and insight: “I am the City of Knowledge and Ali is its
gateway.”
Shia scholars still relate these sayings obsessively as
proof of Muhammad’s intention that Ali succeed him,
yet not one of these later declarations has the absolute
clarity of that word “successor.” Not one of them clearly
said, “This is the man whom I designate to lead you after
I die.” Always implied, it was never quite stated, so that
what seemed incontrovertible proof to some, remained
highly ambiguous to others.
One thing was not ambiguous, however. Nobody,
Sunni or Shia, denies the extraordinary closeness
between Muhammad and Ali. In fact the two men were
so close that at the most dangerous point in the
Prophet’s life, Ali served as Muhammad’s double.
That had been when the Meccans had plotted to kill
Muhammad on the eve of his ɻight to Medina. While the
would-be assassins lay in wait outside his house for him
to emerge at dawn—even in their murderous intent,
they obeyed the traditional Arabian injunction barring
any attack on a man within the conɹnes of his own
home—Ali had arranged for Muhammad to escape along
with Abu Bakr, and stayed behind as a decoy. It was Ali
who slept that night in Muhammad’s house, Ali who
dressed in Muhammad’s robes that morning, Ali who
stepped outside, risking his own life until the assassins