The Commander of the Believers

Sahl bin Ahmad bin Abdillah narrated from Ali bin Abdillah, from Is’haaq bin Ibrahim Al-Debri, from Abdul Razzaq bin Hamam, from Mo’ammar, from Abdullah bin Tawus, from his father, from Ibn Abbas, who said: 

We were sitting with the Prophet when Ali bin Abi Taleb entered. Ali said, “ASSALAAMO ALAIKA, O Messenger of Allah.”  The Prophet replied, “WA ALAIK ASSALAAM, O Commander of the Believers.” 

Ali responded, “O Prophet, you call me the Commander of Believers while you are still alive?” The Prophet answered, “Yes, while I am alive.”  Then the Prophet continued, “O Ali!  You passed by Jibraeel and I yesterday and did not say Salaam.  

So Jibraeel said, ‘Why did the Commander of the Believers not say Salaam to us. I swear to Allah, we would have been pleased if he had said Salaam to us and we would have responded.” Ali answered, “It looked like you and Dehya # were in a private meeting so I did not want to interrupt.” 

The Prophet said, “He was not Dehya, he was Jibraeel.  I asked Jibraeel why he called you the Commander of the Believers.  Jibraeel told me that in the Battle of Badr, Allah told Jibraeel to come to me (the Prophet) and tell me to order the Commander of the Believers to ride his horse in front of the army lines because the angels love to watch him do that.  

So Allah named you the Commander of the Believers that day in the heavens.” 

Then the Prophet said, “O Ali!  You are the commander of everyone in the heavens and the commander of everyone on earth.  You are the commander of those who have passed away and the commander of those who are yet to come.  

There is no commander before you and no commander after you.  It is forbidden for anyone who has not received this title from Allah to be called by this name.”

(Ref : Bihar  Volume 37 Pagae307 Hadees39)

(# “Dehya Al-Kalbi” was one the companions of the Prophet.  He was raised by the Prophet and he was very handsome.  It was very common for Angel Jibraeel to come down to Prophet in the form of Dehya.  The Prophet had ordered his companions not to approach him when they saw him alone with Dehya. )