ALI, WHO UNITES THE BELIEVERS

SINCE Iran is in the news and since Hazrat Ali's birthday, or Wiladat-e-Maula Ali, fell on January 2 this year in India, I thought it would be interesting to talk about him this week.a

- RENUKA NARAYANAN

Who was Hazrat Ali? Ali ibn Abu Talib was born around 600 CE in Mecca. Some say he was born inside the Kaaba, the holiest site of Islam, and that he was the only such person in history. He was the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad. He is revered as the first Imam by Shia Muslims and as the fourth Rashidun Caliph by Sunni Muslims. Khulafa-e-Rashideen or Rashidun means the 'Rightly Guided Successors' or 'Rightly Guided Caliphs', referring to the first four caliphs who led the Muslim community in Arabia after Prophet Muhammad's death. They were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali.