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How does the story of the Mubahala refer to Imam Ali's successorship after Rasulullah (s.a.w.s)? The story is pretty straightforward! when Rasulullah (s.a.w.s) went for the Mubahala, he was accompanied by 4 others: Lady Fatima (s.a), Imam Ali (a.s), and their two sons al-Hassan (a.s) and al-Hussain (a.s)[1]. Seeing Rasulullah (s.a.w.s) in that state, the Christians realized he was earnest. One of them said, “he’s sitting on his knees for Mubahala like the prophets”[2] trembled in fear and accepted to sign a peace pact with Muslims[3]. What makes the story of Mubahala even more interesting is they asked Rasulullah (s.a.w.s) why he had come with only his family. He answered because Allah (s.w.t) had instructed me to do so, referring to ayah 61 of Sura Aali Imran. The verse doesn't explicitly refer to Ahlulbayt (a.s) and devises a unique way to point to them. However, the phrase used for Ali (a.s) stands out. He is called the "nafs", signifying his similarity to Rasulullah (s.a.w.s) and elevating his status to be equal to Rasulullah (s.a.w.s). This argument is also echoed by Imam al-Hassan (a.s) in his letter to Mu’awiyah[4] and emphasized by Imam ar-Ridha (a.s) in his response to Ma’moun, highlighting the utmost closeness of Ali (a.s) to the position of Rasulullah (s.a.w.s) as his most important virtue. Finally, it is evident that Ali (a.s) holds the closest position to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s) in terms of status and position, making him the most fitting person to succeed the prophet (s.a.w.s) and be designated as the leader of the Islamic nation. [1] Sayyed ibn Tawous, Sa’d as-Su’oud, p.90 [2] Ibn Shahr Ashoub, al-Manaqib, vol. 3, p.369 [3] Majlisi, Hayat al-Quloub, vol. 4, p.1305 [4] Shaykh at-Tousi, Amali, p. 563
