The Virtues of Imam Ali (a) in the Mirror of the Contemporary Persian Poetry of the Sunnis of Afghanistan

Imam Ali (a) is one of the greatest personalities of humanity that was always praised throughout history by many great religious figures and the leaders of many different religious sects. Sunnis and Shias both paid due attention to Imam Ali (a) due to his important role in Islam. They always used to enumerate many of his many virtues. For example¡ the people of Afghanistan have always been one of the admirers of Imam Ali (a). They have always taken the lead in their admiration for the Imam (a). This is due to many religious and social factors. This admiration manifested itself in the form of poetry and prose. In this paper we have attempted to examine the personality of Imam Ali (a) as it is reflected in the poetry of the contemporary poets of Afghanistan. These poets come from a wide range of social¡ religious¡ political and cultural groups. A common feature of all these poems is the subtle manner in which these poets have depicted the personality and virtues of that Imam (a).