DESCRIPTION OF THE VIRTUES OF ALI

One day Bahlool went to visit Haroon who was in a relaxed and good mood. He asked Bahlool this:

"Was Ali (A.S) of higher status and more elevated than Abbas the uncle of the Prophet or was Abbas higher than Ali (A.S)?" Bahlool replied:

"Would I be guaranteed safety from you if I were to tell the truth?" When Haroon guaranteed this, Bahlool then said:

"Ali (A.S) after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was in status higher than all the Muslims. Not only that but higher than all the previous Prophets. The reason for this is that Ali (A.S) was that exalted personality who possessed all the good qualities. His staunch faith in Islam is unquestionable.

His bravery in the wars in defence of Islam is unparallel. He sacrificed not only his but also the lives of his kith and kin in the safe-guarding the tenets of Islam. In all the Islamic wars of defence, he was in the forefront never did he turn his back and run away from the front against the enemies.

And when he Ali (A.S) was asked: "Why don't you ever look behind when fighting lest an enemy strikes you from behind" he would reply this: "Fighting in a battle for me is for the sake of Islam. No fear of any sort or any personal interest concerns me. I fully submit to Allah. If I am killed, it would on the way of Allah, and what better achievement could it be than this."

"Moreover, when Ali (A.S) was a Caliph of the Muslims, he rested neither during the day nor at night in the sarvice of the people. He did not allow wastage or over-spending of the treasury lest the rights of the needy and poor were ignored."

When Aqeel his brother went to his house and saw how Ali (A.S) as the Caliph lived so simply, he became ashemed of requesting for favours from the state treasury; He always acted with extreme fairness and justice and terminated the appointment of any state officer found to commit injustice.

For example, Ibne Abbas, when he was the governor of Bassah, once spent an amount from the public-treasury for his personal matters. Ali (A.S) demanded the return of the money and reaproached him considerably for doing so. A time limit for the return of the money was set but Ibne Abbas failed to return.

Ali (A.S) summoned him to return to Kufa but he instead went to Kaaba in Mecca seeking forgiveness. Ali (A.S) was such a man to principle and discipline."

Oh hearing this, Haroon rather upset, decided to argue the subject and put this question to Bahlool:

"Despite all these virtues and elevations, why was he then killed?" Bahlool replied:

"Most of the people on the path oif truth have been persecuted. Even the Prophets like Issa, Dawood and Yahva were not spared by the people of their times" The Prophet of Islam in one of his numerous sayings about Ali bin Ali Taleb had said:

Taken from the book “The Moral Stories (Part 2)”‌‌‌‌‌‌

Author: Ahmed .H. Sheriff

Other links:

A Joke with Bahlool