realized they had the wrong man. Ali, that is, who for
the space of that night stood in for Muhammad and who
ɹnally escaped himself to make the long journey to
Medina in the humblest possible fashion, alone, on foot.
In a way, it seemed fated that Ali should take on the
role of Muhammad’s double. Despite the twenty-nine-
year age diʃerence between the two cousins, there was a
kind of perfect reciprocity in their relationship, for each
had found refuge as a boy in the home of the other. After
his father’s death, the orphaned Muhammad had been
raised in his uncle Abu Talib’s household, long before Ali
was even born, and years later, when Abu Talib fell on
hard times ɹnancially, Muhammad, by then married to
Khadija and running the merchant business she had
inherited from her ɹrst husband, had taken in his
uncle’s youngest son as part of his own household. Ali
grew up alongside Muhammad’s four daughters and
became the son Muhammad and Khadija never had. The
Prophet became a second father to him, and Khadija a
second mother.
Over time, the bonds of kinship between the two men
would tighten still further. In fact, they would triple. As
if Ali were not close enough by virtue of being
Muhammad’s paternal ɹrst cousin and his adoptive son,
Muhammad handpicked him to marry Fatima, his eldest
daughter, even though others had already asked for her
hand.