5.4 Ali ibn Abi Talib Enters into Islam Now Allah taught His Messenger the rites of prayer, and Mohamed taught them to Khadija. One day, Ali, who was about ten years old, entered and found Mohamed and Khadija praying. He stood amazed. When they had finished, he asked, "To whom do you prostrate yourselves?" "We prostrate ourselves to Allah," said Mohamed, "who has made me a prophet and commanded me to call people to Him." Then he asked his cousin to enter into Islam and reject idol worship, and he read the Koran to him. Ali, who was of a poetic nature, sat enthralled, then he said to his cousin, "Give me time to consult Abu Talib," meaning his father. He spent a turbulent night, then when morning came he went to Mohamed and Khadija and said, "Allah has created me without consulting Abu Talib. What need have I to consult Abu Talib to worship Him?" And from that time on he followed Mohamed unswervingly and grew up to be a wonderful man and a great Muslim leader whose words of wisdom and piety are studied by all Muslims and whose invincible sword fought for nearly half a century to uphold the truth. A visitor to Mecca at that time describes the following scene, "I had business with Al-Abbas, so I went to seek him by the Kaaba. As I sat with him, a man of luminous complexion and great dignity entered. With him was a boy of pleasant aspect and a woman, dressed up as to cover her beauty. They went seven times round the Kaaba, then they began to pray and prostrate themselves." Whatever the man did, the boy who stood beside him did, and the woman who stood behind them did. I asked Al-Abbas if this was something old that we did not know about or if it was some new form of worship, and he said, "This is my nephew, Mohamed, beside him is my nephew, Ali, and the woman is Khadija, daughter of Khuwaylid and wife to Mohamed; and they are the only people on earth who worship in this odd, new way." At first the Quraysh did not take what Mohamed did seriously, it was a curiosity and no more. The next person to believe was Zayd ibn Al-Haritha. Zayd loved Mohamed, as all who knew him did, and had faith in him. Like Ali, Zayd grew up to be a fine young man, aiding and supporting Mohamed, and a brave soldier.