Sunni view of Ali

Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Ali contributed significantly to Islam in its early years and was likely the first male to accept the teachings of Muhammad. In Sunni Islam, Ali is recognized as a close companion, a foremost authority on the Quran and Islamic law, and the fountainhead of wisdom in Sunni spirituality. When Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali had his own claims to leadership, perhaps in reference to Muhammad's announcement at the Ghadir Khumm, but he eventually accepted the temporal rule of the first three caliphs in the interest of Muslim unity. During this period, Ali is portrayed in Sunni sources as a trusted advisor of the first three caliphs, while their conflicts with Ali are neutralized or downplayed. Ali himself succeeded to the caliphate in 656 but his rule was immediately challenged by multiple pretenders and he was assassinated in 661.

As the fourth and final Rashidun caliph, Ali is held in a particularly high status in Sunni Islam, although this doctrinal reverence for Ali in Sunni Islam is a recent development for which the prominent traditionist Ahmad ibn Hanbal is likely to be credited. His hierarchy of companions places Ali below his predecessors but above those companions who fought against him, thus accommodating into Sunni doctrine the opposite sides of a moral conflict that has split the Muslim community ever since. Those prophetic sayings that elevate Ali above other companions have also been reinterpreted by Sunni scholars to uphold the Sunni hierarchy. By contrast, Shia Islam views Ali as the rightful religious and temporal successor of Muhammad and views the predecessors of Ali as usurpers of his rights.