The victories of Islam on every battlefield of the Prophetic era are, in reality, the visible reflections of one hidden truth: the presence of Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam) at the side of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sall-Allah-o-Alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallam). The historical timeline of the Islamic wars bears one unbroken witness that not a single decisive Islamic battle could be conquered without the physical presence of Maula Ali (ASWS). Wherever the standard of Islam was raised, the Lion of Almighty Allah stood beneath it; wherever the enemy of Islam was broken, it was broken by the hand that held Zulfiqar.
Zulfiqar itself is a sacred sign of this Divine arrangement. It was not an ordinary sword forged by human hands; it was a blessed sword sent down by Almighty Allah from the heavens, delivered through Jibreel-e-Ameen (Alaihis Salaam) to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW), who, by the command of Almighty Allah, entrusted it to Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam). About this reality, the angels of the Divine Court proclaimed the eternal declaration: “La Fata illa Ali, La Saifa illa Zulfiqar” — There is no youthful champion except Ali, and there is no sword except Zulfiqar. This single announcement from the unseen world is enough to establish that every victory of Islam on the battlefield was decreed by Almighty Allah to pass through the blessed hand of Maula Ali (ASWS).
In the very first great encounter, the Battle of Badr, the Muslims were only three hundred and thirteen in number, poorly armed, standing against a large and heavily equipped army of the disbelievers of Makkah. When the traditional single combats began before the general battle, it was Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam), together with Hadrat Hamza (Alaihis Salaam) and Hadrat Ubaidah (Radi-Allah-o-Anh), who stepped forward from the ranks of Islam. The greatest champions of Quraysh — Waleed, Utbah and Shaybah — were sent to their fate by these blessed hands, and the very first crack in the pride of the disbelievers was made by the sword of Maula Ali (ASWS). By the end of Badr, a large number of the leading warriors of Quraysh had fallen to Zulfiqar, and the Muslims returned with a victory that was, at its heart, the victory of Ali (ASWS).
In the Battle of Uhud, the tide of the day turned when many companions were dispersed by the sudden counter-attack of the disbelievers, and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) himself was surrounded and injured. In that most delicate moment of Islamic history, when almost every other defender had been pushed back, Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam) stood as an unshakable wall in front of the Beloved of Almighty Allah, receiving blow after blow of the enemy upon his own blessed body, striking down every attacker who dared to approach the Holy Prophet (SAWAW). It was on that very day that the heavenly voice was heard proclaiming: “La Fata illa Ali, La Saifa illa Zulfiqar.” The honour of Islam at Uhud was preserved because the Lion of Almighty Allah refused to move even a single step from the side of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW).
In the Battle of Khandaq (the Trench), the disbelievers laid siege to Madinah with a combined army of unprecedented size. The most feared warrior of Arabia, Amr bin Abd-e-Wud, leapt across the trench and challenged the Muslims to single combat. A heavy silence fell upon the entire Islamic army, and no one rose to face him — except Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam). When Maula Ali (ASWS) stood up to answer the call, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) himself declared, in words preserved by the Ummah for ever: “Today the whole of Iman has come out to face the whole of Kufr.” With a single decisive stroke of Zulfiqar, Amr bin Abd-e-Wud was sent to his end, the siege was broken in spirit, and the confederate armies were compelled to withdraw. Once again, the victory of Islam passed through the hand of Ali (ASWS) alone.
In the Battle of Khaybar, the mighty fortresses of the Jews of Khaybar had resisted every attempt of the Muslim army. Day after day, the standard of Islam was carried forward and returned without success. Finally, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) declared before the whole gathering: “Tomorrow I shall give this standard to a man who loves Almighty Allah and His Rasool, and whom Almighty Allah and His Rasool love; a man who does not turn his back in the battlefield, and by whose hand Almighty Allah shall grant victory.” On the next morning, in front of all the Companions, the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) called for Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam), placed the blessed standard in his hand, and sent him forward. Maula Ali (ASWS) uprooted the massive iron gate of the fortress of Khaybar with a single hand — a feat of strength that no ordinary human could ever perform — and the fortresses fell, one after another, before the Lion of Almighty Allah. The victory of Khaybar is universally accepted, even by the enemies of Islam, as the victory of Ali (ASWS).
