Miraculous Birth Foretold
The Traditions further make out that the sanctified birth of Ali, as of Prophet Muhammad, ﷺ was foretold in the scriptures, when God said to Abraham, who asked for a blessing on Ishmael; “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him ex- ceedingly, twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20).
The felicitous Prophecy in Genesis 7:16 about the advent of a prophet is said to point to the appearance of Muhammad ﷺ and Ali, while the “Twelve princes” of the Mosaic Scriptures are held to be none other than the twelve Shi’ite Imams who were born of the seed of Ali.
His Lineage
Ali bin Abu Talib bin Abd-al-Muttalib belonged Early Life to the family of Hashim, a branch of the Quraish which was considered the most venerable in Arabia. The Hashimites were held in great-esteem for their piety and because of the pontifical office of looking after the Ka’bah which devolved on them by heredity. It should be noted at the very outset that the people of the rival house of Ummayyah, the collaterals of the Hashimites, were more prosperous and powerful in state- craft and secular affairs, but the Hashimites enjoyed a special fame, being the guardians of the Holy Ka’bah. When Abd-al-Muttalib, the grandfather of the Holy Prophet died, it was to Abu Talib that he entrusted Muhammad ﷺ (may peace be upon him) a trust that was fulfilled with unsurpassed fidelity.
Abu Talib’s patronage of Muhammad ﷺ
When Muhammad ﷺ (may peace be upon him) took to preaching Islam and the pagans of Mecca began to persecute him it fell to the lot of Abu Talib, as the head of the family of the Hashimites, to stand up for his nephew and to protect him from his adversaries. In consequence of the Holy Prophet’s continued activities the Meccans boycotted the Hashimites socially and economically but Abu Talib took his family to the out- skirts of Mecca and there suffered the greatest privations with them rather than forsake his nephew. When the Meccan pagans lampooned Muhammad ﷺ it was Abu Talib who answered them both in verse and with the sword and when the Meccans asked him to prevail upon Muhammad to recant his new preachings Abu Talib’s reply was, “Till I have the last spark of life left in me I will not give up Muhammad ﷺ and will defend him upto my last breath.”
Abu Talib acted as the self-appointed bodyguard of the Prophet ﷺ, taking great care that none armed with a sword or any offensive weapon approached him. But he gave him more than mere physical protection, supplying him with a paternal love and affection that were the very sunshine of his life.
Nowhere was this love more apparent than at the time of the Holy Prophet’sﷺ marriage to Khadija. His famous Khutba on that occasion mirrors the esteem in which he held his ward:
“Glory be to the Almighty God” said Abu Talib, “Who has caused us to descend from Abraham and chosen us to descend from the race of great Ishmael. It is the bounty of God to have given us in patrimony the holy land and the sanctuary of the Ka’bah, wherein flock pilgrims from different places, and to have bestowed upon us the honourable offices of the judges and rulers of this country. Muhammad ﷺ is my nephew, the son of my real brother Abdullah, with whom none of the Quraish can compare and compete in virtue, generosity, magnanimity, bravery, understanding and wit. Al- though his riches are not equal to his birth and ac- complishments (for in truth riches are transitory as a shadow and lent to us by heaven so as to be recalled when God pleases) yet his mental capacities are unsurpassed. My nephew is in love with Khadija, the daughter of Khalid and she likewise with him; and whatsoever is demanded in dowry I will see it settled.”
For dowry Abu Talib gave Khadija twenty camels and twelve ounces of gold, although he was a man with alarge family of his own and owned slender means. Ali’s AlaihisSalam mother, Fatima, also loved Muhammad ﷺ like son from the time that, at the age of six, he entered her home. According to some traditions she is said to have accepted Islam, and to have migrated to Medina where she died. At the time of her death the Holy Prophet ﷺ gave his own shirt to be used in her coffin and when the grave had been dug Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is said to have laid himself in it and so sanctified it. When the people asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ the reason for showing such favours, he replied,” After Abu Talib if ever I was grate- ful to any one, it was this pious soul who mothered me, nurtured me, brought me up and took me as a son.”
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 