If it is said, there are two sorts of Shi‘ites, the Sainthood Shi‘a and the Because they mixed hatred and politics the second group may have been unjust, but the first group were not concerned with partisan politics. However, the Sainthood Shi‘a joined the Caliphate Shi‘a. That is, some of the saints of the Sufi orders looked on ‘Ali as superior and they endorsed the claims of the Caliphate Shi‘a.

The Answer: ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him) has to be considered in two respects. One is from the point of view of his personal perfections and rank, and the other is from the point of view of his representing the collective personality of the Prophet’s (UWBP) family. As for this collective personality, it displays an aspect of the Most Noble Messenger’s (UWBP) essential nature.

Thus, in regard to the first point, foremost ‘Ali himself and all the people of truth gave  precedence to Abu Bakr and ‘Umar.20  They saw their ranks as higher in the service of Islam and closeness to God. As for the second point, as the representative

of the collective personality of the Prophet’s (UWBP) family, which represents an aspect of the Muhammadan Truth, ‘Ali has no equal. The highly laudatory Hadiths about ‘Ali21  look to this second point. There is a sound narration that corroborates this: the Noble Messenger  (UWBP) decreed: “The descendants of each prophet are from himself. My descendants are those of ‘Ali.”22

The reason the Hadiths praising ‘Ali more than the other three Caliphs have become  so widespread is that the people of truth, that is, the Sunnis, spread many narrations  about  him  in  response  to  the  Umayyads  and  Kharijites  attacking  and disparaging him unjustly. The other Rightly-Guided Caliphs were not subject to such criticism and detraction, so no need was felt to spread Hadiths about them.

Furthermore, the Prophet (UWBP) saw with the eye of prophethood the grievous events and internal strife to which ‘Ali would be exposed in the future, and in order to save him from  despair and his community from thinking unfavourably of him, he consoled him and guided  his community with significant Hadiths like “Whosever  master I am, ‘Ali too is his master.”23

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20 See, al-Ghazali, Qawa’id al-‘Aqa’id, i, 228; al-Kalabazi, al-Ta‘arruf li-Madhhab Ahl

Tasawwuf, i, 57.

21 Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 19; Ibn Maja, Muqaddima, 11; Musnad, i, 84, 118; iv, 281.

22 Tabarani, al-Majma‘ al-Kabir, no: 2630; al-Haythami, Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, x, 333; al-Munawi,

Fayd al-Qadir, 223, no: 1717.

23 Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 19; Ibn Maja, Muqaddima, 11; Musnad, i, 84, 118, 119, 152, 331; iv, 281,

368, 370, 383; v, 347, 366, 419; al-Kattani, Nazm al-Mutanathir fi’l-Ahadith al-Mutawatir, 24; al- Munawi, Fayd al-Qadir, vi, 218; Ibn Hibban, Sahih, ix, 42; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 130; iii, 134.