It is narrated from Amr bin Maymun that I was sitting with Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) when a group of nine people came to him and said: "O Ibn Abbas! Either come with us, or speak with us privately, apart from these people." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "I will come with you." This was when he was healthy, before he lost his sight. The narrator says: They began talking with him, but we could not know what they said. Then Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) came back shaking his garment and, saying "Uff and tuff," began to say: "These people were speaking ill of a person who has more than ten virtues that no one else has. They were going after the man about whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said (on the occasion of Khaybar): 'I will send a man whom Allah will never disgrace; he loves Allah and His Messenger, and Allah and His Messenger love him.' At this many people hoped for it, but he (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: 'Where is Ali?' People said that he was grinding at the hand-mill, while there was no one else besides him who would grind (that is, he was occupied with household work). Then when he came, his eyes were sore and he could not see anything. He (peace and blessings be upon him) applied his blessed saliva to his eyes, then shook the banner three times and handed it to him; and Ali brought back Sayyidah Safiyyah bint Huyayy (may Allah be pleased with her) (from that battle)." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) further said: "Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent so-and-so with Surah al-Tawbah (to Makkah), then sent Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) after him so that he would take the surah back from him, and said: 'None shall take it except a man who is from me and I am from him.'" Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked his paternal cousins: "Which of you will accept my guardianship (and loyalty) in this world and the Hereafter?" At that time Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was also sitting with them. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) turned to them one by one and asked: "Which of you will be my wali in this world and the Hereafter?" and they all declined. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): "You are my wali in this world and the Hereafter." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that, after Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her), the first among the people to believe was Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He (peace and blessings be upon him) took his blessed cloak and placed it over Sayyiduna Ali, Sayyidah Fatimah, Sayyiduna Hasan and Sayyiduna Husayn (may Allah be pleased with them), and said: "Allah only intends to remove impurity from you, O people of the household (of the Prophet), and to purify you thoroughly." [Surah al-Ahzab: 33] Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) sold his own life: he put on the clothes of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and slept in his (peace and blessings be upon him) place. The polytheists were throwing stones (from outside the house) at the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Meanwhile Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came while Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was asleep; Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) thought he was the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so he called out: "O Prophet of Allah!" Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "The Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has gone towards the well of Maymun; go and catch up with him." So Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) went and entered the Cave of Thawr with him (peace and blessings be upon him), while stones continued to be hurled at Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) just as they had been hurled at the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was writhing in pain (yet did not leave his place). He had wrapped his head in the cloth and did not bring it out until morning. When in the morning he removed the cloth from his face, the polytheists said: "You are a real scoundrel. When we threw stones at your companion (Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)), he showed no writhing, whereas you were writhing; we found this strange." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) set out for the Battle of Tabuk and took the people with him, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Shall I also set out with you?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No," and he began to weep. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Are you not pleased that you are to me as Harun was to Musa, except that there is no prophet after me? And it is not fitting that I should go (from Madinah) without leaving you behind, for you are my khalifah (deputy)." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "After me, you are the wali (guardian and beloved) of every believing man and believing woman." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had all the doors of the mosque closed except the door of Ali; so he could enter the mosque even in a state of major ritual impurity (janabah), because the way to his house was through the mosque and there was no other way. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever I am the mawla of, Ali is his mawla." Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has informed us in the Qur'an that He became pleased with the People of the Tree (those of Bay'at al-Ridwan) and knew what was in their hearts; so has Allah informed us anywhere (later) that He became displeased with them? Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that when Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said (about a certain man): Permit me to strike off his neck, the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Would you really do that? And what do you know? Perhaps Allah Almighty looked upon the people of Badr and said: 'Do whatever you wish (you have been forgiven).'" This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it in this form.

Abu Hatim al-Razi says: "The hadith scholars were very pleased to find the virtues (of the Ahl al-Bayt) in the narration of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal."