Date of first traditions re birth of Ali

[Karen Lofstrom]

This may be a forlorn hope but ... I work on Islam-related Wikipedia
articles and I'm having a conflict with a Shi'a editor who is working on
the Ali ibn Abi Talib article. He is convinced that Ali was born in the
Kaaba, and that all Muslims believe this. I know that Shi'a believe this,
but such Sunni material as I can find on the matter seems to be mixed. One
apparently Sunni website gives the Kaaba story, and one says that Ali was
of course born in his parents' house. I would appreciate more references
to the Sunni view on the matter.

I would also like to know the date of the earliest tradition that mentions
this story.

It doesn't seem to be in Ibn Ishaq (Ibn Hisham), Tabari, or Ibn Sa'd. I
don't think it is in Waqidi, which I don't have. (I don't read Arabic
(yet) and I have to depend on English translations.)

Personally, I think that if something this out-of-the-ordinary had
happened, it would have been in the earliest texts. None of the academic
historians give this story any credence -- they don't even bother to
refute it.

Would this be related in some of the hadith collections? I don't have any
of the translations of the complete hadith, and have to depend on online
collections (which all seem to be partial rather than full). Does anyone
know when this story was first told?

If you don't know the answers, do you know whom I could ask?

--
Karen Lofstrom lofs...@lava.net
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Look! Leo's mutating into a fire truck!

[susan]

Indeed Ali was born in Kaaba, but he was not the only one born in
Kaaba.
>From time of Ismael & Abraham the people born in Kaaba amount to 100
thousand.
It was the custom for pregnant women of high statue to spend the last
days near Kaaba hoping they deliver there.
There were two people contemporary with Mohammad and Ali who was born
in Kaaba. He was an Infidel and ran from Mekka when Prophet entered the
City. He was wanted by the Prophet.
He was later pardoned and converted to Islam.
Also, many many Arabs had the Name Ali at the time of Mohammad and
before him.
So, I don't know what is the big deal about these two matters.