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

(Continued)
The reality of Ali b. Abi Talib lies in his true nature rather than in his outward appearance. The difficulty which words have to portray him is no less than their inability to get to describe his true nature. He did not come to this world like ordinary people, in their multitudes, come to it. For people come to this world to fulfill the ordinary goals of life and travel from it according to destiny and vanish after their allotted span amid waves of forgetfulness.

As for him, he came to this world as if he was bringing it. When it came to him, he remained as if he had overcome it. If the written word was only satisfied to portray him in terms of the period between cradle and grave, it would be just a tool which deals with the outward appearances of things apart from their inner reality.

The difference between outward appearance and inner reality is vast. The Ali who was born in Mecca, lived six decades  and  died  in  Kufa, is not the Ali whose     swaddling    clothes    were    the

Arabian Peninsula and who has continued to live for fourteen centuries without knowing the touch of the shroud. The Ali who was content to live his daily life in old rags is not the Ali who was not content with the leftovers of life.

Whenever the written word is content to portray him in this outward form, Ali b. Abi Talib appears drier than a sanddune scorched by the midday sun. Mecca is the place of his birth and Holy Najaf is the resting-place of the body of him who was always dressed in old clothes. Yet amid the sand dunes scorched by the midday sun is an oasis which thirsty souls long for . . . between Mecca and Najaf there are oases which give shelter to generations of men . . . amid the wrappings of old clothes is a cloak which can only be worn in Heaven.

Even though Ali's travels were limited to a short time between Basra and Kufa or between Mecca and Medina that never prevented him from being also that great runner whose footsteps went further than the halting places for caravans.

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