For he was a foster son to him...

For he was a foster son to him, opening his eyes for the first time in the Prophet's lap. He grew up in his care, and had ample opportunity to interact with him and to follow in his footsteps, certainly more than any other human being did.[^5] There is a brimful of evidence from the lives of both the Prophet and Imam `Ali that the former had been been providing Ali with special apostolic training.

The Prophet used to single him out for the concepts and truths he transmitted concerning the Call of Islam. For instance, whenever `Ali exhausted his line of questioning with the Prophet, the latter would anticipate him, thereby contributing further to the cultivation of his mind.[^6] They would spend long hours, day and night, in private.

The Prophet opened `Ali's mind to the ideas of the Mission; he taught him about the problems to be encountered along the way and the practical approach adopted until the last day of his noble life. In his al-Mustadrak, al-Hakim relates the words of Abu Ishaq: “I asked al Qasim b.

al-`Abbas, `How is it that `Ali is the heir of the Messenger of God?' He replied, Because among us he is the first to reach him and the closest in clinging to him...”[^7] In Hilyat al-Awliya ' Ibn `Abbas' asserted that “We used to discuss how the Prophet had sworn `Ali in with seventy oaths, which he would never have asked of anyone else.”[^8] In al-Khasa'is, al-Nassa'i relates that Imam `Ali had stated, “I had a status with the Prophet that no other person possessed.

I used to call on the Prophet of God every night. If he was praying, he would finish off with praisngs to God.

When not praying, he would admit me in.”[^9] It is also related that Imam `Ali had said, “My visitations to the Prophet were of two kinds: one by night and another by day...”[^10] And al­ Nassa'i recounts that he used to say, “Whenever I questioned the Prophet he obliged; when I remained silent he anticipated me...”[^11] This is also related by al-Hakim in his al-Mustadrak, with a note on its soundness, based on two famous authorities, or shaykhayn [^12] al Bukhari and Muslim.

Al-Nassa'i says that Umm Salamah declared the following: About the one to whom Umm Salamah has sworn allegiance: “Of all people `Ali is closest to God's Messenger ...On the very morning that Gods Messenger was to die, [the Messenger] sent for 'Ali. I believe he had dispatched him for something. Then he asked thrice: Has `Ali arrived vet? The latter returned before sunrise.