Ali ibn Abi Talib

Son of the Prophet’s ﷺ protecting uncle Abu Talib, Ali grew up in the Prophet’s ﷺ own house and accepted Islam as a boy of about ten — the first youth to do so. On the night of the Hijrah he took the gravest role of all: sleeping in the Prophet’s ﷺ bed as decoy while the assassins watched the door, then staying behind to return the deposits Makkans had entrusted to the Prophet ﷺ.

In Madinah the Prophet ﷺ gave him Fatimah in marriage — from them come al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and every descendant of the Prophet ﷺ. When the Prophet ﷺ paired each emigrant with a brother among the Ansar, Ali’s standing needed no pact: the Prophet ﷺ told him, in words Bukhari records, “You are from me and I am from you” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2699).

He carried the banner in battle after battle. At Khaybar, after others had tried, the Prophet ﷺ announced he would give the flag "to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and whom Allah and His Messenger love" — then called for Ali, prayed over his inflamed eyes, and Khaybar fell at his hands.

Left in charge of Madinah during Tabuk, he asked whether he was being left behind with the women and children; the Prophet ﷺ answered that he held the place to him that Harun held to Musa — except that no prophet would come after him.

Ali’s deepest legacy is knowledge: a hafiz and scribe of revelation, among the sharpest judges of the community ("the best judge among you is Ali," the tradition remembers), his rulings, sermons, and aphorisms shaped Islamic law, theology, and Arabic eloquence for every generation after.

He accepted the caliphate in 35 AH, in the shadow of Uthman’s murder, and spent it striving to hold the ummah together through the first civil strife (the battles of the Camel and Siffin) — years all Sunni tradition treats with restraint and respect for all companions involved. He was struck down by a Kharijite assassin while going to Fajr prayer in Kufa, 40 AH.