. One reason for their conflict was the influence of growing unrest in Arabia. For
example, during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr (R.A.), Abu Sufyan had once offered

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to help Ali (R.A.) become Caliph by force, but Ali (R.A.) had declined. Such
elements now reappeared causing unrest among Muslims, which was among the
factors that weakened the Islamic Empire.

2. In addition, there was an old rivalry between Banu Hashim [tribe of Ali (R.A.)]
and Banu Ummayyah [tribe of Muawiyah (R.A.)]. It had existed long before the
advent of Islam, but had been suppressed during the time of Prophet (S.A.W.) and
the first two Caliphs. It re-emerged during the Caliphate of Uthman (R.A.), and
was one of the causes of the revolt against him.
3. Furthermore, Uthman (R.A.) had also been from Banu Ummayyah, thus
Muawiyah (R.A.) and Uthman (R.A.) had been relatives, so Muawiyah (R.A.)
wanted justice for the blood of his relative.
4. Another reason was that Muawiyah (R.A.) would lose his power. Ali (R.A.) was
removing the old governors. The governors had been complained about before, so
Ali (R.A.) needed to address this issue. Further, the old governors were mostly
from the tribe of Banu Ummayyah, and would make it difficult to have a proper
investigation about the kharjites of Uthman (R.A.) Lastly, Ali (R.A.) wanted to
have people he trusted in these positions. Muawiyah (R.A.) did not want to leave
his office as governor of Syria, as he would not have the authority to deal with the
rebels.

Battle of Camel
Zubayr (R.A.) and Talha (R.A.) originally supported Ali (R.A.) as Caliph, but they
turned against him in their demands for justice for assassination of Uthman (R.A.). Both
of them left Madinah and went to Makkah. Ayesha (R.A.), who was in Makkah at the
time, was returning to Madinah when she met Talha (R.A.) and Zubayr (R.A.), who
informed her about the situation in Madinah. Together, they returned to Makkah raised
an army, which marched to Basra, where they had the support of the people of Basra.
They stopped at Hawab. The events of their stay are narrated in the following tradition:
When Ayesha reached Bani Amer’s well at night, some dogs barked at her. She
asked, “What is the name of this well?” They replied, “This is Hawab’s well”.  She
replied, “Allah’s messenger once said, ‘Then what would you (wives of the prophet)
do when you hear the barking of Al-Hawab dogs?’ I have to return.” Some of those
who were with her said, “Nay you shall go forward so that the Muslims shall see
you and Allah then makes peace between them”. (Masnad Ahmad)
Eventually, Zubayr (R.A.) convinced her to stay, so that the two parties could negotiate
and war could be avoided. From this event, we can gather that the Companions did not
intend to fight each other, rather they hoped for peace.

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At Basra, the army of Ayesha (R.A.), Zubayr (R.A.) and Talha (R.A.) faced the
forces of Ali (R.A.). Ali (R.A.) was reluctant to fight, as the blood of Muslims would be
spilled on both sides. Negotiations took place between the two parties and were almost
successful. Ali (R.A.) assured that he would avenge the blood of Uthman (R.A.).
However, a large number of people in both armies had been involved in the revolt against
Uthman (R.A.). They sabotaged the peace talks, because a truce was against their own
interests.
The rebels planned that, under the cover of night, the rebels in Ali (R.A.)’s army
would attack the other army. The rebels in the other army would do the same on their
side. Thus, both armies would believe that they had been deceived. The plan worked, and
in confusion, the two armies attacked each other. Ayesha (R.A.) personally participated
in the battle. She directed the battle sitting in the howdah of her camel, and the camel
became the center of attention. Thus, the battle came to be known as the Battle of Camel.
Ali (R.A.) emerged victorious in this battle, but as many as 10,000 Muslims were
martyred from both sides. Each party bore equal loss.

Zubayr (R.A.)
During the Battle of Camel, Ali (R.A.) spoke with Zubayr (R.A.) and reminded
him that once the Prophet (S.A.W.) had asked Zubayr (R.A.) whether Ali (R.A.) was his
friend. When Zubayr (R.A.) had replied in the affirmative, the Prophet (S.A.W.) had
predicted that there would be a time when Ali (R.A.) and Zubayr (R.A.) would fight and
that Ali (R.A.) would be right. Recalling this, Zubayr (R.A.) left the battle.
He travelled to a village near Basra. There, he was martyred by Amr bin Jarmooz,
who was on the army of Ali (R.A.), but was not aware that the situation was changing.
Amr bin Jarmooz returned to Ali (R.A.) with Zubayr (R.A.)’s sword and other
belongings. When Ali (R.A.) heard about the death of Zubayr (R.A.), he was very angry
and said that he saw Amr bin Jarmooz’s place in Hellfire. (This incident is narrated in
Mustadrak Hakem.)

Talha (R.A.)
Ali reminded Talha of the sermon of Prophet Muhammad at the event of Ghadir
Khumm. Ali said to Talha, "I adjure you by Allah! Didn’t you hear the Messenger of
Allah (S.A.W.) when he said, ‘Allah, he whose patron (maula) I am has Ali as His
patron (maula). O Allah, be friendly to those who are friendly to him and hostile to
those who are hostile to him.’?" Talha responded "Yes" to Ali, after which Talha
(R.A.) left the battle.
However, Marwan, who was fighting against Ali (R.A.) with Talha (R.A.),
followed Talha (R.A.) and wounded him with a poisoned spear. As Talha (R.A.) was

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taking his last breaths, he saw a young man nearby. Upon enquiry, Talha (R.A.) learned
that he was from the army of Ali (R.A.), so he took the young man’s hand and declared
him a witness to Talha (R.A.)’s pledge of allegiance (Bai ‘at) to Ali (R.A.) and his
acceptance of Ali (R.A.) as Leader of the Believers (Amir-ul-Mu’mineen). Soon after,
Talha (R.A.) passed away. The young man took this news to Ali (R.A.). Acknowledging
Talha (R.A.) as one of the Ten Blessed Companions, Ali (R.A.) said that the Bai ‘at to
Ali (R.A.) was the only thing between Talha (R.A.) and Paradise. (This incident is
narrated in Mustadrak Hakem.)

Ayesha (R.A.)
After the Battle of Camel, Ali (R.A.) treated Ayesha (R.A.) with proper respect as
befitting the Mother of Believers. He treated her with courtesy and sent her back to
Madinah with her brother Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (R.A.). Ayesha (R.A.) subsequently
retired to Madinah with no more interference with the affairs of state. Later, when
Ayesha (R.A.) remembered the Battle of Camel, she wished she had died before
attending it. She cried bitterly whenever she recited the verse of Quran,
“And abide in your houses,” (Al-Ahzab 33:33)
She lived almost 22 years after the Battle of Camel and died in Madinah in 678 AD.