Critical Analysis of the Entry of "Ali" in Leiden Encyclopedia of the Qur'an and the Study of Its Harmony with Islamic and Oriental Writings

The entry of "Ali" in Leiden encyclopedia of the Qur'an has been written by "Ali Sultan Asani", a Sunni Muslim from Nairobi. This entry, while correctly reporting some issues such as Imam Ali's enjoyment of the position of Imamate and esoteric knowledge, contains incorrect points, such as the attribution of the Sufi leadership to him, as well as the existence of Imam Ali's name and virtues in the text of Imam Ali's Mushaf and the rejection of attribution of the of the Ottoman’s Mushaf by the Shiites until the fourth century. The present study, with a descriptive-analytical method, has studied and analyzed the approach and contents of this entry and based on the teachings of the Qur'an and hadiths, has shown its accuracy and validity and its degree of harmony with Shiite, Sunni and Oriental sources and writings. The findings of the research indicate that the author, although he was in favor of truth in expressing some issues, but in some cases, he faced challenges such as lack of comprehensiveness, harmful succinctness, attributing Imam Ali to be the leader of esoteric and mystics, etc. This entry of Ali has many compatibility and references to other entries of Leiden and independent Oriental writings; but contrary to expectations, it does not refer to any of the Shiite narrative, interpretive and historical sources, and there is no specific harmony with the authentic Sunni sources.