ʿAbd Allah al-Qasri—the Umayyad governor under the caliph Hisham—once demolished several of their houses and (1) uncovered a grave containing an old man whose hair and beard were entirely white. It proved to be ʿAli [ibn Abi Talib]. He wanted to burn the body, but he was told, “Governor, the Umayyads do not demand all of this of you,” meaning such excessive zeal in obedience to them. So he wrapped the body in qibāṭī linen and re-interred it on the spot.

They add: no one has ever been able to live in the house where he lies without eventually abandoning it. This was related (2) by Ibn ʿAsakir.

Later al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAli had ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muljam brought from prison. People fetched naphtha and reed mats to burn him (3), but ʿAli’s sons said, “Leave him to us so that we may take our revenge.” They cut off his hands and feet, yet he neither flinched nor ceased remembering Allah. They then cauterized his eyes, and while this was being done he continued to invoke Allah and recited the surah “Read in the name of your Lord, who created—created man from a clot” to its end, tears streaming down his cheeks. When they tried to cut out his tongue he became deeply agitated. Asked why, he replied, “I fear that I might remain in this world for the time it takes to milk a camel (4) without remembering Allah.” He was then killed and burned, may Allah disfigure him.

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (5) said: Ibn Muljam was a dark-complexioned man with a handsome face and a noticeable gap between his front teeth (6); his hair reached his earlobes, and the mark of prostration showed on his forehead.

The scholars said that his execution was not delayed until al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAli reached majority—for he was a child when his father was killed—because Ibn Muljam was killed as a combatant, not in retaliation. Allah knows best.

ʿAli—may Allah be pleased with him—was struck on Friday, the seventeenth of Ramadan in the year 40 AH, without dispute. Some say he died the same day, others that he died on Sunday, the nineteenth.

Al-Fallas said: Some report that he was attacked (7) on the night of the twenty-first and died on the night of the twenty-fourth, at fifty-odd or fifty-eight years of age. Others say sixty-three, and that is the most widely held view—so stated Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, Abu Jaʿfar al-Baqir, Abu Isḥaq al-Sabiʿi, and Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyash.

Yet others say sixty-three or sixty-four, and from Abu Jaʿfar al-Baqir comes the figure of sixty-five.

His caliphate lasted five years minus three months; another opinion says four years [and nine months and three days; others: and six days; others: and fourteen days; still others: four years] and eight months and twenty-three days. May Allah be pleased with him and grant him His good pleasure.

Jarir reported from Mughīrah: When news of ʿAli ibn Abi Talib’s death reached Muʿawiyah while he was asleep (8) with