ali

Introduction

Many books have been written on the life of imam Ali ben Abu Abi Talib, his succession to the Caliphate, his disagreements, negotiations and decisions. Old and new libraries are replete with innumerable writings, studies and researches on the imam.

The purpose of this book is not to present a review of incidents or study decisions or analyze actions taken by imam Ali. Nor does the book aim to support or refute what has been written on the imam. Whatever the source of what had been written on him, all writers seem to agree on the audacious Islamic spirit of the imam, his courage, cogency, sound advice, and ingenuity of opinion.

No one has ever doubted that imam Ali ben Abu Abi Talib slept on Prophet Mohammad’s (pbuh) bed on the night of the Hejira (migration), that he knew about Quraish’s conspiracy against the life of the Prophet, and that he was the first child to accept Islam.

Whoever reads Al-Tabari’s tarikh al-umam wa-al-muluk (History of Nations and Kings) or Al-Tabar’s nahj al-balagha (Peak of Eloquence) ot or the writings of Sheikh Mohammad Abdo or ‘Abbas Al-Aqqad or Abod Hassan Al-Zayyat as well as hundreds of other studies on imam Ali, will immediately realize that the imam was a person of knowledge, chastity, wisdom, rectitude, and ingenuity. He was a man of economics and politics who combined both mundane needs and the requirements of the afterworld. Moreover, the imam defined the pillars and principles of the different sciences (psychology, economics, politics, decision-making, crisis and negotiations management) and he laid the foundations of the principles of sovereignty one-thousand years before Jean Bodin’s Six Books of the Commonwealth.

Islam has defined the relationship between man and God, ma...

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...Tabari. tarikh al-rusul wal-muluk (History of the Prophets and Kings). Vol. 3. Pp. 112-113.

For further information about the results of arbitration see The History of Al-Tabari and Dr. Ragheb Al-Sarjani (2006). Arbitration between Mu’awiyya and Ali. Islamstory.com

Ibid. p. 530-534.

Ibid. p. 381.

The Holy Koran. Surat Al-Rum. Verse 30.

The Holy Koran. Surat Al-Nahl. Verse 91.

The History of Al-Tabari, p. 114.

Al-Sharif Al-Radi. nahj al-balagha (Peak of Eloquence). P. 300.

Ibid. p. 264-265.

nahj al-balagha (Peak of Eloquence). P. 81.

nahj al-balagha (Peak of Eloquence). P. 68.

nahj al-balagha (Peak of Eloquence). P. 87.

nahj al-balagha (Peak of Eloquence). P. 81.

nahj al-balagha (Peak of Eloquence). P. 101. The imam (may Allah be pleased with him) No command except by Allah and people say there is need for an amir or governor.”