Descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib

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Part of a series on Ahl al-Kisa

Ali
Son-in-law of Muhammad
First Shi'a Imam
Fourth Sunni Caliph






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Ali · Fatimah · Hasan · Husayn
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Ali ibn Abi Talib was the fourth and final Rightly Guided Caliph of Islam. He was a cousin of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, as well as Muhammad's son-in-law. He had several children by Fatima Zahra, Muhammad's daughter, as well as children by other wives. His descendants through Fatima are still revered today, as imams, sharifs and sayyids / syeds.

Contents

[edit] Ali's children

[edit] by Fatima

Sons:

Hasan ibn Ali, born in 625 AD, was the second Shia Imam and he also occupied the outward function of caliph for about six months. During that time Mu'awiayh marched his army into Iraq; the seat of Imam Hasan's caliphate. War ensued during which Mu'awiyah gradually subverted the generals and commanders of Hasan's army with large sums of money and deceiving promises until the army rebelled against Hasan. Finally, he was forced to make peace and to yield the caliphate to Mu'awiyah, provided it would again return to Imam Hasan after Mu'awiyah's death. In the year 50 A.H. he was poisoned and martyred by one of his own household who, as has been accounted by historians, had been motivated by Mu'awiyah.[1]
Husayn ibn Ali, born in 626 AD, was the third Shia Imam. Husayn lived under the most difficult outward conditions of suppression and persecution by Mu'awiyah. After the death of Mu'awiyah, his son, Yazid I, captured the caliphate and wanted the allegiance of Husayn ibn Ali. Yazid was openly going against the teachings of Islam in public and changing the sunnah of Muhammad. Husayn was determined not to give his allegiance to Yazid and knew full well that he would be killed as death was inevitable in the face of the military power of the Umayyads. On the tenth day of Muharram of the year 680 the he lined up before the army of caliph with his small band of follower and finally almost all of them were killed in the Battle of Karbala. The anniversary of his death is called the Day of Ashura and it is a day of mourning and religious observance for Shi'a Muslims.[2] In this battle some of Ali's other sons were killed. al-Tabari has mentioned their name in his history. Al-Abbas, the holder of Husayn's standard, Ja'far, Abdallah and Uthman, the four sons born to Fatima binte Hizam. Muhammad and Abu Bakr. The death of the last one is doubtful.[3]

Some other historians have added the name of other Ali's sons who killed in Karbala including Ibrahim, Umar, Abdallah ibn al-Asqar. [4][5]

  • Al-Muhsin, Fatima's stillborn child

Daughters:

His daughter Zaynab bint Ali who was in Karbala was captured by Yazid's army and later played a great role in revealing what had happened to Husayn ibn Ali and his followers. Her sermons in Kufa provoked the people into avenging Hussein's martyrdom. She also delivered a furious sermon in the court of the caliph that made his authority and despotic rule feel undermined.[6]


[edit] by Umm Banin

Sons:

Non-Shi'a sources mention a son called Umar in place of Abdullah.

[edit] by other wives

Sons:

Daughters:

  • Ruqaya
  • Ramalah
  • Nafeesa
  • Khadija
  • Ummu Hani
  • Jamani
  • Umama
  • Mona
  • Salma

While the daughters by Fatima are universally accepted by scholars, this list of daughters by other wives is much disputed.

According to some traditions Ali had thirty-six children: eighteen sons and eighteen daughters.

[edit] Ali's grandchildren

[edit] Through Hasan

  • Qasim, killed at Karbala.
  • Abdullah ibn Hassan, killed at Karbala.
  • Hassan Musna, survived Battle of Karbala.
  • Zaid ibn Hassan
  • 4 other sons
  • 4 daughters

[edit] Through Hussain

Sons:

  • Zain-ul-Abideen, regarded as the fourth Imam by Shia Muslims.
  • Ali Akbar, killed at Karbala at the age of eighteen or nineteen.
  • Ali Asgar, killed at Karbala at the age of six months.
  • Jafar ibn Husayn, killed at Karbala.

Daughters:

[edit] Later generations of Ali's and Fatimah descendants

The Idrisid and Fatimid dynasties are descended from Ali and Fatimah. The descendants of Ali include the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, supreme leaders of Iran, the Hashemite royal families of Jordan[7] and Iraq, the Husseini family of Lebanon, the Alaouite royal family of Morocco and the Aga Khans of the Ismaili community claim direct descent from Muhammad through Ali and Fatimah.

Descendants of Ali and Fatimah with documented family trees (about 42 generations of an unbroken chain of descent) are often identified by their family trees leading to one of the 12 Shi'a Imams, most notably Imam Musa al-Kazim, Imam Ali al-Rida, and Imam Ali al-Hadi. Most syeds tend to cross-reference their own particular family trees with those of others in order to maintain accuracy and to weed out impostors.[citation needed]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Tabatabae (1979), page 194
  2. ^ Tabatabae (1979), page 196 - 201
  3. ^ Tabari (1990) vol.XIX pp. 178-179
  4. ^ The Sanctified Household
  5. ^ Tist of Martyrs of Karbala by Khansari
  6. ^ See:
  7. ^ Family tree of King Abdullah of Jordan
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