I enquired again...

I enquired again, “Can you narrate to me something that you heard from the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, concerning `Alī, peace be on him, and his excellences?” He replied, “Yes, I will inform you. Surely the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, became ill and was recovering. Fāṭima, peace be on her, came to visit him and I was sitting on the right side of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessings be on him and his family.

When she saw how weak the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, had become, she started gasping until her tears rolled down her cheeks. The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, asked, ‘Why are you crying, O Fāṭima? Do you not know that Allah, the Exalted, searched the earth thoroughly and chose from it your father, whom He sent as a prophet? He searched it thoroughly a second time and chose your husband.

Then, He revealed to me and I married you to him and made him the executor of my will (waṣī). Did you not know that because of the respect that Allah, the Exalted, has for you, He married you to the most knowledgeable, the most patient, and the foremost from them in accepting Islam?’ [On hearing this] she smiled and rejoiced.

So, the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be on him and his family, decided to increase her joy greatly by informing her about what Allah had destined for Muḥammad and his family. He continued, ‘O Fāṭima! `Alī has eight virtues: Belief in Allah and His Messenger, his wisdom, his wife, his sons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, peace be on them, and his enjoinment of good and forbidding from evil. O Fāṭima!

We Ahl al-Bait have been granted six characteristics that have been granted to no one before us and no one after us.

Our prophet is the best of prophets and he is your father; our heir (waṣī) is the best of heirs and he is your husband; our martyr is the best of martyrs and he is Ḥamza, your father’s uncle; from us are the two grandsons of this nation and they are your two sons; from us is the Mahdī of this nation—behind whom Jesus, peace be on him, will pray.’ Then, he patted al-Ḥusayn on the shoulder and said, ‘From him is the Mahdī of this nation.’” I say: This is how al-Dāraqutnī, the author of al-Jarḥ wa l-ta`dīl has recorded it.

Al-Fitan[^4]: Narrated to us al-Walīd and Rushdain, from Abū Lahī`a, from Abū Qubail, from `Abd-Allah b.