leave you until last except to reserve you for myself. You are to me as Aaron was to Moses, except that there is no prophet after me. You are my brother and my heir.”
When the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—gave Fātima—may Allah be pleased with her—in marriage to Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—he said to her, “I have married you to one who is a leader in this world and a leader in the Hereafter.”
Abū Saīd al-Khudrī related: We were near the Prophet’s house with a group of the Emigrants and the Ansār when the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—came out to us and said, “Shall I tell you who are the best among you?” We replied, “Yes.” He said, “The best among you are those who give people their due in full and leave them well pleased. Indeed, Allah—mighty and majestic—loves the God-fearing servant who remains out of public view.” Then Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him—passed by, and the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “The truth is with this man! The truth is with this man!”
Muhammad ibn al-Husayn—may Allah have mercy upon him—said: Alī’s merits and virtues are too numerous to count. Allah—mighty and majestic—honored him with the distinction of fighting the Kharijites, turned his sword against them, and made his battle against them a sword of truth until the Hour comes.
When Uthmān ibn Affān—may Allah be pleased with him—was killed, Allah cleared Alī of involvement in his killing, and the caliphate passed to him, as Safīna and Abū Bakra narrated from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “The caliphate after me will last thirty years.” After Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with them—had passed on, Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—became the fourth caliph. The people in Medina then gathered around him, but he refused their request. They would not leave him alone, so he said, “My pledge of allegiance shall not be given in secret. Rather, I shall go out to the mosque, and whoever wishes to pledge allegiance to me may do so.” He went out to the mosque, and the people pledged allegiance to him.