Thread by @ostadjaan

A Thread on Imam Ali.
Since these day overlap with the anniversary of #ImamAli’s martyrdom, I thought it was a good time to offer a thread on his significance in Islam.

It’s of course well-known that he is the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, his son in law through marriage to the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, and father to Imam Hasan and Imam Hossein.

According to most Muslim sources, he was the first male convert to Islam. (The first convert overall was the Prophet’s wife Khadija.)

Imam Ali is both the first Imam of the Shi’i tradition and the fourth caliph of the Sunni tradition. Being the father of Imams Hasan and Hossein, and Fatima’s husband, he is also a member of the Ahl-e bayt (the household of the Prophet Muhammad).

Accordingly to virtually the whole of the Islamic tradition, he is the “Gate” (bab) through which one enters the “City of Knowledge” that is the very being of the Prophet.

This is attested to in the hadith of the Prophet “I am the city of knowledge, and Ali is its gate.” In the premodern times many cities were walled, and in order to enter the city you had to go through the gate, in this case Ali.

That principle of Ali being the Friend of God (Wali Allah) is so central to the Shi’a and certain other traditions that after testifying that there is but one God, and the Prophet is the Messenger of God, there is a third refrain added: that Ali is the friend of God.

In the vernacular traditions of Shi’ism, there is a tradition right down to our own age that when people need to do something that requires a lot of physical exertion, they call on Imam Ali to aid them, as one who was himself aided by God: Ya Ali madad!

Almost all the Sufi lineages trace themselves back to the baraka of the Prophet through a silsila (lineage) that goes through Ali. There is one branch of one that does not (Naqshbandi order) and even they go through Imam Ja’far Al-Sadiq, so they still partake of Imam Ali.

The mystical knowledge of Imam Ali became legendary. Both Shi’a & Sunni sources love to comment about how the companions of the Prophets used to listen to Imam Ali from dusk to dawn talk about the inner meaning of the Qur’an.

They never got pasted the “B” of Bismillah in the first verse of the Qur’an. And Ali identified himself, mystically, as the dot under the letter B of the Bismillah. (more or less, the dot over the "i" of the "in" that you see "in the name of God, the Rahman, the Rahim."

Many mystical sources also talk about Imam Ali as the person to have embodied the notion that if you want to know God, you have to begin by knowing yourself.

It is this quality of the mystical knowledge of the Prophet that is referred to in the account of Ghadir Khumm, in which the Prophet referred to Ali as his intimate friend and successor with the phrase: “Man kuntu mawlahu, fa hadha Ali mawlahu”.

Meaning: "For whomever I have been his Mawla (master/protecting friend), henceforth Ali is his Mawla." There is of course a lot of disputation about what this "mawla" signified.

Classically, almost every single Qawwali session started with a song in praise of God, then one in praise of the Prophet, and then one in praise of Imam Ali to talk bout the model of spiritual transmission.

There is probably no better known Qawwali song than the ones that begin with this: Man kuntu Mawla… The version by Nusrat is particularly famed.

Remember that the people singing this and listening to this were overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims. Love of Imam Ali (and love of the Ahl-e Bayt) was a universally shared Muslim trait among Sunnis and Shi’a. Again, Nusrat: (Ali Mawla, Ali Mawla, Dam Dam)

In the whole of the Muslim tradition, Imam Ali was the embodiment of that key Muslim quality of chivalry, not the European class-defined quality, but the Islamic model of love, devotion, self-sacrifice, courage, and generosity.

It’s the reason was Ali is the embodiment of Futuwwa (chivalry), also called Javan-mardi (idealized code of behavior youth).

That particular trait of chivalry is why he was often called “The Lion of God”, immortalized in the Qawwali lines which refer to him as Shah-e Mardan, Shir-e Yazdan (“King of men”, “God’s Lion”).

Ali was so well-known for his bravery that even his sword is iconized: The Zulfiqar (dhu ‘l-fiqar) was a two-pronged sword. Ali was as well-known for yielding his sword in a righteous cause as he was to sheath his sword.

That last account is immortalized in the poetry of Mawlana Rumi, the famed (Sunni) mystic whose first book of the Masnavi ends with an account of Imam Ali. onbeing.org/blog/sheath-yo…

Rumi famously has Ali putting his sword back in its sheath when a conquered enemy spits on his blessed face. When the puzzled enemy asks why, Ali responds that everything he does is for the sake of God. When he got angry, he put his sword back b/c he will not act on his anger.

“I am a mountain, God’s my solid base,
Like straw I’m blown just by thought of His face;
My longing changes once His wind has blown,
My captain is the love of Him alone.”
-Rumi on Imam Ali

Ali was known as being a great lover and protector of the weak and disenfranchised, and attracted to himself many of the companions of the Prophet like Abu Dharr (Abu Zar) who were radically committed to social justice.

Ali was also known to empty the public treasury (bayt al-maal), and anonymously bring food to the poor and needy, particularly the orphans.

Ali was an undisputed master of eloquence, and one of the most eloquent documents in all of Arabic literature is traced back to him: the Nahj al-Balagha (“Peak of Eloquence”). Reza Shah-Kazemi has published two beautiful books based on this: amazon.com/dp/1908092181/…

Reza Shah-Kazemi has an earlier book as well: and amazon.com/Justice-Rememb…

Imam Ali’s quality of chivalry continued to his last days. He was so known for both his courage & his devotion to God that his assassins did not dare face him. They waited till he was absorbed in prayer, knowing that that would be the one occasion for them to attack him.

Ali lived for three days with the poisoned injury from the sword of his assassin. Ever the chivalrous soul, Ali insisted that his assassin receive the same food and drink as he himself for that time.

His last words upon being assassinated, according to tradition, were: “By the Lord of the Ka’ba, I have won!”

There is no chivalrous Soul like Ali
There is no sword like Zulfiqar
The King of Men
Lion of God!
Ali Ali ….

La fata illa Ali
La Sayf illa Zulfiqar

Scenes of Imam Ali with the Prophet were favorites of Muslim miniature artists, such as this classic one of Imam Ali overthrowing the idols from the Ka'ba.

If these kinds of information appeal to you, join us for our courses on Illuminated Courses. Our first class is on Mawlana Rumi, and there is a lengthy discussion of the episode of Imam Ali discussed above: illuminatedcourses.com/theheartofrumi… The courses are open to everyone!