How Allegiance Was Pledged to Imam  Ali ( A)

Following the killing of ‘Uthman, the most significant factor that brought Imam ‘Ali (‘A) to power was the allegiance pledged to him by the people, an issue that has always been a major point of discussion in the history of early Islam.This paper embarks on a brief and comparative study of how people pledged their allegiance to the Imam using the enormous book of “Nahj ul-Balaghah” and major sources of Islamic history written between the 3rd and 10th centuries A.H. The purpose of this work is to clarify ambiguities in this regard and answer related questions.