Assassination of Ali

Assassination of Ali
"Martyrdom of Imam Ali" painting by Yousef Abdinejad
Location	Kufa, Rashidun Caliphate (present day Iraq)
Coordinates	32°01′43″N 44°24′03″E / 32.02861°N 44.40083°E / 32.02861; 44.40083Coordinates: 32°01′43″N 44°24′03″E / 32.02861°N 44.40083°E / 32.02861; 44.40083
Date	January 26, 661 (661-01-26)
Target	Ali
Weapons	Sword
Deaths	Ali
Perpetrator	Ibn Muljam

Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth (last) Sunni Rashidun caliph and first Shia Imam, was assassinated by a Kharijite called Ibn Muljam on 26 January 661 at the Great Mosque of Kufa, in present-day Iraq. Ali, who was then 62 or 63 years of age, died due to his injuries two days after Ibn Muljam struck him on his head by a poison-coated sword, on the 21 (or 19) Ramadan 40 AH (28 January 661 CE). He was the third successive caliph, after Umar and Uthman, to be assassinated.

Ali became the caliph after the assassination of Uthman in 656. However he faced opposition from various factions including the Levant governor, Muawiyah I. A civil war, called the First Fitna, took place within the early Islamic state which resulted in the overthrow of the Rashidun caliphs and the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty. It began when the caliph Uthman ibn Affan was assassinated in 656 and continued through the four-year reign of Ali. After Ali agreed to arbitration with Muawiyah I following the Battle of Siffin (657), a revolt happened against him by some members of his army, later known as Kharijites ("those who leave"). They killed some of Ali's supporters, but they were crushed by Ali's forces at the Battle of Nahrawan in July 658.