Ali ibn Abi Talib (601-661 CE) was the fourth Sunni caliph and the first

Shia Imam In Shia Islam, the Imamah ( ar, إمامة) is a doctrine which asserts that certain individuals from the lineage of the Islamic prophet Muhammad are to be accepted as leaders and guides of the ummah after the death of Muhammad. Imamah further ...

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

and some Sunni sources introduce Ali as the only person born inside the

Ka'ba The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...

, the ancient shrine in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

which later became the most sacred site in Islam.

Event

Ali was born to Abu Talib and his wife

Fatima bint Asad Fatima bint Asad ( ar, فَاطِمَة بِنْت أَسَد ', 555–626 CE), was the mother of Ali ibn Abi Talib, married to Abu Talib, and an aunt to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Fatima bint Asad and her husband, Abu Talib, acted as p ...

around 600 CE, some thirty years after the

Year of the Elephant The ʿām al-fīl ( ar, عام الفيل, Year of the Elephant) is the name in Islamic history for the year approximately equating to 570–571 CE. According to Islamic resources, it was in this year that Muhammad was born.Hajjah Adil, Amina, ...

. Shia and some Sunni sources report that Ali was the only person born in Ka'ba, the ancient shrine in Mecca which later became the most sacred site in Islam. Some sources also contain miraculous descriptions of the incident. In particular, it is said that the wall of Ka'ba or its door slivered open as Fatima prayed there and shut close after she entered. She later emerged from Ka'ba with a baby boy, as people awaited her outside, unable to enter Ka'ba.

Historiography

The canonical Shia '' Kitab al-Irshad'' and the Sunni ''

The Meadows of Gold ''Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems'' ( ar, مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر, ') is a book of history in Arabic of the beginning of the world starting with Adam and Eve up to and through the late Abbasid Cal ...

'' report that Ali was born inside Ka'ba. Shia sources are unanimous in this belief and regard the incident as unique to Ali and an indication of his high spiritual station. This account is also given by various Sunni authors, who regard birth in Ka'ba as a great distinction, though not unique to Ali. That Ali was born in Ka'ba is also the view of the recent Sunni scholars

Shah Waliullah Dehlawi Quṭb-ud-Dīn Aḥmad Walīullāh Ibn ʿAbd-ur-Raḥīm Ibn Wajīh-ud-Dīn Ibn Muʿaẓẓam Ibn Manṣūr Al-ʿUmarī Ad-Dehlawī ( ar, ‎; 1703–1762), commonly known as Shāh Walīullāh Dehlawī (also Shah Wali Allah), was an Islamic ...

(), Mu'min ibn Hasan al-Shablanji al-Shafi'i (nineteenth century), and

Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy ( ar, محمد سيد طنطاوي; 28 October 1928 – 10 March 2010), also referred to as ''Tantawi'', was an influential Islamic scholar in Egypt. From 1986 to 1996, he was the Grand Mufti of Egypt. In 1996, presid ...

(). The Shia author Razwi lists some Sunni authors with the same view: *

Al-Masudi Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus ...

in ''Murooj-udh-dhahab'' (Volume II) * Muhammad ibn Talha el-Shafi'i in ''Matalib-us-saool'' * El-Umari in ''Sharh ainia'' * Halabi in ''Sira'' (Volume I) * Sibt ibn al-Jauzi in ''Tadhkera khawasil ummah'' * Ibn Sabbagh Maleki in ''Fusoolul mohimma'' * Muhammad bin Yousuf Shafi'i in ''Kifayet al-Talib'' * Mu'min bin Hasan al-Shablanji al-Shafi'i in ''Nurul absar'' * Ibn Zahra in ''Ghiyathul ikhtisar'' * Edvi in ''Nafhatul qudsia'' * Abbas al-Aqqad in a''l-'Abqarriyet al-Imam Ali'' * Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy in ''Min fada-il al-'ashrat al-mubashireen bil janna''

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * {{refend Ali Ali ibn Abi Talib