Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Tcilib 53
more likely to be ~orrect.'~ Al-B@ir Mulpmrnad ibn 'Ali mentioned
two views: the first is the same as that mentioned by Ibn Ishiq and
regarded as more likely to be correct by Ibn Hajar, which is that he
was born ten years before the mission began.16 The second view is
that he was born five years before the mission began.I7 I am inclined
to favour the view of Ibn Hajar and Ibn Ishiq, so his birth was most
likely to have occurred ten years before the mission began.'' Al-
172kihi19 stated that 'Ali (&) was the first of Banu Hishim to be born
inside the Ka'bah. Al-H&m said: The reports that 'Ali was born
inside the Ka'bah are mutawiitir (reported by so many people that it
would not be possible for them to have agreed on an untruth).20
1.3. Lineage and family, and. their impact
on the offspring
According to the science of anatomy (the study of the body's
structure), psychology, bebavioural science and sociology, blood ties
and lineage affect a person's attitude, talent and potential to some
extent, in most cases. That bas to do with three things:
(a) Individuals try to maintain the values and ideals that their fathers
and forefathers strongly believed in and adhered to, and they regard
themselves as being of noble descent because of them. They consider
themselves highly respectable and regard as odd those members of
the family who go against these beliefs and drifi away. Such an
att~tude is considered to be unacceptable and a sign of low esteem,
lack of dignity, disobedience to the forefathers and tarnishing of the
lineage that cannot be forgiven according to the inherited standards
of that family.
(b) Each family has stories of forefathers and prominent members
and their courage, chivalry, gallantry, sense of honour, generosity,
munificence, and defence of the oppressed and weak. These are