ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib
Rightly-Guided Caliphs · Sunni & Shia · 601–661 CE
At a glance
| Category | Rightly-Guided Caliphs |
|---|---|
| Tradition | Sunni & Shia |
| Lifespan | 601–661 CE |
| Region | Hijaz |
| Role | Fourth Rāshidūn caliph (656–661); first Shia Imam |
| Family | Cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet; married to Fāṭima |
| Note | Central to both traditions; assassinated at Kufa 661 |
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, and — after Khadīja — among the very first to accept Islam, still a child in the Prophet's household. Raised close to the Prophet, he married his daughter Fāṭima, and their sons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn were the Prophet's only surviving grandsons. In the traditional accounts, preserved in both Sunni and Shiʿi sources, ʿAlī stands out for his learning, his courage in the community's early battles, and his devotion to justice, which made him a byword for chivalry across the Islamic world.
On the Prophet's death in 632, ʿAlī and the family attended to the burial while the wider community chose Abū Bakr as the first caliph. ʿAlī became the fourth of the Rightly-Guided caliphs in 656, but his reign (656–661) was consumed by the first civil war, and he was assassinated at Kufa in 661. The dispute over whether he should have succeeded the Prophet directly gave rise to the enduring Sunni–Shiʿi division: an episode at Ghadīr Khumm, where the Prophet spoke of ʿAlī on his final pilgrimage, is read by Shiʿi tradition as a designation of ʿAlī to lead and by Sunni tradition as an affirmation of love and respect — a difference Chronicle records without adjudicating.
ʿAlī's stature only grew after his death. Revered by all Muslims as a caliph and paragon of faith, he became for Shiʿism the first Imam and the fount of its spiritual authority; for Sufism, a founding link in nearly every chain of transmission; and for the chivalric orders (futuwwa), the ideal of the noble warrior. The celebrated Nahj al-Balāgha gathers sermons, letters and sayings attributed to him.
The fourth caliph in Sunni tradition AND the first Imam in Twelver Shia tradition.