Abu ‘Umar...

Abu ‘Umar, may Allah be merciful to him, said: “ This is the most correct opinion on the matter ”.[^5] Therefore, ‘Ali was thirteen years old when he accepted Islam at the hands of the Messenger of Allah. But, was he a matured person then, or was he still a child? Let us get the testimony of an eye-witness. Imam al-Haythami (d.

807 H) records: عن أبي رافع قال : أول من أسلم من الرجال علي وأول من أسلم من النساء خديجة Narrated Abu Rafi’: The first to accept Islam among the male adults was ‘Ali and the first to accept Islam from the female adults was Khadijah.[^6] Al-Haythami comments: رواه البزار ورجاله رجال الصحيح Al-Bazzar recorded it and its narrators are narrators of the Sahih ^7 So, Amir al-Muminin ‘Ali was an “adult” when he accepted Islam.

Therefore, his Islam was – in terms of quality - as “perfect” as that of Abu Bakr and the other khalifahs . Moreover, ‘Ali accepted Islam about twenty hours or more before Zayd, Abu Bakr and Khadijah, according to the admission of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah. Therefore, he enjoyed precedence in his “perfect” Islam over all others. This is further confirmed by this hadith documented by Imam al-Tabarani (d.

360 H): حدثنا الحسن بن عبد الأعلى النرسي الصنعاني، حدثنا عبد الرزاق، حدثنا سفيان الثوري، عن سلمة بن كهيل، عن أبي صادق، عن عليم الكندي، عن سلمان الفارسي رضي الله عنه قال: أول هذه الأمة ورودا على نبيها، أولها إسلاما، علي بن أبي طالب Al-Hasan b. ‘Abd al-A’la al-Narsi al-Sana’ani – ‘Abd al-Razzaq – Sufyan al-Thawri – Salamah b.

Kuhayl – Abu Sadiq – ‘Alim al-Kindi – Salman al-Farisi, may Allah be pleased with him: “The first of this Ummah to meet its Prophet (on the Day of Resurrection) will be the first of them to accept Islam, ‘Ali b. Abi Talib .”[^8] Shaykh al-Haji comments: الإسناد: قال الهيثمي: ورجاله ثقات. وقال حمدي السلفي: قلت: إن إبراهيم والحسن من الرواة عن عبد الرزاق بعد اختلاطه. The chain: Al-Haythami said, “ Its narrators are thiqah (trustworthy) ”.

Hamadi al-Salafi also said: “I say: ‘Ibrahim and al-Hasan are among those narrators who transmitted from ‘Abd al-Razzaq during his confusion.” ^9 In simple words, the narrators are all trustworthy indeed. However, al-Hasan narrated from ‘Abd al-Razzaq after the latter’s memory failure and during the consequent confusion. However, the report of ‘Abd al-Razzaq is corroborated by this report, recorded by Imam Ibn Abi Shaybah (d.

235 H): حدثنا معاوية بن هشام حدثنا قيس عن سلمة بن كهيل عن أبي صادق عن عليم عن سلمان قال: أول هذه الأمة ورودا على نبيها أولها إسلاما علي بن أبي طالب.