The New International Encyclopædia/Ali, ibn Abu Talib

ALI, ibn Abu Talib, ä'lḗ ĭb-nä'bōō tȧ'lēb (c. 600-661). Fourth caliph, cousin of Mohammed, and one of his first converts. Ali became a staunch adherent of Mohammed, and fought bravely and vigorously for him. On the death of Mohammed it was expected that Ali, who had married Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, would succeed to the caliphate, but he only reached that office on the murder of Othman, the third caliph, in 656. His caliphate was very stormy and full of wars, due to the opposition of Aisha, the young widow of Mohammed, and her party, chief among whom stood Muawiyah, the commander of Syria. At the battle of the Camel, fought at Basra in 656, Aisha was captured, and later Muawiyah was met at the battle at Sitlin. On the 22d of January, 661, Ali was attacked by three members of the Kharijite sect, and murdered at Kufa. Near this city he was buried, and when later a monument was raised to his memory, so many pilgrims came that it became the centre of a city, Masjid Ali. After his death his followers formed themselves into a sect called the Shiite, which numbers about fifteen millions, scattered in Irak, Syria, Afghanistan, India, and in the neighborhood of Medina. Persia is a decidedly Shiite country, while Turkey is Sunnite. The Fatimides, who reigned in Egypt, were believed to be the descendants of Ali and Fatima. Ali was noted for his great knowledge and wisdom. Fleischer published Ali's Hundert Sprüche (“Hundred Maxims”) in the Arabic and Persian texts, with a translation (Leipzig, 1837). The Diwan was published by Kuypers (Leyden, 1745), and later at Bulak in 1840. Some of the maxims and poems attributed to Ali, of course, may be genuine, but the majority of them bear traces of later composition. Consult Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, Vol. I., pp. 43-44 (Weimar, 1898).