It was time for fajr prayers on 19th Ramzan, 40 AH. As was his custom Hazrat Ali came to the Masjid e Kufa and gave the azan.
He then stood before the mihrab to lead the prayers. Worshippers came in and stood behind him. Hazrat Ali began the namaz.
Standing in the front row, with other worshippers, were the Kharijites, who had sworn to kill Ali: Abdur Rahman bin Muljam and his confederates. They were watching Ali’s movements. Ibn Muljim had a sword soaked in poison, hidden in his cloak.
When Ali lifted his head from sajda, the accursed ibn Muljim struck the fatal blow at his forehead with such deadly force that it split open.
Blood squirted from Ali’s forehead in several jets, and he exclaimed:
“By the Lord of the Kaaba, I am successful!”
Ali spent the time still left to him in prayer and devotions; in dictating his will; in giving instructions to his sons, ministers and generals regarding the conduct of the government; and in urging them all never to forget the old, the sick, the poor, the widows and the orphans at any time.
On the morning of 21st Ramzan, our Imam left this world to go into the presence of his Creator whom he had loved and served all his life.
Hasan and Husain gave their father the funeral bath, shrouded him in a kafan, offered the namaz e janaza and then buried him silently at midnight at Najaf Ashraf, at some distance from Kufa. No markings were placed on the grave, and the grave-site was kept a secret, as desired by Ali himself.
The world lost one its bravest & greatest hero, saint, statesman, scholar, philosopher.
In Ali were combined the virtues of bravery & intellect.
He was a rare combination of love of God, devotion to duty, bravery, compassion, chivalry, intellect and inflexible integrity. His greatest legacy to the world of Islam will remain forever his sublime character.
Image: The coffin of Hazrat Ali
from the Falnama ( book of omens) of Imam Jafar e Sadiq
Iran
16th c
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
