Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Fatima bint Asad, young Ali was raised by his elder cousin Muhammad and was among the first to accept his teachings.

He immediately faced two separate rebellions, both ostensibly to avenge Uthman: The triumvirate of Talha, Zubayr, both companions of Muhammad, and his widow Aisha captured Basra in Iraq but were defeated by Ali in the Battle of the Camel in 656.

[22] Even though the delegation ultimately withdrew from the challenge,[20] Muhammad appeared for the occasion of mubahala, accompanied by Ali, his wife Fatima, and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn.

In 630, divine orders pushed Muhammad to replace Abu Bakr with Ali for a key Quranic announcement in Mecca,[32][33] according to the canonical Sunni source Sunan al-Nasa'i.

"[49][45] Musnad Ibn Hanbal, a canonical Sunni source, adds that Muhammad repeated this statement three or four more times and that Umar congratulated Ali after the sermon, "You have now become the mawla of every faithful man and woman.

[4] Shias point to the extraordinary nature of the announcement,[57] give Quranic and textual evidence,[61][51][42] and argue to eliminate other meanings of mawla in the hadith except for authority,[62] while Sunnis minimize the importance of the Ghadir Khumm by casting it as a simple response to earlier complaints about Ali.

[71] The case of Ali was unsuccessfully brought up at the Saqifa in his absence,[72][73] and, ultimately, those present there appointed Abu Bakr to leadership after a heated debate that is said to have become violent.

[74] Clan rivalries at the Saqifa played a key role in favor of Abu Bakr,[69][75] and the outcome may have been different in a broad council (shura) with Ali as a candidate.

[6][68] By contrast, the succession (caliphate) of Abu Bakr is often justified on the basis that he led some of the prayers in Muhammad's final days,[69][81] but the veracity and political significance of such reports have been questioned.

[95][16][86] Sunnis categorically reject these reports,[96] but there is evidence in their early sources that a mob entered Fatima's house by force and arrested Ali,[97][98][99] an incident that Abu Bakr regretted on his deathbed.

[100][101] Likely a political move to weaken the Banu Hashim,[102][103][104][105] Abu Bakr had earlier confiscated from Fatima the rich lands of Fadak, which she considered her inheritance (or a gift) from her father.

[2] Umar likely opposed the combination of prophethood and caliphate in the Banu Hashim,[133][134] and he thus prevented Muhammad from dictating his will on his deathbed,[43][135][136] possibly fearing that he might expressly designate Ali as his successor.

[204][178][205] His election, irregular and without a council,[109] faced little public opposition in Medina,[190][206][204] but the rebels' support for him left him exposed to accusations of complicity in Uthman's assassination.

[261] Ali similarly barred his troops from disturbing civilians,[262] killing the wounded and those who fled, mutilating the dead, entering homes without permission, looting, and harming women.

[295][296][297] Mu'awiya also joined forces with Amr ibn al-As,[298] a military strategist,[299] who pledged to back the Umayyads against Ali in return for life-long governorship of Egypt.

[14][326] Mu'awiya was represented by his ally Amr,[327] whereas, despite Ali's opposition, the majority in his camp pressed for the neutral Abu Musa, the erstwhile governor of Kufa.

[328][311][329] The arbitration agreement was written and signed on 2 August 657,[330] stipulating that the two representatives should meet on neutral territory,[331] adhere to the Quran and Sunna, and restore peace.

[344][195] The negotiations there also failed,[347] as the two arbitrators could not agree on the next caliph: Amr supported Mu'awiya,[14] while Abu Musa nominated his son-in-law Abd Allah ibn Umar,[14][133] who stood down.

[393] In his life, Ali fathered seventeen daughters, and eleven, fourteen, or eighteen sons,[390] among whom, Hasan, Husayn, and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya played a historical role.

When he died in 670, likely poisoned at the instigation of Mu'awiya,[395][394][396] the Shia community followed Hasan's younger brother Husayn, who was killed by Umayyad forces in the Battle of Karbala in 680, alongside many of his relatives.

[404][405] Mainstream Imamites were the antecedents of the Twelvers,[406] who believe that their twelfth and final imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, was born around 868,[407] but was hidden from the public in 874 for fear of persecution.

'the path of eloquence') is an eleventh-century collection of sermons, letters, and sayings, all attributed to Ali, compiled by Sharif al-Radi (d. 1015), a prominent Twelver scholar.

[2] Also attributed to Ali is Kitab al-Diyat on Islamic law, fully quoted in the Shia hadith collection Man la yahduruhu al-faqih.

[6] Often praised for his piety and courage,[214][437][6] Ali fought to uphold his beliefs,[6][438] but was also magnanimous in victory,[439][214] even risking the ire of some supporters to prevent the enslavement of women.

[6] For instance, in person, Ali is described in some Sunni sources as bald, heavy-built, short-legged, with broad shoulders, hairy body, long white beard, and affected by eye inflammation.

[447] The necessary qualities in a commander, described in a letter attributed to Ali, may have well been a portrait of himself: slow to anger, happy to pardon, kind to the weak, and severe with the strong.

[465] When the prophet died in 632, Ali had his claims to leadership, perhaps in reference to the Ghadir Khumm,[110][42] but he eventually accepted the temporal rule of the first three caliphs in the interest of Muslim unity.

[478][482] Verse 21:73 of the Quran is sometimes cited here, "We made them imams, guiding by Our command, and We revealed (awhayna') to them the performance of good deeds, the maintenance of prayers, and the giving of zakat (alms), and they used to worship Us.

[499] In Yarsanism, a religion founded by the Kurdish mystic Sultan Sahak, Ali is thought to be an incarnation of God,[500] and superior to Muhammad,[500] but their image as a Ghulat (lit.

[4] When writing about Ali, early Western scholars often dismissed as fabricated the reports gathered in later periods because their authors often advanced their own Sunni or Shia partisan views.