All evidences show that he was one of the genius types of...

All evidences show that he was one of the genius types of individuals who reached the maturity in their early years and surpassed the average men in understanding the truth and high ideals. Had ‘Ali been motivated by his attachment to the Holy Prophet he would not have asked the Prophet to give him time to consult his father. The Prophet was his guardian and teacher and ‘Ali was ready to follow his ethical instructions.

The Prophet used to raise for him every day a banner of his ethics and ‘Ali used to follow him as a child follows his mother. He did not ask the Prophet to give him time to consult his father or to think by himself whether he will follow any of his ethical teachings. Yet when he offered him a new religion he asked the Prophet to give him time to consult his father.

He spent his night thinking and when the truth became clear to him he decided not to consult his father after all and immediately accepted the invitation of the Holy Prophet. He came to the Messenger declaring his Islam and uttering his wise words which neither the ordinary children nor the ordinary men can think of. The invitation of the Messenger to ‘Ali by itself tells us that the Messenger did not consider him an ordinary child.

We did not find in history that the Messenger ever invited any of the children except the Imam ‘Ali. He used to invite only men and women expecting their children to follow them because children cannot think for themselves or distinguish between right and wrong. He privileged ‘Ali by inviting him to adopt the new faith while he was ten years old.

In fact he bestowed on him two exclusive honors: He was the only child whom he invited to the faith and above all he invited him before he invited any of the men. I would like to say that casting doubt on the importance of ‘Ali's adoption of the faith because of his young age does not accord with our belief in the wisdom of the Messenger and soundness of his opinion.

The event which we shall consider in the following chapter indicates that the opinion of the Messenger about ‘Ali does not agree with the opinion of those who argue to the contrary. Al-Jahith and other scholars tried to belittle the value of the Islam of ‘Ali because of his young age. They ignored the fact that the Holy Prophet took him as his minister and brother while ‘Ali did not exceed the thirteenth year of his age.

This took place at the conference which he held with his close relatives at his house in Mecca.