On the day of the Conquest of Makkah, when the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) entered the Holy City in majesty and mercy, the idols surrounding and standing upon the Holy Kaaba had to be removed and destroyed. The Holy Prophet (SAWAW) chose Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam) for this sacred honour. Maula Ali (ASWS) climbed upon the blessed shoulders of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) himself and, by that unmatched honour, broke every idol placed upon and around the Holy Kaaba, purifying the House of Almighty Allah with his own blessed hands. No greater sign of his sanctity, closeness and chosen station can be imagined than this: that the very feet which had first taken birth inside the Holy Kaaba were now raised upon the blessed shoulders of the Beloved of Almighty Allah to cleanse the same Kaaba from every trace of shirk.
In the Battle of Hunain, when the sudden attack of the enemy caused many soldiers of Islam to be scattered in the opening moments, only a small group of the closest Companions remained firm around the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW). At the front of that blessed circle stood Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam), holding the reins of the Prophetic dignity with his sword drawn, striking down every attacker who dared to advance towards the Beloved of Almighty Allah. Once again, the tide of the battle turned, the fleeing soldiers returned, and the enemy was defeated — and once again, at the heart of that turning was the presence of Maula Ali (ASWS).
In every other expedition of the Prophetic era — from the smaller campaigns against hostile tribes, to the mission of Yemen where Maula Ali (ASWS) was sent by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) as the leader and teacher, to the many occasions on which the standard of Islam was placed in his blessed hand — the pattern is one and the same. Wherever Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam) was physically present with Zulfiqar, victory descended upon the Muslims by the mercy of Almighty Allah; and on the few occasions when he was assigned some other sacred duty, the outcome of the battle was preserved by his prayers, his supervision and his spiritual presence.
This unbroken pattern is not a coincidence of history; it is a decree of Almighty Allah. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) himself declared: “Ali is from me and I am from Ali”; “Ali is with the Truth and the Truth is with Ali”; and, on the historic day of Khaybar, “Almighty Allah and His Rasool love Ali, and Ali loves Almighty Allah and His Rasool.” When such a Beloved of Almighty Allah, armed with a heavenly sword sent by Almighty Allah Himself, stands upon a battlefield in the defence of Islam, the result cannot be anything other than victory. This is why the historical timeline of the Islamic wars records the same conclusion under every heading: no decisive Islamic battle of the Prophetic era was concluded in victory without the physical presence of Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam).
It must also be understood that the courage of Maula Ali (ASWS) on the battlefield was not the courage of anger, pride or worldly ambition. He never lifted Zulfiqar for personal revenge, for wealth, for land, or for tribal honour. Every stroke of his blessed sword was struck purely for the pleasure of Almighty Allah and for the protection of the mission of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW). The famous incident, preserved in every school of Islamic tradition, in which he lowered his sword over a fallen enemy the moment that enemy spat upon his blessed face — so that his action would remain solely for Almighty Allah and not be mixed with any trace of personal anger — is by itself an eternal lesson in the purity of his Jihad.
For all these reasons, the Ummah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWAW) has, from the earliest days, honoured Hadrat Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam) with the title “Asad-Allah-il-Ghalib” — the Ever-Victorious Lion of Almighty Allah. He is the Lion who was born inside the House of Almighty Allah, raised in the lap of the Beloved of Almighty Allah, armed by the sword of Almighty Allah, and used by Almighty Allah as the visible instrument of victory for the religion of Islam on every decisive battlefield of the Prophetic era.
Every follower of the Owaisi Qadari Qalandari Panjtani Order, and every honest lover of the Ahl-e-Bait, is therefore invited to reflect deeply upon this reality: the honour, protection, expansion and victory of Islam in its foundational years are inseparable from the blessed presence and the blessed sword of Maula Ali-ul-Murtaza (Alaihi Salaat-o-Wassalam). To love him, to remember him, to send Salaat-o-Salaam upon him and to walk upon the path of his sincerity is, in truth, to keep alive within our own hearts that same victorious spirit of Islam which Almighty Allah first manifested through the Lion of His Court on the battlefields of Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, Khaybar, Hunain and the Conquest of Makkah. Aameen.