'Ali

(born 600, Meccadied January 661, Al-Kfah, Iraq) Cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and fourth caliph (656661). Al was a ward of Muhammad, just as Muhammad himself had been a ward of Al's father, Ab lib. An early convert to Islam, he helped foil an assassination plot against Muhammad and, following the Hijrah to Medina (622), fought beside him against his enemies, gaining renown as a soldier. Since some in the early Muslim community claimed that Muhammad did not name any successor and others claimed that he named Al, the controversy over Al's claim to the caliphate resulted in the fundamental schism in Islam that eventually led to the creation of the Shite (from shat Al, party of Al) and Sunnite branches of the religion. His willingness to compromise with his adversaries during the first fitnah led some of his troops to desert and form the Khrijite sect, one of whose members later assassinated Al. In later Islamic hagiography, Al was held up as the paradigm of youthful chivalry and virtue by both Shites and Sunnites. al-usayn ibn Al; Battle of Karbal; Muwiyah.