Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Tcilib 183
you your sins. And AUah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful)
(Qur'an 3: 31), as if he were hinting that 'Ali (&) had attained
such perfect obedience to the Messenger of Allah (gJ that he
deserved that Allah should love him.&'
2. The blessing of the Prophet's supplication, as Allah answered
the supplication of His Messenger (g). 'Ali said: "I never got
,3461 a
sore eyes after the Prophet (g) spat in my eye. Ali (&)
fell sick once, and the Prophet (g) came to him as 'ALi was
saying: "0 Allah, if my time has come, then let me die
(quickly) and find relief; if my time has not yet come, then heal
me; and if You are testing me, then give me patience." The
Messenger of Allah (g) said to him: "What did you say?" He
repeated it, and the Messenger of Allah (g) said: "0 Allah,
heal him, 0 Allah, grant him well-being." Then he said, "Get
up." So he got up, and he never felt that pain again after
that.462
3. There is no connection between this hadith and the inlamate of
'Ali (&). The Shia say that 'Ali (&) was supposed to be the
caliph after the Prophet (@), and they quote a number of
hadiths as evidence, including this one. In reality, these hadiths
point to his virtue but do not point to his imamate [or
caliphate]. They add false additions to this hadith that are not
sound according to the scholars of hadith, and which,
moreover, make no connection between his loving Allah (a)
and His Messenger (s) and his being loved by them, on the
one hand, and his becoming the imam or caliph, on the other.
Moreover, affvming this quality of 'Mi (&) (his loving and
being loved) does not mean denying that others have the same
quality. How could that be the case when Allah (B) says
concerning Abu Bakr (&,) and "I- companions:
wbom He will love and they will love Him,) (Qur'an 5: 54) and