The exact date of the birth of Ali is not known with any degree of certainty.
According to traditions, Ali was born on the
thirteenth 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 Makkah with
the intention of destroying the Kaaba, and shifting the
center of pilgrimage to Yemen. The invasion failed and 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. On this basis, the year of the birth of Ali
would have to be placed around 599 or 600 C.E. Anyhow Ali was at
the junction of the two centuries, the sixth and the
seventh.
Ali was born under unusual circumstances. On the thirteenth of
the holy month of "Rajab", Fatima, the mother of Ali, visited
the Kaaba for performing the pilgrimage. During the course of
the pilgrimage while circumambulating the Kaaba, Fatima felt
the pangs of childbirth. She retired to a secluded place in the
precincts of the Holy Kaaba, and there Ali was born. Ali had thus
the unique honor of being born in the House of God. This
unparalleled honor has endowed Ali with a halo of sanctity, which
has become the subject of many legends. A hundred years later,
Zain-ul-Abidin a grandson of Ali (son of Husain) met as Arab
woman at Najaf who told him that her grandmother had helped on
the occasion of the birth of Ali. She narrated that according
to the account of her grandmother, the child was beautiful, a
smile played on his lips, it did not cry like other children, and its
birth did not cause any pain to his mother.
Ali was the son of Abu Talib, a prominent Quraish chief and
custodian of the Holy Kaaba. Abu Talib was so called because he
was the father of "Talib", the eldest brother of Ali. The real
name of Abu Talib was Abd Manaf. He was however 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 the line, and his descendants
came to be known as Hashimites.
The mother of 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 Ali were Hashimites, and that
was a great honor.
The Holy Prophet was the son to 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. Ali was the first cousin of the Holy Prophet. The Holy
Prophet and Ali had a common grandfather Abdul Muttalib.
Abdul Muttalib was the son of Hashim who was the son of Abd Manaf
who was the son of Qussay who was the son of Murrah,
who was the son of 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 Kananah.
Beyond Kananah the ancestry extended to Ismail, and
Ibrahim, who flourished some 2500 years earlier.
Fatima wanted to name the child "Asad" after the name of her
father. Abu Talib wanted to name him Zaid. When the mother
and the child came home, the Holy Prophet, and Khadija came to see
the newborn child. Since his birth, the child had not
opened his eyes, and that worried Fatima and Abu Talib. As the
Holy Prophet took the child in his lap he opened his eyes. The
first person that Ali saw after his birth was the Holy Prophet.
When the Holy Prophet was asked whether he approved of the
child being named as Asad or Zaid, he said that as the child was
born in the House of God, he should be named Ali, the word
Ali being a derivative of Allah. Ali had thus the distinction of
being named after Allah. No person before him had ever been so
named. The name acquired further sanctity as it was proposed by
the Holy Prophet.
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