Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (7/611)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

and he added, “No servant will ever taste the sweetness of faith until he knows with certainty that whatever has reached him could never have missed him, and whatever has missed him could never have reached him. [In another wording he said: ‘Every man is guarded until his appointed term.’]

ʿAli used to enter the mosque every night and perform prayers there. On the night preceding the morning in which he was killed, he was anxious and gathered his family. When he left for the mosque, the geese shrieked in his face; they tried to hush them (1), but he said, “Leave them, for they are mourners.” He then went out to the mosque, where Ibn Muljam struck him, and what we have already mentioned came to pass (2).

The people said, “O Commander of the Believers, shall we not annihilate the entire tribe of Murād?” He replied, “No; rather, imprison him and treat him well as a captive (3). If I die, then kill him, and if I live, the law of retaliation for wounds will apply.”

Umm Kulthūm, daughter of ʿAli, kept saying: “What do I have to do with the dawn prayer? My husband ʿUmar, Commander of the Believers, was killed during the dawn prayer, and my father ʿAli, Commander of the Believers, was killed during the dawn prayer—peace be upon him.”

ʿAli was asked, “Will you not appoint a successor?” He said, “No. I shall leave you (4) just as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ left you. If Allah intends good for you, He will unite you under the best among you, just as He united you under the best among you after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” This was, at the very close of his worldly life, a clear acknowledgment from him of the merit of al-Ṣiddīq.

It has been established from him by multiple concurrent chains (mutawātir) (5) that he delivered a sermon in Kufah during his caliphate and seat of rule, saying: “O people! The best of this ummah after its Prophet is Abu Bakr, then ʿUmar; and were I to name the third, I would do so.”

Another report from him states that, while descending from the pulpit, he said: “Then ʿUthmān, then ʿUthmān.”

When ʿAli died, his family undertook his washing and burial. His son al-Ḥasan led the funeral prayer over him and pronounced four takbīrs (6), though some narrations mention more.

ʿAli was buried in the residence of the caliphate; it is also said that he was buried opposite the congregational mosque on the qiblah side, in a room belonging to the houses of the family of Jaʿdah ibn Hubayrah, across from the booksellers’ gate. Others say he was buried in the outer part of al-Bahūfah; others, in al-Kanāsah; still others say he was buried in the open plain, [and some say in the wall of the Great Mosque of Kufah].

Shurayk the judge and Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn said: after reconciling with Muʿāwiyah, his [son] al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAli transferred him from Kufah and buried him in Madinah (7) in al-Baqīʿ, beside his [wife] Fāṭimah, daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

ʿĪsā ibn Dāʾb said: Rather, when they transported him, they placed him in a box (8) on a camel. As they passed through the lands of the tribe of Ṭayy, they lost that camel, and Ṭayy took it, thinking the box contained wealth. When they opened it and discovered a deceased man inside (9), they buried him in their land, so his grave is unknown to this day. The more widely held view, however, is that his grave remains in Kufah, as ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿImrān reported that Khālid ibn—

(1) In A: fasakna hunna (they dwelt among them). (2) In A: ma taqaddama (what has gone before). (3) In A: asrahu (he captured him). (4) In A: bal atrukukum (but I leave you). (5) In A: bi-tawattur ’anhu (with harshness toward him). (6) In A: fa-kabbara ’alayhi arba‘an (and he circled him four times). (7) In A: ila al-Madīna (to Medina). (8) In A: da‘aba ’anhu ’ammu; bal lammā arādū an yaḥmilūhu ila al-Madīna li-yadfinūhu bihā ja‘alūhu fī sundūq (his uncle took charge of him; indeed, when they wished to carry him to Medina to bury him there, they placed him in a coffin). (9) In A: tayya dhālika al-ba‘īr bimā ’alayhi yaḥsibūnahu mālan; fa-lammā wajadūhu mayyitan daffanūhu fī al-sundūq (that camel trampled what it carried—which they considered property—so when they found it dead, they buried it in the coffin).

