Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: David Lelyveld, Aligarh’s First Gen-

eration: Muslim Solidarity in British India (Princeton, 

N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1977); K. A. Nizami, 

History of the Aligarh Muslim University (Delhi: Idarah-i 

Adabiyat-i Delli, 1995).

Ali ibn Abi Talib

 

(ca. 597–661)  cousin and 

son-in-law of Muhammad, the fourth caliph of the 

Sunni Muslim community, and first imam of the Shia

A native of m

ecca

, he was one of the first persons 

to accept Islam after Muhammad’s wife k

hadiJa

(d. 619). He grew up in Muhammad’s household 

and married his daughter F

atima

. Ali’s courage in 

battle at Badr (624) and elsewhere converted him 

into a chivalric hero and warrior saint of Muslim 

lore.

Ali is the focus of controversy in the succes-

sion to leadership of the Muslim community after 

Muhammad’s death in 632. This resulted in the 

sectarian division between Sunni and Shii Islam. 

The partisans (shia) of Ali believed that m

Uham

-

mad

 appointed him his successor following the 

Farewell Pilgrimage to m

ecca

 a few months 

before Muhammad’s death. Many Shia have con-

sidered this a divinely inspired designation that 

included the descendants of Muhammad’s house-

hold through Ali.

Following Muhammad’s death, a

bU

  b

akr

 (d. 

634) was elected as the first 

caliph

. In order to 

avoid a division in the early Muslim community, 

Ali recognized Abu Bakr’s right to rule and that of 

the next two caliphs, U

mar

 

ibn

 

al

-k

hattab

 (d. 644) 

and U

thman

 

ibn

 a

FFan

 (d. 656). Ali was elected the 

fourth caliph under controversial circumstances 

following the murder of Uthman. Accused of 

complicity in the assassination, Ali’s period of rule 

was mired in civil war with his rival, Muawiya ibn 

Abi Sufyan, leader of the powerful Umayya clan 

of Mecca. His support dwindled when a faction, 

the k

haWariJ

 (seccessionists), rebelled against him 

during the Battle of Siffin (657) because he had 

submitted the conflict with Muawiya to arbitra-

tion. Ali’s forces succeeded in defeating these reb-

els at Nahrawan in 658, but one of the Khawarij 

assassinated him in Kufa, i

raq

, in 661. Muawayya 

(r. 660–80) became the next caliph and founded 

the U

mayyad

 c

aliphate

 in Syria.

While some “extremist” Shiis virtually deify 

Ali, most consider belief in Muhammad’s des-

ignation of Ali as his successor a religious duty 

alongside belief in the oneness of God and the 

prophethood of Muhammad. The 

martyrdom

of Ali, and especially the massacre of his son 

al-Husayn and his companions at the Battle of 

k

arbala

 (680), made the paradigm of redemptive 

suffering a characteristic of Shii salvation history.