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The birth of Ali ibn Abi Talib
Ali was born on the 13th of Rajab of the 30th year
of the Elephant (A.D. 600). His cousin, Muhammad, was now 30 years old. Ali's parents were
Abu Talib ibn Abdul Muttalib, and Fatima, the daughter of Asad, both of the clan of
Hashim. Ali was born inside the Kaaba in Makkah. The great
historian, Masoodi, the Herodotus of the Arabs, writes on page 76 of Volume II of his
book, Murooj-udh-Dhahab (The Golden Meadows), that one of the greatest distinctions that
Ali enjoyed was that he was born in the House of Allah.Some of the other authorities who
have affirmed Ali's birth in the Kaaba, are: 1.Muhammad ibn Talha el-Shafei in Matalib-us-saool,
page 11. 2.Hakim in Mustadrak, page 483, Vol. III. 3.El-Umari in Sharh Ainia, page 15. 4.Halabi in Sira, page 165, Vol. I. 5.Sibt ibn al-Jauzi in Tadhkera Khawasil Ummah, page
7. 6.Ibn Sabbagh Maleki in Fusoolul Mohimma, page 14. 7.Muhammad bin Yousuf Shafei in Kifayet al-Talib,
page 261. 8.Shablanji in Nurul Absar, page 76. 9.Ibn Zahra in Ghiyathul Ikhtisar, page 97. 10. Edvi in Nafhatul Qudsia, page 41. Among the modern historians, Abbas Mahmood al-Akkad
of Egypt writes in his book Al-'Abqarriyet al-Imam Ali, (Cairo, 1970), that Ali ibn Abi
Talib was born inside the Kaaba. Another contemporary historian, Mahmood Saeed
al-Tantawi, of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt, writes on
page 186 of his book, Min Fada-il al-‘Ashrat al-Mubashireen bil Janna, published in
1976 by Matab’a al-Ahram at-Tijariyya, Cairo, Egypt: "May God have mercy upon Ali ibn Abi Talib. He
was born in the Kaaba. He witnessed the rise of Islam; he witnessed the Da’wa of
Muhammad, and he was a witness of the Wahi (Revelation of Al-Qur’an al-Majid). He
immediately accepted Islam even though he was still a child, and he fought all his life so
that the Word of Allah would be supreme." An Arab poet composed the following distich on the
birth of Ali: He (Ali) is the one for whom the House of Allah was
turned into a maternity home; And he is the one who threw the idols out of that House; Ali
was the first and the last child ever to be born in the Kaaba. It was a custom of the Arabs that when a child was
born, he was placed at the feet of the tribal idol or idols, thus symbolically
"dedicating" him to the pagan deity. All Arab children were
"dedicated" to the idols except Ali ibn Abi Talib. When other Arab children were
born, some idolater came to greet them and to take them in his arms. But when Ali was
born, Muhammad, the future Messenger of God, came into the precincts of the Kaaba to greet
him. He took the infant into his arms,, and dedicated him to the service of Allah. The
future prophet must have known that the infant in his arms was some day going to be the
nemesis of all idolaters and polytheists and of their gods and goddesses. When Ali grew
up, he extirpated idolatry and polytheism from Arabia with his sword. Birth in Kaaba was one out of many distinctions that
God bestowed upon Ali. Another distinction that he enjoyed was that he never adored the
idols. This again makes him unique since all Arabs worshipped idols for years and years
before they abjured idolatry and accepted Islam. It is for this reason that he is called
"he whose face was honored by Allah." His face was indeed honored by Allah as it
was the only face that never bowed before any idol. Ali was the youngest child in the family. Of the
three of his brothers, Talib and Aqeel, were many years older than him; Jaafer was ten
years older. The birth of Ali filled the heart of the future
Apostle with boundless happiness. The child was someone "special" for him. After
all, Muhammad had many other cousins and they had their own children, and Ali himself had
three elder brothers; but he didn't show any interest in any of them. Ali and Ali alone
was the focus of his interest and love. When Ali was five years old, Muhammad adopted him,
and from that moment they were never to part with each other. There is a story that once there was a famine in
Makkah, and the surrounding areas, and Abu Talib, being in dire straits at the time, was
finding it difficult to support a large establishment. It occurred to Muhammad that he
ought to try to mitigate some of his uncle's burden of responsibilities, and was thus
prompted to adopt Ali. It is true that Muhammad adopted Ali but not for the
reason stated above. In the first place, Abu Talib was not in such dire straits that he
could not feed a child of five; he was a man of rank and substance, and his caravans plied
between Hijaz and Syria or between Hijaz and Yemen. In the second place, feeding a child
of five years would have hardly made any difference to a man who fed even strangers if
they were hungry. Muhammad and Khadija adopted Ali after the death of
their own sons. Ali thus filled a void in their lives. But Muhammad, the future prophet,
also had another reason for adopting Ali. He picked out Ali to bring him up, to educate
him, and to groom him for the great destiny that awaited him in the times to come. Dr.
Taha Hussain of Egypt says that the Messenger of God himself became Ali's guide, teacher
and instructor, and this is one more distinction that he enjoys, and which no one else
shares with him (Ali). About Islam it has been said that of all the
universal religions, it is the only one which has grown in the full light of history, and
there is no part of its story which is in obscurity. Bernard Lewis In an essay on Muhammad and the origin of Islam,
Ernest Renan remarks that, unlike other religions which were cradled in mystery, Islam was
born in the full light of history. "Its roots are at surface level, the life of its
founder is as well known to us as those of the Reformers of the sixteenth century".
(The Arabs in History, 1960,) G. E. Von Grunebaum Islam presents the spectacle of the development of a
world religion in the full light of history. (Islam, 1969) Similarly, it may be said that of all the friends
and companions of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, Ali is the only one who grew up in the
full light of history. There is no part of his life, whether it is his infancy, childhood,
boyhood, youth, manhood, or maturity, that is hidden from the spotlight of history. He was
the cynosure of all eyes from his birth to his death. On the other hand, the rest of the
companions of the Prophet come to the attention of the student of history only after they
accept Islam, and little, if anything, is known about them until then. Ali was destined to become the right arm of Islam,
and the shield and buckler of Muhammad, the Messenger of God. His destiny was inseparably
linked with the destiny of Islam, and the life of its Prophet. He was present at every
juncture in the history of the new movement, and he played the stellar role in it. It was,
incidentally, a role that he alone could have played. He reflected the "image"
of Muhammad. The Book of God itself called him the "soul" or the alter ego (a
second self) of Muhammad in verse 61 of its third chapter, and paraded his illustrious
name across the horizons of history. In the years to come, the creative synergy of
Muhammad and Ali – the master and the disciple – was going to place the
"Kingdom of Heaven" on the map of the world.
