Chapter: The Caliphate of the Commander of the Believers, Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him—and His Pure Descendants

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

Know—may Allah have mercy on us and you—that after Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—no one was more entitled to the caliphate than Alī—may Allah be pleased with him. This was due to the virtues with which Allah, Glorified and Exalted, honored him and which Allah, Most Generous, bestowed upon him in particular; his noble precedence; and his exalted standing with Allah, Glorified and Exalted, with His Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—with his Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—and with all the believers.

Every kind of honor was combined in him. There was no noble quality with which Allah, Glorified and Exalted, had not distinguished him: he was the Messenger’s cousin, the Prophet’s brother, the husband of Fātimah al-Zahrā’—may Allah be pleased with her—and the father of al-Hasan and al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them both—the two fragrant blossoms of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He was one whom the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—loved, the champion of the Arabs, and one who relieved the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—of distress.

Allah, Glorified and Exalted, commanded His Prophet to engage in mutual invocation of Allah’s curse with the People of the Scripture when they challenged him to do so. Allah, Glorified and Exalted, said:

“Say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves.”

Thus, “our sons and your sons” referred to al-Hasan and al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them both—and “our women and your women” referred to Fātimah, daughter of the Messenger of