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Is it true that some people threw themselves into the fire out of love for our master Ali during his caliphate?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The circulated story about Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) burning Jews has not been proven. The correct account is that he burned a people who claimed divinity for him. He asked them to repent, but they refused, so he burned them with fire. Al-Bukhari narrated this story, and Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) disapproved of the burning, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade punishment with Allah's punishment, and he (Ibn Abbas) was of the opinion that they should be killed as an apostasy Hadd (prescribed punishment). Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar mentioned that those whom Ali burned were the Sabaites who claimed divinity for him, and he authenticated the chain of narration for the story describing the details of their burning. What has been narrated — that Ali suffocated them with smoke until they died, or that he killed them and then burned them — is not authentic.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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