English Essay on The Life of Hazrat Ali (R.A)

English Essay on The Life of Hazrat Ali (R.A)

English Essay on "The Life of Hazrat Ali (R.A)"

The Life of Hazrat Ali (R.A)

The Life of Hazrat Ali (R.A) Hazrat Ali was the son of Abu Talib, a prominent Quraish chief and custodian of the Holy Kabah. Abu Talib was so-called because he was the father of "Talib," the eldest brother of Hazrat Ali. The real name of Abu Talib was 'Abd Manaf.' However, he was more popularly known by his surname than by his real name. Abu Talib was the son of Abdul Muttalib. Abdul Muttalib was also a surname, his real name being Shaybah. Abdul Muttalib was the son of Hashim. Hashim was a great man of his line, and his descendants came to be known as Hashimites. The mother of Hazrat Ali was Fatima. She was the daughter of Asad who was a son of Hashim. Fatima was a cousin of Abu Talib. Thus, both the father and mother of Hazrat Ali were Hashimites, and that was a great honour.

The holy Prophet was the son of Abdullah who was the son of Abdul Muttalib. Abdullah and Abu Talib were real brothers. Abu Talib was thus the real paternal uncle of the holy Prophet of Islam. Hazrat Ali was the first cousin of the holy Prophet. The holy Prophet and Hazrat Ali had a common grandfather who was Abdul Muttalib.educationsight.blogspot.com Abdul Muttalib was the son of Hashim, who was the son of Abd Manaf, who was the son of Qusay, who was the son of Murrah, who was the son a Kaab, who was the son of Luayy, who was the son of Ghalib, who was the son of Fihr, who was the son of Malik, who was the son of Nadr, who was the son of Kannah. Beyond Kannah, the ancestry extended to Hazrat Ismail, and Hazrat Ibrahim, who flourished some 2,500 years earlier.

The exact date of birth of Hazrat Ali is not known with any degree of certainty. According to Traditions, Hazrat Ali was born on the 13th of Rajab in the 28th year of the Elephant era. The Elephant era, according to the annals of Arabia commenced when Abraha, the Christian Viceroy of Yemen, invaded Mecca with the intention of destroying the Kabah, and shifting the centre of pilgrimage to Yemen. The invasion failed, the Christian army had to beat a retreat without achieving its object. That marked the retreat of Christianity from the heartland of Arabia and paved the way for the rise of Islam.

The holy Prophet of Islam was born in the 'Year of the Elephant'. According to scholars, 'The Year of the Elephant' corresponds to the year 571 of the Christian Era [CE]. On this basis, the year of the birth of Hazrat Ali would have to be placed around 599 or 600 CE. In any case, Hazrat Ali was at the junction of two centuries, the sixth and the seventh. Hazrat Ali was born in unusual circumstances. On the 13th day of the holy month of Rajab, Fatima, the mother of Hazrat Ali, visited the Kabah to perform the pilgrimage. During the course of the pilgrimage and while circumambulating the Kabah, Fatima felt the pangs of childbirth. She retired to a secluded place in the precincts of the holy Kabah, and there Hazrat Ali was born. Hazrat Ali has thus had the unique honour to be born in the House of God. This unparalleled honour had endowed Hazrat Ali with a halo of sanctity that has become the subject of many legends. A hundred years later, Zain-ul-Abidin, a grandson of Ali (son of Hazrat Hussein), met an Arab woman at Najaf who told him that her grandmother had helped Fatima on the occasion of Hazrat Ali's birth. She narrated that according to the account of her grandmother, the child was beautiful; a smile played on his lips; he did not cry like other children; and his birth did not cause any pain to his mother.

Fatima wanted to name her child "Asad" after her father and Abu Talib wanted to name him Zaid. When both mother and the child returned home, the holy Prophet, and Hazrat Khadijah came to see her newborn child. Since his birth, he had not opened his eyes, and that worried both Fatima and Abu Talib. However, when the holy Prophet took the child in his lap, then he opened his eyes. So the first person that Hazrat Ali saw after his birth was the holy Prophet. When the holy Prophet was asked whether he approved of the child being named either Asad or Zaid, he said that since the child was born in the House of God, he should be named Ali (the word Ali being a derivative of Allah). Hazrat Ali had thus had the distinction of being named after Allah. No one before him had ever been so named. Furthermore, the name acquired more sanctity because it was suggested by the holy Prophet.

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