All praise is due to the Lord of the Worlds...

All praise is due to the Lord of the Worlds, who has given us intelligence through which we will be able to differentiate between the truth and falsehood, and He has made clear to us the Right Path and then tests us by many things so that they can bear witness on the day of judgment.

al-Tirmidhi also recorded that the Messenger of Allah said: “I am the House of Wisdom and Ali is its door.” (1) The Messenger said to his daughter Fatimah al-Zahra (AS): “Would it not please you that I have married you to the first Muslim in my nation, their most knowledgeable, and their greatest in Wisdom.” (2) Similarly, Barida narrated: The Messenger of Allah (PBUHH) said to Fatimah (AS) that: “I gave you in marriage to the best in my Ummah, the most knowledgeable in them, the best in patience in them, and the first Muslim among them.” (3) Abu Bakr said: “May Allah never put me in a situation where I cannot have access to Abul Hasan (i.e., Ali) to solve a problem.” Similarly, Sa’id al-Musayyib said: ” Umar Ibn al-Khattab used to beg God to preserve him from a perplexing case which the father of al-Hasan was not present to decide.” Furthermore, Umar said: “If there was not Ali, Umar would have perished.” (4) Aisha once said: “He (Ali) was the most knowledgeable person among those who remained on the Sunnah (of the Prophet).” (5) Ibn Abbas (RA) said: “There were 18 exclusive virtues for Ali which was not for any other person in the Muslim community.” Ibn Mas’ud said: “We were talking that the most trustful referee/Judge in Medina to solve the problems was Ali.” (6) He also reported that Umar said: “Ali was our Judge.” (7) Furthermore , Ibn Mas’ud said: “The Holy Quran has outward and inward meanings and Ali Ibn Abi Talib has the knowledge of both.” (8) Much of the knowledge of the Prophet was transferred to Imam Ali (AS) when the Prophet was taking his last breath: Imam Ali said: “The Messenger of Allah at that time (before his last breath) taught me a thousand chapters of knowledge, every one of which opened for me one thousand other chapters.” (9) Imam Ali (AS) once said: “By Allah, I am the Brother of the Messenger of Allah and his friend and his cousin and the inheritor of his knowledge.

Who has a better title for succeeding him than me? (10) al-Dhahabi in his Talkhis of al-Mustadrak has admitted the above words to be genuine. (11) Also, Imam Ali (AS) himself frequently stated in his sermons: “Ask me before you lose me.