Imam Ali (a.s.) A Beacon of Courage
By Sulaiman Kattani, Translated By: I. K. A. Howard

Opening Remarks
Few are the men who are patterned like Ali b. Abi Talib . . . Life itself rises with them, as they appear scattered along the crossroads of generations, like lamps. It absorbs the last sparks from them in order to use them as guidance along the ways for the benefit of those who journey. Despite their fewness, they are like pillars through which can be seen the courtyards of temples; holding on their shoulders the heavy weights of the foundation stones, so that the domes of the minaret will flash above their lofty heights.

They are in all that like solid mountains which receive the turbulence of storms and the thunder-clouds so that they can transform them through the purifying filters along their slopes into fine sweet gushing streams of goodness. These, at every moment of time in the world of man, are the pivots and the pioneers. They are the final end of search and exploration. They are the ultimate destination of every line of thought which penetrates into existence. They are signs towards existence at every crossroad, which prevent the paths to it from going astray. In every wilderness they are laws which prevent those who go astray in it from excess.

In the blackness of night, they are the direction of dawn. And at the sombre grave, they are a source for consolation.

Among these few, the face of Ali b. Abi Talib emerges in the halo of prophethood and in the shadow of a mission, which both flow over him in harmony and perfection as he encompasses them in colour and frame.

The opportunity for creation of a man in whom there is a noble abundance of gifts and qualities, always presents itself when the darkest night prolongs its darkness in any one of the epochs of man in which there has been ignorance, oppression and injustice which destroy and humiliate . . . a man no one can encompass without him being thrust forward amongst the ranks of geniuses.
To Ali Ibn Abi Talib I dedicate this Study of mine, which was written to answer the inner urges and to seek a way to his blessings. There is something (in what I have written) which heals my soul of some of its burning thirst.

Personal Thoughts
Is it correct, my lord, that instead of making frequent visits to you, men disagreed about you?

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