Hadhrat Ali’s Nickname: ‘Abu Turab’
Some days after their marriage, one day, the Rasul of Allah (saw) visited Ali and his daughter Fatima. That night, as fate would have it, Fatima and Ali had a disagreement over a certain matter. When our Master noticed that Ali was not inside, he asked his daughter, “Where is Ali, Fatima?” she replied, “We had an argument, and he got upset with me, so he decided to take a nap outside...”
At that moment, our Master (saw) asked Sehl bin Sad (ra), who happened to be passing by, “Check and see where Ali is…” After a brief search, Sehl bin Sad returned and said, “He is sleeping in the mosque, O Rasul of Allah...”
Upon hearing this, our Master went straight to the mosque. There, he found Ali asleep with his upper garment removed, his body covered in dust and dirt. Rasulullah sat beside him, gently wiping away the dust with his own hand, and called out, “Wake up, O Abu Turab (father of dust)! Wake up, O Abu Turab!”
After that day, Hadhrat Ali used to say, “For me, there has been no name better than ‘Abu Turab’ since that day. Whenever someone called me by that name, it brought comfort to my heart, and I felt great ease…”