Birth of Imam Ali (a) Inside the Ka'ba

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Fatima bt. Asad after delivering his son, 'Ali (a), exiting from Ka'ba, painting by Mahmud Farshchiyan

Birth of Imam 'Ali (a) inside the Ka'ba counts as his exclusive virtue. In different Shiite and Sunni sources, the story of the birth of Imam 'Ali (a) in the Ka'ba is said to be mutawatir (frequently cited), although there are differences as to its details. Books have been written about Imam 'Ali's birth in the Ka'ba, including 'Ali walid al-Ka'ba ('Ali born in the Ka'ba) by Muhammad 'Ali Urdubadi (1312/1895-1380/1960), which has been translated into Persian under Yigana mawlud-i Ka'ba (the only one born in the Ka'ba).

According to some Sunni sources, Hakim b. Hizam, a companion of the Prophet (s), was also born in the Ka'ba. Shiite scholars believe, however, that the story was fabricated in order to deny the virtues of Imam 'Ali (a).

In Sources

Al-'Allama al-Amini has cited sixteen Sunni sources and fifty Shiite sources according to which Imam 'Ali (a) was born in the Ka'ba.[1]2 He has also mentioned forty one poets from the second to the fourteenth/twentieth century who have made references to the birth of Imam 'Ali (a) in their poems.[2]

In the book, Sharh ihqaq al-haqq, the birth of Imam 'Ali (a) in the Ka'ba is reported from seventeen Sunni sources.[3] Sibt b. al-Jawzi,[4] Ibn Sabbagh al-Maliki,[5] and 'Ali b. Burhan al-Din al-Halabi[6] are Sunni scholars who have talked about Imam 'Ali's birth in the Ka'ba. The books, al-Mustadrak 'ala al-sahihayn[7] and Kifayat al-talib,[8] claim that reports of the birth of Imam 'Ali (a) in the Ka'ba are mutawatir.

Story

The story of the birth of Imam 'Ali (a) in the Ka'ba is cited in three ways in different sources:

  • According to a hadith cited in Bisharat al-Mustafa by 'Imad al-Din al-Tabari, a Shiite scholar of fifth and sixth/eleventh and twelfth centuries as quoted from Yazid b. Qa'nab, Fatima bt. Asad was near the Ka'ba when she felt labor pains. She asked God to ease the labor for her. At this time, the back part of the Ka'ba (near al-Rukn al-Yamani) was split and Fatima went inside. Then the gap was closed again. Yazid b. Qa'nab is quoted as saying: "whatever we did, we could not open the door of the Ka'ba. Thus, we understood that this was done by God. Fatima bt. Asad left the Ka'ba after four days while she had 'Ali in her arms."[10]
  • According to al-Hasan b. 'Ali al-Tabari (alive in 701/1301-2) in his book, Tuhfat al-abrar, Fatima bt. Asad, Imam 'Ali's mother, had labor pains when she was circumambulating the Ka'ba, and she could not return home. Thus, she turned towards the Ka'ba. The door of the Ka'ba was opened, and she went inside. Then the door was closed and she gave birth to 'Ali inside the Ka'ba. She was inside for three days.[11]

Story of Hakim b. Hizam

Al-Shaykh al-Mufid believes that Imam 'Ali's birth inside the Ka'ba was one of his exclusive virtues, which never happened to anyone before him and will never happen to anyone after him.[12] Notwithstanding this, some Sunni sources claim that one of the Prophet's companions named Hakim b. Hizam, was born inside the Ka'ba as well.[13] It is believed by some people, nevertheless, that the narrative was fabricated by the family of al-Zubayr—a companion of the Prophet (s)—in order to deny Imam 'Ali's virtues because of friendship with his remote cousin, since Hakim b. Hizam b. Khuwaylid b. Asad b. Abd al-'Uzza and the family of al-Zubayr have Asad b. 'Abd al-'Uzza as a common ancestor.[14]

Moreover, the chain of narration of the story is objected, including the following:

