He visualized the Prophet embracing him with ardent love and saying...

He visualized the Prophet embracing him with ardent love and saying: “This is my brother”. He remembered the time when the Prophet came to his house one day while he was asleep. Fatima wanted to awaken him but the Prophet said: “Let him sleep, because after me he will be deprived of sleep for a long time”. And thereupon Fatima wept bitterly. He recollected the time when the Prophet had said: “O Ali! God has adorned you in the best manner.

He has endowed you with the love for the poor and the helpless. They will be happy to make you their Imam and you will be pleased to see them as your followers”. He also remembered the time when the Prophet cast this last look on his face and then breathed his last. He as well recollected the grief of Fatima which made her pass away forty days after the death of her father.

He also recollected the faces of the companions of the Prophet who used to say: “During the time of the Prophet we could identify the hyprocrites because of their enmity with Ali”. The Prophet had said not once but many times: “O Ali! Only a hypocrite will be inimical towards you”. At this moment he recollected his comrades who had performed jihad along with him during the lifetime of the Prophet. They were united, helped one another, and had maintained the ties of brotherhood.

But later, during his own time, some of them joined him whereas others opposed him. Some who had wished to become rulers or to acquire worldly gains had died and others were still alive. Those noble-minded companions who were determined to promote truth and justice (May God bless them!) were strangers in this world. They laid down their lives in the path of justice and fidelity and the oppression of the enemies buried them in the depths of the earth.

One of them was Abu Dharr Ghifari - the distinguished companion of the Prophet who could not tolerate that human life should be insulted and, therefore, stood up to oppose oppression and injustice. He was a great man who had no friend left on account of his truthfulness except Ali and who met a very tragic end. Ali recollected the time when Abu Dharr was in the presence of the Prophet wearing a worn-out cloak and placed himself at the disposal of the Prophet for any service whatsoever.

From that time onwards he remained a staunch supporter of truth, so much so that during the time of Uthman he opened a campaign against Bani Umayyah in support of the oppressed and the helpless.