134 – ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib * (M, 4)

A descendant of Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf; an imam, a devoted worshipper, Abū Muḥammad al-Hāshimī, the Medinan, nicknamed al-Sajjād (“the one who prostrates often”).

He was born the year Imam ʿAli was killed and was therefore given his name.

He transmitted ḥadith from his father Ibn ʿAbbas, from Abū Hurayrah, Ibn ʿUmar, Abū Saʿīd, and others.

Those who narrated from him include his sons ʿĪsā, Dāwūd, Sulaymān, and ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, as well as al-Zuhrī, Manṣūr ibn al-Muʿtamir, Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm, ʿAli ibn Abī Ḥamalā, and many more.

His mother was the daughter of the Kindan king Mishraḥ ibn ʿAdī. He was powerfully built, handsome like his father, tall and awe-inspiring, with an attractive beard that he dyed with wasmah (indigo).

Al-Awzāʿī and others report that he would perform 1,000 prostrations in a single day.

Ibn Saʿd said, “He is reliable but narrates little.”

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān once told him, “I cannot put up with you sharing both my name and my kunya; change it,” so he was styled Abū Muḥammad.

ʿIkrimah relates: Ibn ʿAbbas said to me and to his son ʿAli, “Go to Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī and listen to his reports,” so we found him in one of his orchards.

ʿAli ibn Abī Ḥamalā said: I entered upon ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah—he was dark-complexioned and stout—and I noticed a large mark of prostration on his forehead.

Ibn al-Mubārak said: He owned 500 trees and would pray two rakʿahs at each tree every single day.