While you know that ‘Ali is that obedient believer of...

While you know that ‘Ali is that obedient believer of the

Messenger who heard the Prophet say about Fatima:

"Surely Allah is angered when you are angered, and is pleased at your

He also said to Fatima while holding her hand:

"He who knows this, knows her, and he who does not know her; she is part

of me, she is my heart and my spirit which is in my side, thus he who

"Fatima is part of me, that which annoys her annoys me, and harms me is

"Fatima is part of me, he who angers her, angers me." [^17]

Did the Prophet limit his praise of ‘Ali to his precedence in adhering

to Islam? Did he endeavour to keep this a secret by only informing his

and raise it publicly and announce:

"He was the first to believe in me, and he will be the first to shake my

He also informed his companions that:

"The first among you to appear at my domain (reservoir), is he who was

the first among you to follow Islam, i.e, ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib."

Could this so-called secret remain hidden from the companions and those

that followed them in adhering to the truth; while they insisted on

extolling him as the following group did: Salman the Persian, Anas Ibn

Malik, Zaid Ibn Arqam, Abdullah Ibn Hijl, Hashim Ibn Utba, Malik

Al-Ashtar, Abdullah Ibn Hashim, Abu Amrah Adi Ibn Hatem, Abu Rafe,

Buraidah, Jundub Ibn Zuhair, and Um Al-Khair Ibnat Al-Harash. [^18]18

And, is claiming that the Prophet (S) paid little attention to ‘Ali

consistent with the Qur’anic declaration that he (‘Ali (as)) is the same

as the Prophet's self?! Or, that it (Qur’an) made the reward for the

divine message the love of ‘Ali (as)? Or, with that which was narrated

in the story of the roasted bird-which is mentioned in the Sahihs, and

"O Allah, bring the most beloved creature to You [to Allah] so that he

"Surely ‘Ali is the most beloved of all men, and the most precious to