Shia Islam  Persian Gulf States Table of Contents   The imamate
began with Ali, who is also accepted by Sunni Muslims as the
fourth of the "rightly guided caliphs" to succeed the Prophet.
Shia revere Ali as the First Imam, and his descendants,
beginning with his sons Hasan and Husayn, continue the line of
the Imams until the twelfth. Shia point to the close lifetime
association of the Prophet with Ali. When Ali was six years old,
he was invited by the Prophet to live with him, and Shia believe
Ali was the first person to make the declaration of faith in
Islam. Ali also slept in the Prophet's bed on the night of the
hijra, when it was feared that the house would be attacked by
unbelievers and the Prophet stabbed to death. He fought in all
the battles the Prophet did, except one, and the Prophet chose
him to be the husband of one of his favorite daughters, Fatima.
Among Shia, the term imam traditionally has been used only for
Ali and his eleven descendants. None of the twelve Imams, with
the exception of Ali,