It is narrated from Amr bin Maymoon that I was sitting in the company of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) when nine men came to him. They said: O Abu al-Abbas! Either you get up and come with us, or these people should get up and give us privacy. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: I will get up and go with you. Amr bin Maymoon says: In those days, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) was healthy; this was before he became blind. Amr says that those people started the conversation, but we do not know what they said. After a while, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) came back, dusting off his clothes, and he was saying: Alas! These people criticize the man who has ten distinctions. They object to the personality about whom the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Now I will send a man whom Allah will never let fail; he loves Allah and His Messenger. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Upon hearing this, many people raised their necks. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Where is Ali (may Allah be pleased with him)? Someone informed that he is in his tent grinding flour. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Now none of you does this work. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) came, and his eyes were hurting, and he could not see. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) put his saliva in his eyes, then waved the flag three times and handed it over to him. He returned victorious, and among the captives was Safiyyah bint Huyayy. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a certain man with Surah al-Tawbah, then sent Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) after him. He went and took Surah al-Tawbah from him, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Only such a man should take this Surah, who is from me and I am from him. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to his clan: Who among you will support me in this world and the Hereafter and stay with me? Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was also sitting there. The people refused, so Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will stay with you in this world and the Hereafter. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You are with me in this world and the Hereafter. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned to another man and said: Who among you will support me in this world and the Hereafter? The people refused, so Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will stay with you in this world and the Hereafter. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You are my companion in this world and the Hereafter. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: After Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her), he was the first to accept Islam, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took his cloak and covered Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, and Husayn (may Allah be pleased with them all), and said: {إِنَّمَا یُرِیدُ اللّٰہُ لِیُذْہِبَ عَنْکُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَہْلَ الْبَیْتِ وَیُطَہِّرَکُمْ تَطْہِیرًا} … Allah only wishes to remove impurity from you, O People of the House, and to purify you completely. (Surah al-Ahzab: 33) And Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) offered his life for the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by wearing the Prophet’s clothes and sleeping in his place, and the polytheists were throwing stones at the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came, Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was sleeping, he thought it was the Messenger of Allah, he said: O Messenger of Allah! So Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has gone to Bir Maymoon (the name of a well), you should also go to him. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) also reached behind, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) went along and entered the cave with him. Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was also stoned in the same way as the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was stoned, and he kept turning under the cloak, he had covered his head well in the cloak, he would not take his head out until morning came. After that, he removed the cloak from his head, and the polytheists said: You are very humiliated; when we used to throw stones at your companion, he would not turn like this, but you kept turning at the hit of the stones, and this seemed strange to us. And the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set out towards Tabuk with the companions, so Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will also go with you. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) refused, so he began to weep. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Are you not pleased that your relation to me is like that of Harun (Aaron) to Musa (Moses), except that there is no prophet after me? When I go, you stay here as my caliph (deputy). And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: After me, you are the friend of every believer. He also said: Except for Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), all of you should close your doors (to the mosque). So Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) would enter the mosque even in a state of major ritual impurity, because he had no other way except that. Also, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whomever I am a friend to, Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) is his friend. And Allah Almighty has told us in the Qur’an that He is pleased with the people of the tree, i.e., those who pledged allegiance under the tree at Hudaybiyyah, and Allah knows what was in their hearts. Did Allah ever say after that He is now displeased with them? Also, when Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said about a man, Hatib bin Abi Balta’ah (may Allah be pleased with him): O Messenger of Allah! Allow me to strike his neck. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Will you do so? Do you not know that Allah looked at the people of Badr and said: Do whatever you wish, there will be no reckoning for you.