Ali ibn Abi Talib
c. 600 CE–c. 661 CE · Mecca
Ali ibn Abi Talib (born c. 600 CE in Mecca; died 661 CE in Kufa) was a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and the fourth of the Rashidun ("rightly-guided") caliphs. Tradition holds he was raised in Muhammad's household and was among the very first to accept Islam, though modern historians caution that much detail of his early life rests on later, devotional sources rather than firm record. A popular tradition that he was born inside the Ka'ba (Mecca's central sanctuary) is cherished, especially among Shia Muslims, but is not historically established.
He married Muhammad's daughter Fatima, and their sons Hasan and Husayn became central figures in later history. After Uthman's killing, Ali was acclaimed caliph in Medina in 656. His reign (656-661) was consumed by the First Fitna, the first Muslim civil war: the Battle of the Camel near Basra (656), then the inconclusive Battle of Siffin (657) against Mu'awiya, and the suppression of the Kharijites (a breakaway faction) at Nahrawan (658). He moved his capital to Kufa. In 661 a Kharijite, Ibn Muljam, struck him in Kufa's mosque; he died of the wound.
The dispute over whether Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad is the root of the Sunni-Shia divide; Shia traditions revere him as the first Imam, while Sunnis honor him as the last Rashidun caliph. These are positions held by communities, not settled facts. His burial place is traditionally identified as Najaf, though this is disputed.
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Mecca
What they did here
Born in Mecca c. 600 CE to Abu Talib and Fatima bint Asad, and (per tradition) raised in the household of his cousin Muhammad. The birth year is a traditional estimate, not securely attested, and the cherished account that he was born inside the Ka'ba is a devotional tradition (especially honored by Shia Muslims) rather than an established fact.
About Mecca
Mecca (Makka), in the Hejaz of western Saudi Arabia, is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the site of the Ka'ba; it is Islam's holiest city and the destination of the annual hajj pilgrimage, toward which Muslims pray. As a centre of learning that drew scholars from across the Muslim world, it hosted many of the figures connected here during periods of study, teaching, or pilgrimage.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Ali ibn Abi Talib’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
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Works
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