Imam Ali (a.s.) in the eyes of
Non-Muslims
Saying:
"Ali was so popular even among
the non-Muslims that when he died, all the Christians, Jews and
Zoroastrians of Kufa, particularly their women and children who were
personally looked after by Ali, lamented his death and wept as one does
for one’s father. Mourning was observed even in Jerusalem and the Lord
Bishop also could not restrain his tears."(Prof. M. G. Reynold’s Book on
Islam, Chapter 3.)
Imam Ali (a.s.) in the Bible:
"Sarah, thy wife, shall bear
thee a son and thou shall call him Isaac: and I will establish my
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.
And as for Ishmael I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him and
will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly, twelve princes
shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." (Genesis
18: 19-20)
The Death of Imam Ali (a.s.)
When Ali was leaving his abode, observes S. Ockley in his famous work,
‘The History of the Saracens’, the household birds began making a great
noise and when one of Ali’s servants attempted to quiet them, Ali said,
"Leave them alone, for their
cries are only lamentations foreboding my death."
The Deer hunting incident of Harun
ar Rashid:
"During the reigns of the Ummayyad
Caliphs his blessed resting-place could not be disclosed, and so it was
also under the Abbasids until the reign of Harun-ar-Rashid. But in the
year 175 A.H. (791 A.D.), Harun happened to go hunting in these parts,
and the deer he was chasing took refuge on a small piece of raised
ground. However much he asked his hunting dogs to capture the quarry,
they refused to go near this spot. He urged his horse to this place,
and the horse too refused to budge; and on this, awe took possession of
the Caliph’s heart, and he immediately started to make inquiries of the
people of the neighborhood, and they acquainted him with the fact that
this was the grave of Hazrat Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib, the cousin and
son-in-law of the Holy Prophet. Harun ordered a tomb to be erected over
the grave, and people soon began to settle down in its vicinity." (The
Shrine of Ali at Najaf from, "The Shi’ite Religion", by Dwight M.
Donaldson) |