Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Ali contributed significantly to Islam in its early years and was likely the first male to accept the teachings of Muhammad. In Sunni Islam, Ali is recognized as a close companion, a foremost authority on the Quran and Islamic law, and the fountainhead of wisdom in Sunni spirituality. When Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali had his own claims to leadership, perhaps in reference to Muhammad's announcement at the Ghadir Khumm, but he eventually accepted the temporal rule of the first three caliphs in the interest of Muslim unity. During this period, Ali is portrayed in Sunni sources as a trusted advisor of the first three caliphs, while their conflicts with Ali are neutralized or downplayed. Ali himself succeeded to the caliphate in 656 but his rule was immediately challenged by multiple pretenders and he was assassinated in 661.
As the fourth and final Rashidun caliph, Ali is held in a particularly high status in Sunni Islam, although this doctrinal reverence for Ali in Sunni Islam is a recent development for which the prominent traditionist Ahmad ibn Hanbal is likely to be credited. His hierarchy of companions places Ali below his predecessors but above those companions who fought against him, thus accommodating into Sunni doctrine the opposite sides of a moral conflict that has split the Muslim community ever since. Those prophetic sayings that elevate Ali above other companions have also been reinterpreted by Sunni scholars to uphold the Sunni hierarchy. By contrast, Shia Islam views Ali as the rightful religious and temporal successor of Muhammad and views the predecessors of Ali as usurpers of his rights.
teachings of Muhammad. In Sunni Islam, Ali is recognized as a close companion, a foremost authority on the Quran and Islamic law, and the fountainhead of wisdom...
moreover the common source of mystical and spiritual currents within both Shia and Sunni sects of Islam. SunniviewofAli Gleave 2008. Veccia Vaglieri...
Ali ibn Abi Talib (601-661 CE) is recognized as the fourth Sunni caliph and the first Shia imam. Shia and some Sunni sources introduce Ali as the only...
romanized: Masjid ʿAlī), located in Najaf, Iraq, is a mausoleum which many Shia and Sunni Muslims believe contains the tomb of 'Alī ibn Abī Tālib, a cousin...
of the polysemous Arabic word mawla is disputed: For Shia Muslims, Muhammad thus invested Ali with his religious and political authority, while Sunni...
in Sunni Islam and the first imam in Shia Islam. Perhaps the most controversial such verse is 5:55, also known as the verse of walaya, which gave Ali the...
while Sunni accounts often interpret the hadith as a statement of love or support. Shias therefore view the Ghadir Khumm as the investiture ofAli with...
recension ofAli was perhaps the earliest of its kind. An exception is the Sunni traditionist Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (d. 889) who contends that Ali only memorized...
by the Sunni historian al-Mubarrad (d. 898), in which Ibn Qays warns the caliph about the assassination. Hujr ibn Adi, an ardent supporter ofAli, is said...
canonical Sunni source, to the effect that Ali possessed both the inner and outer dimensions of the Quran. Another such prophetic tradition reads, "Ali is with...
Sunni Muslims view Umar (576-644 AD), the second Rashidun Caliph, in a much more favourable way than Shi'a Muslims, who are of the opinion that he, Abu...
(du'aba) ofAli, but nevertheless considered him worthy of the caliphate and predicted the nepotism of Uthman. Madelung is confident that this Sunni account...
life ofAli ibn Abi Talib. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300252057. Hazleton, Lesley (2009). After the prophet : the epic story of the Shia-Sunni split...
namely, Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn. Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) narrates a prophetic hadith to this effect, and this is also the viewof the Sunni Baydawi...
reflect the Sunni orthodoxy, in which Uthman is viewed as superior to his successor Ali. Buehler suggests that such Sunni traditions that place Ali in a negative...
while a report by the Sunni al-Baladhuri (d. 892) suggests that the caliph accused Aliof forging the letter. This is likely when Ali refused to further...
with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad appointed his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. The adherents ofSunni Islam are referred...
influenced by Sunni-Sufi beliefs, which he continued to hold until his death in 2016. Muhammad Ali said that he first heard of the Nation of Islam when he...
Fatwa prohibiting the insulting of the most religious figures ofSunni Islam was published by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on 30 September 2010...
of Islam. Sunni Islam asserts that Abu Bakr rightfully succeeded Muhammad through a process of election. In contrast, Shia Islam maintains that Ali ibn...
Muhammad's cousin, Ali, in Medina around 1 or 2 AH (623-5 CE), possibly after the Battle of Badr. There is Sunni and Shia evidence that some of the companions...
Administrative policies ofAli ibn Abi Talib highlights the policies ofAli, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (d. 632). Ali is recognized...
important to Sunni Muslim viewsof the reverence due to all companions; It sometimes admonishes them, as when Aisha, wife of Muhammad and daughter of the first...
Ali ibn Abi Talib took part in all the battles of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's time, except the Expedition of Tabuk, as standard bearer. He also led...
ally Umar with securing Ali's pledge of allegiance. As noted by the Sunni al-Tabari (d. 923), the latter led an armed mob to Ali's residence and threatened...
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