A Home With Fatimah

After Badr, 'Ali married Fatimah, the youngest daughter of the Prophet ﷺ. He was poor, and when the Prophet ﷺ asked what he could give her as a dowry, 'Ali had little but his armour; the Prophet ﷺ told him to give her that. Their home was simple, and from it came al-Hasan and al-Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum.

Life was hard. Fatimah's hands were blistered from the hand-mill, and 'Ali had drawn water until his chest ached. Hearing that captives had come to the Prophet ﷺ, they asked him for a servant. He came to them at night as they lay down, and taught them something he said was better than a servant: to say subhan Allah thirty-three times, al-hamdu lillah thirty-three times and Allahu akbar thirty-four times before sleep (Sahih al-Bukhari 3705; Sahih Muslim 2727). 'Ali said he never left it afterwards.

Once, after a disagreement at home, 'Ali went to sleep in the mosque, and dust covered his side. The Prophet ﷺ came, wiped the dust from him and said, "Get up, Abu Turab" — "father of dust." Of all his names, 'Ali loved that one most (Sahih al-Bukhari 441, 3703, 6280; Sahih Muslim 2409).