and his mother Zarʿah bint Mishraḥ ibn Maʿdikarib al-Kindī, one of the four tribal kings (al-aqyāl) mentioned in the ḥadīth related by Aḥmad; they are Mishraḥ, Jamd, Mikhwas, and Abdaʿah, (1) together with their sister al-ʿAmarradah. ʿAlī was born on the very day ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib was killed, so his father gave him both his name and his kunyah (teknonym). It is also said that he was born during ʿAlī’s lifetime, and that ʿAlī himself named, nicknamed, and entitled him Abū al-Amlāk (“Father of Kings”).

When he later visited ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, the caliph seated him beside himself upon the throne and asked his name and kunyah. After he answered, the caliph inquired, “Do you have a child?” “Yes,” he replied, “a son has been born to me, and I have named him Muḥammad.” “Then you are Abū Muḥammad,” said the caliph, whereupon he lavished him with gifts and showed him great favour.

ʿAlī was renowned for unsurpassed devotion, asceticism, knowledge, righteous deeds, handsome appearance, integrity, and trustworthiness. He would perform one thousand units of prayer every day and night. ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī al-Fallās said, “He was among the very best of people.” His death occurred at al-Ḥumaymah in the district of al-Sharāt (2) this same year, when he was nearly eighty.

Ibn Khallikān (3) recounts that he married Lubābah bint ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar, who had previously been the wife of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān until he divorced her. The reason for the divorce was that the caliph bit into an apple and tossed it to her; she took a knife and cut away the part that had touched his mouth. “Why did you do that?” he asked. She replied, “I am removing what is unpleasant,” for the caliph suffered from bad breath, and so he divorced her.

When ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās married her, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik resented it, had him whipped, and said, “You only meant to humble the sons she bore to the caliph.” He flogged him a second time when it became known that ʿAlī had said, “The caliphate will one day pass to his house.” And so it came to pass.

Al-Mubarrad (4) reports that ʿAlī once entered upon Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik accompanied by his two young sons—the future caliphs al-Saffāḥ and al-Manṣūr—and the caliph honoured him.