Chain of transmission
ʿAli ibn Abi Talib
c. 600 – 661 · Mecca and Kufa · cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad
Cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, fourth caliph for the Sunnis and first imam for the Shiites, ʿAli ibn Abi Talib holds a central place in the history of Islam. Almost all Sufi initiatic chains link back to the Prophet through him.
Birth and youth
ʿAli was born around 600 in Mecca, the son of Abu Talib, head of the Hashim clan and uncle of Muhammad. From a young age he was taken into Muhammad's house. According to tradition, he was the first child to embrace Islam.
The Mecca years and the Hijra
He supported Muhammad from the very beginning of the preaching. In 622, at the Hijra, he slept in the Prophet's bed to deceive those who wanted to attack him, allowing him to leave in safety.
In Medina
He took part in the main battles fought by the Prophet between 622 and 632. He married Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, with whom he had al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum. A companion and scribe, he was among the major figures of the first community; tradition attributes to him sayings of the Prophet, among them the one that names him “the gate of the city of knowledge”.
The caliphate
After the assassination of ʿUthman, he was designated fourth caliph in 656. He faced several conflicts: the Battle of the Camel (656) against ʿA'isha, Talha and az-Zubayr, the Battle of Siffin (657) against Mu'awiya, and the Kharijites, who broke away from him after the arbitration.
Death
He was struck on the head with a poisoned sword by the Kharijite ʿAbd ar-Rahman ibn Muljam while praying in the mosque of Kufa, and died two days later (January 661). According to tradition, he is buried in Najaf, in Iraq.
In the Sufi tradition
Sufism sees in him the first human link of almost all its initiatic chains after the Prophet. In the lineage of Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi Al Karkari, he is the common ancestor of the Hassanid sharifs.