Assassination of Ali

In 661, on the nineteenth of Ramadan, while Ali was praying in the Great Mosque of Kufa, he was struck over the head with a poison-coated sword by the Kharijite Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam. Ali died two days later from his wound. The sources seem to be unanimous that Ali forbade his family from excessive punishments for Ibn Muljam and from shedding the blood of others. In the meantime, Ibn Muljam was to be given good meals and a good bed. After Ali's death, his eldest son, Hasan, observed the lex talionis and Ibn Muljam was executed. Ali's grave was kept secret out of the fear that it might be desecrated by his enemies.