‘Āli ibn Abi Tālib (رضي الله عنه)
Who Was He?
He was ‘Āli ibn Abi Tālib ibn Abdul Muttalib, the son of the Prophet’s uncle, the banner of the rightly guided, the light of the obedient, the leader of the just, the heart of the insightful, the tongue of those who are inquisitive, the foremost of them in faith, the husband of Fatimah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ).
His Virtues
- The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “Whoever I am a patron to, ‘Āli is also his patron.”
- Sa’id bin Abi Waqqas (رضي الله عنه) reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said to ’Āli, “You are to me like Harūn was to Mūsā except that there will be no prophet after me.”
- ‘Āli, may Allāh be pleased with him, said: “The Prophet (ﷺ), the unlettered, gave me a promise that: ‘No one will love you except a believer and no one will hate you except a hypocrite.’”
- From Habashī bin Junādah said: “I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say, “’Āli is from me and I am from him.”
And many more.
Before we present some of the scenes from his struggle, I say: Islām has indeed prescribed Jihād as a protection for the truth, rejection of any act of injustice, and suppression of aggression and to defeat the tyrant.
As for the fabrications and accusation of the Orientalists, the malice toward Islām from the other religions and the claim that it was the Muslims who first used force where there was no justification for it, those are all lies and part of the scheme to efface Islām from the Earth and make the Muslims slaves of the Crusaders and Zionists.
A time comes where fighting becomes obligatory and its followers and threatened to extinction and the hostile forces unite to wipe out Islām and the Muslims forever, fighting becomes the only alternative for survival. Such situations and circumstances had developed in the early days of Islām, before and after the Hijrah. The same situation developed again in recent times when the lands of Islām fell into the hands of the rogues of the earth, and the most devilish of politices have been drawn up to extinguish them little by little. How can the call to arms, therefore, be considered strange, and those who dedicate themselves to sacrifice in Allāh’s way be looked upon with disdain? How can the vocation of death be disapproved in a nation upon which butchers are pouncing from all quarters?
To be Continued.
[Source: Men and Women Around the Messenger by Sa’d Yusuf Abu ‘Aziz, p. 89-91]