عنه، وإنه لا يجد عبد حلاوة الإيمان حتى يعلم أن ما أصابه لم يكن ليخطئه، وما أخطأه لم يكن ليصيبه [وفي رواية أنه قال: حارس كل امرئ أجله] . وكان علي يدخل المسجد كل ليلة فيصلي فيه، فلما كانت الليلة التي قتل في صبيحتها قلق تلك الليلة، وجمع أهله، فلما خرج إلى المسجد صرخ الإوزُّ في وجهه فسكتوهن (١) عنه فقال: ذروهن فإنهن نوائح، فلما خرج إلى المسجد ضربه ابن ملجم فكان ما ذكرنا (٢) قبل. فقال الناس: يا أمير المؤمنين ألا نقتل مرادًا كلها؟ فقال: لا ولكن احبسوه وأحسنوا إساره (٣) ، فإن مت فاقتلوه وإن عشت فالجروح قصاص. وجعلت أم كلثوم بنت علي تقول: ما لي ولصلاة الغداة، قتل زوجي عمر أمير المؤمنين [في] صلاة الغداة، وقتل أبي [علي] أمير المؤمنين [في] صلاة الغداة، (عليه السلام) . وقيل لعلي: ألا تستخلف؟ فقال: لا ولكن أترككم (٤) كما ترككم رسول الله ﷺ ، فإن يرد الله بكم خيرًا يجمعكم على خيركم كما جمعكم على خيركم بعد رسول الله ﷺ ، فهذا اعتراف منه في آخر وقت الدنيا بفضل الصديق. وقد ثبت عنه بالتواتر (٥) أنه خطب بالكوفة في أيام خلافته ودار إمارته، فقال: أيها الناس إن خير هذه الأمة بعد نبيّها أبو بكر، ثم عمر، ولو شئت أن أسمي الثالث لسميت. وعنه أنه قال وهو نازل من المنبر: ثم عثمان ثم عثمان. ولما مات علي ولي غسله ودفنه أهله، وصلَّى عليه ابنه الحسن وكبّر أربعًا (٦) ، وقيل أكثر من ذلك. ودفن علي بدار الخلافة وقيل تجاه الجامع من القبلة في حجرة من دور آل جعدة بن هبيرة، بحذاء باب الوراقين وقيل بظاهر البهوفة، وقيل بالكناسة، وقيل دفن بالبرية [وقيل بحائط جامع الكوفة] . وقال شريك القاضي وأبو نعيم الفضل بن دكين: نقله [ابنه] الحسن بن علي بعد صلحه مع معاوية من الكوفة فدفنه بالمدينة (٧) بالبقيع إلى جانب [زوجته] فاطمة بنت رسول الله ﷺ . وقال عيسى بن دأب: بل لما تحملوا به حملوه في صندوق (٨) على بعير، فلما مروا به ببلاد طيِّئ أضلوا ذلك البعير فأخذته طيِّء تحسب فيه مالًا، فلما وجدوا بالصندوق (٩) ميتًا دفنوه في بلادهم فلا يعرف قبره إلى الآن، والمشهور أن قبره إلى الآن بالكوفة كما ذكر عبد الملك بن عمران أن خالد بن

(١) في أ: فسكنوهن. (٢) في أ: ما تقدم. (٣) في أ: أسره. (٤) في أ: بل أترككم. (٥) في أ: بالتوتر عنه. (٦) في أ: فكبر عليه أربعًا. (٧) في أ: إلى المدينة. (٨) في أ: دأب عنه عمه: بل لما أرادوا أن يحملونه إلى المدينة ليدفنوه بها جعلوه في صندوق. (٩) في أ: طيء ذلك البعير بما عليه يحسبونه مالًا فلما وجدوا بذلك ميتًا دفنوه بالصندوق.