Al-Ruhi mentioned that those slain among the followers of Talha and al-Zubayr were eight thousand — and it is also said seventeen thousand — while about a thousand were slain among the companions of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). And he mentioned that seventy hands were severed upon the halter of the camel. (Bina al-Maqala by Ibn Tawus, vol. 1, p. 89)
It has been said: the slain of the army of the Camel were seventy to eighty thousand, and the slain of the army of Ali (AS) were several thousand. Seventy hands alone were severed while holding the halter of Aisha's camel.
Sufyan ibn Uyayna said: A multitude of women is not part of worldliness, for among the Companions there was none more ascetic than Ali ibn Abi Talib, and he had seventeen concubines and four wives. (Bina al-Maqala by Ibn Tawus, vol. 1, p. 249)
Sufyan ibn Uyayna says: Having many wives is not to be counted as love of the world. Thus among the Companions there was none more ascetic than Ali (AS), and Ali (AS) had four permanent wives and seventeen other women.
In the Sira: that he (AS) used to excuse himself from divorce out of regard for the dignity of the women who were with him. (Bina al-Maqala by Ibn Tawus, vol. 1, p. 250)
Out of regard for the well-being and honour of women, Ali (AS) shunned divorce utterly.
Ibn Abd al-Barr al-Maghribi mentioned that a group collected the Qur'an in the time of the Messenger of God (PBUH), and among them was Ali. (Bina al-Maqala by Ibn Tawus, vol. 1, p. 275)
Ibn Abd al-Barr says: Ali (AS) was among those who were engaged in collecting the Qur'an in the very time of the Messenger of God (PBUH).
His saying: I have read what lies between the two covers of the Book and have found in it no superiority of the children of Ishmael over the children of Isaac. And Ali said: The offspring of Ishmael and of Isaac are equal. (Bina al-Maqala by Ibn Tawus, vol. 1, p. 398)
When an Arab woman protested that her share of the public treasury was equal to that of a Persian woman, Ali (AS) said: I have looked carefully, and in the whole of the Qur'an I have not found a single verse saying that the Arab has superiority over the non-Arab! Ali (AS) constantly used to say: The Arab is equal to the non-Arab.
From the hadith transmitted by the chains of that party: that Ali and the Banu Hashim did not give the pledge of allegiance until Fatima (AS) had died; and she had standing among the people, so [after her death] Ali submitted to making terms with Abu Bakr. (Bina al-Maqala by Ibn Tawus, vol. 1, p. 414)
It is narrated by certain chains that Ali (AS) and the Banu Hashim did not pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr as long as Fatima (AS) was alive. While Fatima lived, she had standing among the people, and after her passing Ali (AS) was compelled to come to terms with Abu Bakr.
And from the book of the most eloquent of the preachers of Khwarazm, tracing the hadith back to Salman the Persian, from the Prophet (PBUH): that he said to Ali: O Ali, for those who love you is Paradise, and for your Shi'a is the Firdaws. (Bina al-Maqala by Ibn Tawus, vol. 1, p. 430)
Salman the Persian says: I heard the Prophet (PBUH) say to Ali (AS): O Ali, those who love you are people of Paradise, and your Shi'a are dwellers of the Firdaws.
We say: Concerning the verse 'Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds — they will have the Gardens of Firdaws as a lodging' [Qur'an 18:107], the Majma al-Bayan narrates from the Messenger of God (PBUH) that Paradise has a hundred degrees, and the Firdaws is the highest of them; so whenever you ask God for Paradise, ask for the Firdaws.