Inspire me Your obedience...

Inspire me Your obedience, and the practice which brings about Your pleasure, and (inspire me) the avoidance of anything which may bring about Your wrath, O most merciful of all.’ The First Imam: Imam Ali Imam Ali (A) is the son of Abi-T{a>lib (A) and Fa>t}imah daughter of Asad (A). He is the cousin and the son-in-law of the Prophet (S), his was } i, and the first successor of the Prophet as leader of mankind after the prophet, and father of all the ma‘s}oom Imams (A).

Imam Ali was born – uniquely – inside the holy Ka‘bah142 on Friday the thirteenth of Rajab, thirty years after the birth of the holy Prophet (S) and he was fatally wounded by the sword of Ibn Muljim al-Mura>di (curses of Allah be upon him) – one of the Kha>ridjites – on Friday, the nineteenth of the holy month of Ramad}a>n in the Mosque of Kufah, and joined the company of the Almighty three days later at the age of sixty three.

His body was prepared for burial by his sons Imam Hasan (A) and Imam Husayn (A) and he was buried in Najaf where his shrine stands today. They kept the location of his burial site secret as he instructed, in order to be safe from transgressions and desecration by the Kha>ridjites, and al-H{ajja>j, which subsequently proved valid.143 Later on, [some one hundred years later] Imam S{a>diq and Imam Ka>dim made it known to the people. He has virtues and excellent attributes that are not countable.

He was the first person to believe in the Allah’s Messenger, peace be upon him and his pure family, and he never attributed any partner to Allah not even for a blink of the eye, nor did he ever prostrate before an idol, such that it became the norm to say, after the mention of his name, karram Allah wajhah, meaning “Allah has protected and purified his face”. In all battles victory depended on his participation and contribution.

He was a relentless and repetitive attacker, and not a deserter [karra>r and not farrar, he never gave his back to fighting, and never run away, not even once. He was immaculate as a judge, such that the Prophet said about him, “Ali is the best judge among you”.144 142 This is a measure by the Almighty to point to the station of Imam Ali in the sight of Allah, for no other individual has ever been allowed to be born inside the holy Ka’bah.

143 History records that al-H{ajja>j exhumed more than one hundred thousand graves in search of Imam Ali’s grave/coffin. Rawdat al-Jannat, vol.2, p54. 144 Kashf al-Ghummah, vol. 1, p 263. al-Ih}tija>j, vol. 2, p 391.