He repeated his statement twice...

He repeated his statement twice, and each time, I was the only one who stood up, and every time he would tell me to sit.

On the third time, he shook hands with me; thus did I come to inherit my cousin instead of my uncle.'"[^5] According to al­Hakim's Al-Mustadrak ,[^6] and to al­Thahbi's Talkhis , who both testify to its authenticity, Qatham ibn al­‘Abbas was asked once: "How did ‘Ali come to inherit the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) rather than your own selves?" He answered: "It is so due to his being the foremost among us in following him, and in keeping company with him more than anyone of us." It was well­known that ‘Ali, rather than his uncle al­‘Abbas or any descendant of Hashim, was the heir of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his progeny.

They accepted that as a fact, though they were informed of the reason why such inheritance was confined to ‘Ali alone, who was the Prophet's cousin, rather than to al­‘Abbas, his uncle, or to any other uncle or relative of the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny. For this reason, they used to ask ‘Ali (as) once and once Qatham, and the latter used to answer them as stated above in a way that is satisfactory to the understanding of those inquirers.

Otherwise, the answer would be that Allah, the Exalted and omni­Scient, looked upon the people of the earth and chose from among them Muhammad (pbuh) and elevated him to be the Prophet, then He cast another look and selected ‘Ali and inspired to His Messenger, peace be upon him and his progeny, to take him as his heir and successor. On page 125, Vol.

3, of Al-Mustadrak , al­Hakim, having quoted Qatham stating the above, says: "The judge of judges [supreme judge, or grand mufti], Abul-Hasan Muhammad ibn Salih al­Hashimi, has told me that he once heard Abu ‘Umar the judge saying: ‘I heard Isma’il ibn Ishaq the judge, having been informed of what Qatham had said, saying that a man inherits another through either a blood relationship or sincere loyalty, and men of knowledge do not dispute the fact that [under normal circumstances] a cousin does not become the heir while the uncle [his father] is still alive.' According to such consensus, ‘Ali inherited the Prophet's knowledge rather than they." As a matter of fact, chroniclers are sequential in narrating such a fact, especially through the sources of the purified progeny, and suffices us for proof is the Will and its clear texts, Wassalam.