Birthday of Imam Ali

The birth anniversary of Imam Ali is a national public holiday in the Islamic Republic of Iran, that falls on the thirteenth day of the month of Rajab on the Islamic Calendar. Ali ibn Abu Talib became an important Imam during the early years of Islamic history. He was the son in law of Muhammad himself. Shiites, like most Muslims in Iran are, consider Ali to be the first true Imam. Ali is said to have been born in Mecca in the Kaaba, the holiest place in all of Islam, around A.D. 599. Aside from Muhammad, Ali is considered by many Islamic historians to be the first male to convert to Islam. He then became a key general and warrior in Muhammad’s battles. He ended up marrying Fatimah, Muhammad’s daughter. Later, Ali succeeded Uthman as Caliph of the Muslim world, but in A.D. 661, he was assassinated with a poison-lined sword while praying in the Great Mosque in Kufa, Iraq. He is considered a martyr and his memory is honoured, if in different ways, by Shia and Sunni Muslims alike.