  • Mus'ab b. 'Uthman is unknown and is never mentioned in any source of rijal.
  • The hadith is mursal (that is, some people in its chain of transmitters are not mentioned), since Mus'ab b. 'Uthman, the narrator of the story, was born years after the alleged event. Thus, he could not directly report the story.[15]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Amīnī, al-Ghadīr, vol. 6, p. 37-43.
  2. ↑ Amīnī, al-Ghadīr, vol. 6, p. 44-51.
  3. ↑ Marʿashī al-Najafī, Sharḥ Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq, vol. 7, p. 486-491.
  4. ↑ Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ, p. 20.
  5. ↑ Ibn Ṣabbāgh, al-Fuṣūl al-muhimma, vol. 1, p. 171.
  6. ↑ Ḥalabī, al-Sīra al-ḥalabīyya, vol. 1, p. 226.
  7. ↑ Ḥākim al-Nayshābūrī, al-Mustadrak ʿala l-ṣaḥīḥayn'', vol. 3, p. 483.
  8. ↑ Ganjī al-Shāfiʿī, Kifāyat al-ṭālib, p. 707.
  9. ↑ Ibn Maghāzīlī, Manāqib ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, p. 58-59; Ibn Ḥātam, al-Durr al-naẓīm, p. 225.
  10. ↑ Ṭabarī, Bishārat al-Muṣṭafā, vol. 1, p. 26-27.
  11. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tuḥfat al-abrār, p. 164-165.
  12. ↑ Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 1, p. 5.
  13. ↑ Qurashī Asadī, Jumhurat ansāb, p. 353.
  14. ↑ Shūshtarī, Qāmūs al-rijāl, vol. 3, p. 387; ʿĀmilī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy al-aʿẓam, vol. 2, p. 160.
  15. ↑ Shūshtarī, Qāmūs al-rijāl, vol. 3, p. 387; ʿĀmilī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy al-aʿẓam, vol. 2, p. 160.

References

  • Amīnī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. Al-Ghadīr fī al-kitāb wa al-sunna wa al-ʾadab. Qom: Markaz al-Ghadīr, 1416 AH.
  • ʿĀmilī, al-Sayyid Jaʿfar al-Murtaḍā al-. Al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy al-aʿẓam. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1426 AH.
  • Ganjī al-Shāfiʿī, Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-. Kifāyat al-ṭālib. Tehran: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth Ahl al-Bayt, 1404 AH.
  • Ḥalabī, ʿAlī b. Burhān al-Dīn. Al-Sīra al-ḥalabīyya fī sīrat al-Amīn al-Maʾmūn. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1400 AH.
  • Ḥākim al-Nayshābūrī. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Al-Mustadrak ʿala l-ṣaḥīḥayn. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1418 AH.
  • Ḥasanī, Sayyid Nabīl. Al-Mawlud fī bayt Allāh al-harām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib am Ḥakīm b. Ḥizām. Karbala: al-ʿAtbat al-Ḥusaynīyya al-Muqaddasa Qism al-Shuʾūn al-Fikrīyya wa al-Thiqāfīyya, 1433 AH.
  • Ibn Ṣabbāgh Mālikī. Al-Fuṣūl al-muhimma fī taʾlīf al-umma. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1422 AH.
  • Ibn Maghāzīlī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. Manāqib ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwaʾ, 1424 AH.
  • Marʿashī al-Najafī, Sayyid Shahāb al-Dīn. Sharḥ Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq. Qom: Maktabat Āyat Allāh al-Marʿashī, [n.d].
  • Masʿūdī, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Murūj al-dhahab wa maʿadin al-jawhar. Edited by Asʿad Dāghir. Qom: Dār al-Hijra, 1409 AH.
  • Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Irshād fī maʿrifat ḥujaj Allāh ʿala l-ʿibād. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt, 1413 AH.
  • Qurashī Asadī, Zubayr b. Bakār. Jumhurat ansāb quraysh wa akhbāruhā. Edited by Maḥmūd Muḥammad Shākir. Maṭbaʿat al-Madanī, 1381 AH. [n.p].
  • Shūshtarī, Muḥammad Taqī. Qāmūs al-rijāl. Qom: Muʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1419 AH.
  • Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī, Yūsuf b. Farghalī. Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ. Beirut: Muʾassisa-yi Ahl al-Bayt, 1401 AH.
  • Shāmī, Yūsuf b. Ḥātam al-. Al-Durr al-naẓīm fī manāqib al-aʾimma al-hāmīm. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1420 AH.
  • Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Bishārat al-Muṣṭafā li Shīʿat al-Murtaḍā. Edited by Jawād Qayyūmī al-Iṣfahānī. Qom: Muʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1420 AH.
  • Ṭabarī, ʿImād al-Dīn Ḥasan b. ʿAlī. Tuḥfat al-abrār. Tehran: Mirāth-i Maktūb, 1376 AH.
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