Muslims in the length and breadth of globe are celebrating the birth of this holy man about whom Holy Prophet PBUH said, ''Oh Ali, you are my brother in this world as well as the Hereafter.'

How unfortunate that in Pakistan, country of the pure, where such Islamic traditions should have been respected and eulogized by all Muslims, they are rather made controversial.

Meanings are constructed on them which go contrary to the essentials of Islam, just to protect the integrity of some prominent figures of Islamic history: that too at the cost of Islamic divinity.   

In the last forty years under the influence of Nagdi petro dollar, which found ready acceptability in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia because of poverty and illiteracy, a brand of semi-literate Mullah emerged quickly and created a counter culture of Islam.

The present law and order situation and bloodletting at the cost of humanity in the lands of Islam is much to be put on this extreme cult.

The nation of Islam has terribly suffered over the centuries for being away from Holy Prophet PBUH and his true vicegerent who should have been its guiding star in all matters; corporal or spiritual.

Instead, political exigencies, money, power, knack for leadership and other worldly insinuations caught in their snare many a people in history who later, through the weakness of human psyche that always submits to grandeur, gained larger than life statures; that too quite contrary to the teachings of Islam.

The Quran says, 'Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted." (49:13). God did not stop here. He further told us what to do. "O ye who believe! Be careful of your duty to Allah, and be with the truthful. (9:119)

Who could be more truthful than the person about whom Holy Prophet PBUH himself said, "Ali is with the Truth and the Truth is with 'Ali" (Kanz ul Ummal hadith number 33018) . At another occasion he said, 'Ali is with the Qur'an and the Qur'an is with 'Ali, the two shall not separate until they meet me at the Fountain of Kauthar" [Kanz ul Ummal hadith number 32912].

If Muslims had emulated Imam Ali in their lives we could have presented real Islam to the world and avoided being on the defence decrying the inhuman acts of new-Kharijites all across the globe.

Teachings of Islam are best propounded by Imam Ali. He is our only saviour about whom Holy Prophet PBUH said, "Nobody knows Allah except I and Ali. Nobody knows Ali except Allah and I. Nobody knows me except Allah and Ali.' (Found in many Shia and Sunni books)

Holy Prophet PBUH took great care of Imam Ali and brought him up in special circumstances.  In Nahjul-Balagha the Imam says, ''The Holy Prophet PBUH brought me up in his own arms and fed me with his own morsel. I followed him wherever he went like a baby camel following its mother. Each day a new aspect of his character would beam out of his noble person and I would accept it and follow it as a command."

Had we made Imam Ali as our guide and teacher to follow the teachings of Islam in practical life to prove veracity of Islamic teachings and their vitality to address human concerns in all epochs, we would have done a great service to Islam.

Imam Ali does not belong to Shia alone; he belongs to Islam and Islam belongs to him. Sans Ali there is no Islam; the Islam Holy Prophet PBUH brought us to live by.