`Al¢ in the School of Mu¦ammad

A devastating famine occurred in Mecca after the reconstruction of the Kaaba and several years before Mu¦ammad's prophethood. Ab£-±¡lib, the Holy Prophet's uncle, was insolvent. Mu¦ammad made the proposal to his other uncle `Abb¡s who was one of the richest members of Quraysh that each one of them would take one of Ab£-±¡lib's children to his home to protect them against famine. `Abb¡s accepted this proposal. Both of them went to Ab£-±¡lib and offered so. Thus, `Abb¡s took Ja`far, and Mu¦ammad (¥) took `Al¢ home to protect and educate. `Al¢ stayed at Mu¦ammad's home until he was promoted to the status of prophethood. Then, `Al¢ confirmed and followed him.[1] At that time, `Al¢ (a.s) was six years old and his personality was in the making.[2] Mu¦ammad (¥) wanted to compensate for the hardships Ab£-±¡lib and his wife, F¡§imah bint Asad, had gone through when he was young by adopting one of his children, namely `Al¢. He saw `Al¢ as the most competent of Ab£-±¡lib's children. This is evident by Mu¦ammad's remark after he had adopted `Al¢, “I have selected the one who has been selected by God to help me.”[3] Mu¦ammad (¥) showed a lot of respect and affection to `Al¢ (a.s) and did everything possible to educate him well. Fa¤l ibn `Abb¡s, one of `Al¢'s cousins, says:

I asked my father, “Which one of his children did the Prophet love the most?” He replied, “`Al¢ ibn Ab¢-±¡lib.” I said, “I have asked you of the Prophet's sons.” He replied, “The Prophet loves `Al¢ more than any of his sons and showed affection towards him more than others. The Prophet would never let go of `Al¢ except for those days when he attended Khad¢jah's caravan. We have never seen a father more affectionate towards his son than the Prophet and we have never seen a son more obedient to his father than `Al¢ to the Prophet.”[4]

After his prophethood, Mu¦ammad (¥) had so much emphasis over `Al¢'s education in the Islamic issues that if he received a Divine revelation at night, he would teach it to `Al¢ before dawn. If he received Divine revelation during the day, he would inform `Al¢ of it before sunset.[5] Once, `Al¢ (a.s) was asked, “How come you learned more narrations from the Prophet than his other followers?” He answered, “Whenever I asked the Prophet anything, he would answer; and whenever I was silent, he used to start telling me a narration.”[6]

When `Al¢ (a.s) was the caliph, he referred to his religious education with the following remarks:

“You, followers of the Prophet, are well aware of my close relationship with him; and you know that when I was a small boy, he used to embrace me close to his breast and let me sleep in his bed in such a way that I could touch his body and feel his smell; he even used to put food into my mouth. I used to follow the Prophet like a child going after his mother. He used to teach me one of his ethical virtues each day and ordered me to adopt that virtue. Each year, he used to pray God at the °ar¡' Mountain; I was the only person to be with him. When he received the Divine revelation, I could vividly hear Satan's voice. I asked the Prophet what that noise was. He answered that it was Satan's noise and that it had a terrible sensation for not being obedient on the earth. He says that I could hear what he heard and see what he saw; the difference was that he was the Prophet and I was not; I was his vizier and representative for doing good on the earth.”[7]

This discourse might just refer to the Prophet's prayer at °ar¡’ after his prophethood, but since most of the Prophet's prayers were done at °ar¡’ prior to his prophethood, we can be sure that this issue is related to the era prior to his prophethood and Satan's noise of discomfort is related to the descent of the first revelations. Anyway, `Al¢'s spirit and continuous education from the Prophet prepared him to see and hear things which were not possible for ordinary people to hear or see. These were due to his sensitive mind, piercing eyes, sensitive ears and specific insight.