Ali

Ali, the first convert to Mohammedanism, and fourth of the califs, was the son of Abu Taleb, the Prophet's uncle. He was the bravest and most faithful follower of the Prophet, whose daughter Fatima he married. Being made calif in 656 A.D., in the place of the murdered Othman, he was ultimately, after a sore struggle, victorious over those who opposed his authority, and took prisoner Ayesha, the young widow of Mohammed, who was the soul of the rebellion. Ali was assassinated in the year 660, and buried near Kufa. The question of his right to succeed to the califate permanently divided the Mohammedan world; the Shiites (q.v.) still reverencing him as next to Mohammed, while the Sunnites (q.v.) abhor his memory. He was famed for wisdom; but the maxims (ed. Fleischer, Leip. 1837) and the lyrics (Boulak, 1840) attributed to him are not authentic.