Ali was the most Superior Campanion of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a)

Afdaliyyah (superiority) in Islam means "to deserve more reward (thawab) before Allah because of good deeds".
All Muslims agree that this ' superiority ' cannot be decided by our own views or outlook and that there is no way to know it except through the Qur'an or hadith. 

al-Ghazzali, the famous Sunni scholar, has written: "The reality of superiority is what is before Allah; and that is something which cannot be known except to the Holy Prophet." [1]

Most of our Sunni brethren believe that superiority was according to the sequence of the caliphate; i.e., Abu Bakr was more superior, then 'Umar, then 'Uthman, then 'A1i. But this belief is not based on any proof, nor was it the belief of all the Sunnis of early days.

During the time of the Holy Prophet, we find that such respected Companions as Salman al- Farisi, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Miqdad al-Kindi, 'Ammar ibn Yasir, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, Jabir ibn 'Abdillah al-Ansari, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, Zayd ibn Arqam and many others believed that 'Ali (as) was the most superior amongst all the Ahlu 'l-bayt and the Companions. [2]

Ahmad ibn Hanbal was once asked by his son about his views on the subject of superiority.

He said: "Abu Bakr and 'Umar and 'Uthman." His son asked: "And what about 'Ali ibn Abi Talib? 

" He replied: "He is from the Ahlu '1bayt. Others cannot be compared with him." [3]

'Ubaydullah Amritsari writes in his famous book Arjahu 'l-matalib: "As superiority means 'having more thawab', its proof can only be known from the ahadith (traditions) of the Holy Prophet. .. and if there are conflicting traditions, then the authentic traditions should be accepted and strong traditions should be differentiated from the weak ones.

"al-'Allamah Ibn 'Abdi 'l-Barr writes in his book al-Isti'ab [4] concerning the ahadith which have been narrated about the superiority of Amiru 'l-mu'minin, 'A1i that: 'Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Qadi Isma'il ibn Ishaq, Imam Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn Shu'ayb an-Nasa'i and al-Hafiz Abu 'Ali an-Naysaburi [5] have said: "There have not come as many ahadith with good chains of narrators (asnad) about virtues of any of the Companions as have been narrated on the virtues of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (as) ."

"Furthermore, if we look at the exclusive virtues of Amir u'l-mu'minin, 'Ali (as) and think about those things which caused him to reap great rewards before Allah, we will have to admit that only he was the most superior after the Holy Prophet.'' [6]

The author himself was a Sunni, and he has discussed this matter in detail in Chapter 3, pages
103-516, of the above-mentioned book.

Obviously, I cannot provide here even a short list of the verses and traditions concerning the afdaliyyah of 'A1i (as). It will suffice to say that there are at least 86 verses in the Qur'an extolling the virtues of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (as) and the traditions on this subject cannot be counted.

Thus, it should be obvious even to the casual observer that 'Ali (as) was the most superior of the Muslims after the Holy Prophet.

References :

[1] al-Halabi: as-Sirah, vol. 3, p. 357.

 [2] Ibn Qutaybah: al-imamah wa 's-siyasah, vol. 1, p. 4; al-Mawardi: al-Ahkamu 's-sultaniyyah, p. 7.

[3] ar -Radi (ed ): Nah ju 'l -balaghah, ( Subhi as.Salih' s edition), Beirut, p. 98.

[4] Ibid., Saying no.l90, [pp.502-3] . The words of 'Ali have been quoted by ash-Sharif ar- Radi under Saying no. 190 which runs as follows: "How strange? Could the caliphate be through the (Prophet's) companionship but not through (his) companionship plus (his) kinship?"

 It is surprising to note that Subhi as-Salih's edition and Muhammad 'Abduh's edition (Beirut,1973) have omitted the wordings "but not through (his) companionship! "

For a complete version of this saying, see Ibn Abi 'l-Hadid's Sharh (Cairo,l959),vol. 18, p.416.

[5] al-Bukhari': as-Sahih, ("Kitabu 'l-Muhakibin"), Cairo, (n.d.), vol.8, p.210; at-Tabari: at- Tarikh, vol.4, p.l821.

[6] at-Tabari: at-Tarikh, pp. 2138-9.

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