section_path: Assessment and legacy/In Islam/In Sunni Islam
section_name: In Sunni Islam
paragraph_text: In Sunni Islam
  
  In Sunni Islam, Ali is venerated as a close companion of Muhammad, a foremost authority on the Quran and Islamic law, and the fountainhead of wisdom in Sunni spirituality. When the prophet died in 632, Ali had his claims to leadership, perhaps in reference to the Ghadir Khumm, but he eventually accepted the temporal rule of the first three caliphs in the interest of Muslim unity. Ali is portrayed in Sunni sources as a trusted advisor of the first three caliphs, while their conflicts with Ali are minimized, in line with the Sunni tendency to show accord among companions. As the fourth and final Rashidun caliph, Ali holds a particularly high status in Sunni Islam, although this doctrinal reverence for Ali is a recent development for which the prominent Sunni traditionist Ibn Hanbal (d. 855) is likely to be credited. Sunni hierarchy of companions places Ali below his three predecessors and above those who fought against him. This ordering has required Sunni reinterpretation of those prophetic sayings that explicitly elevate Ali above all companions.