1 of 2 · Ramadan 8 AH · the conquest of Makkah · Makkah
'Ali ibn Abi al-'As رضي الله عنه
Riding Behind His Grandfather
'Ali was born in Makkah to Zaynab bint Muhammad and her husband Abu al-'As ibn al-Rabi', in the years when his father had not yet accepted Islam. Some biographers report that the Prophet ﷺ took the boy into his own care while Abu al-'As was still outside Islam, so that he grew up close to his grandfather.
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr and Ibn Hajar report that on the day of the conquest of Makkah the Prophet ﷺ seated 'Ali behind him on his mount. The boy entered the city of his birth beside his grandfather, on the day its idols fell and its people were forgiven.
The Prophet ﷺ made room beside him, on the greatest day of his mission, for a child of his family.
On your busiest or proudest days, do the children around you still have a place beside you?
- Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-Isti'abHistorical report
- Ibn Hajar, al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-SahabahHistorical report
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2988 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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