مقتل علي بن أبي طالب

Ali ibn Abi Talib was killed by Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam in 40 AH. ¹ The index of al-Tabari points to the accounts of the killing on pages 141 to 152. ²

al-Tabari relates that Ibn Muljam, with al-Barak ibn Abd Allah and Amr ibn Bakr, devised a plan to assassinate Ali and Mu'awiya. ^{1 3 4}

• The three men met in Mecca and pledged to kill Ali, Mu'awiya and Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) on the night of 17 Ramadan.
• Ibn Muljam struck Ali on the forehead with a sword as he went out calling people to prayer.
• Ali kept to his prayer on Friday and Saturday, and died on Sunday night, aged sixty-three according to the well-known account.
• al-Hasan, al-Husayn and Abd Allah ibn Ja'far washed him, al-Hasan led the funeral prayer over him, and he was buried at night in the governor's house at Kufa. His grave was hidden so that the Kharijites would not dig it up. ⁵

• Ibn Muljam struck him on the crown of his head while he was waking the people for prayer, with Shabib and Mujashi' with him.
• He died on Sunday night, the twenty-first of Ramadan, and he left instructions for al-Hasan, al-Husayn and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.
• He was buried in al-Ruhba beside the mosque of Kufa, and al-Hasan led the prayer over him with seven takbirs.
• He left only seven hundred dirhams remaining from his stipend, and it is said two hundred and fifty, and his Qur'an and his sword. ⁶

The two sources differ on the place of burial and some details, and this entry sets out the accounts without preferring one.