Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) accepting Islam

Sayyiduna Ma'qil bin Yasar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: One day I was helping the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) perform ablution. He asked: Would you like to go and visit Fatimah in her illness? I said: Yes. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) got up, leaning on me, and he said: Soon someone other than you will carry its burden, and its reward will be yours. The narrator says: It felt as though there was nothing on me, until we came to the house of Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: How are you? She said: By Allah, my distress has become severe, my want has grown long, and my illness has become prolonged. Abdullah says: I found this hadith written in my father's book in his own handwriting, and in it are these words: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Are you not pleased that I have married you to the one who is the earliest of my Ummah in accepting Islam, the greatest of them in knowledge, and the greatest of them in forbearance?"
Ahmad and al-Tabarani recorded it. Its chain contains Khalid bin Tahman, whom Abu Hatim and others declared thiqah (trustworthy), and the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Abu Ishaq narrates: When Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) married Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her), Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): You have married me to a man whose eyesight is weak and whose belly is large. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have married you to the one who is the first of my Companions in accepting Islam, the greatest of them in knowledge, and the greatest of them in forbearance."
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and this narration is mursal, with a sahih (authentic) chain.

Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrate: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took hold of the hand of Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "This is the first person to believe in me, and he will be the first to shake hands with me on the Day of Resurrection. This is al-Siddiq al-Akbar (the greatest truthful one), and this is the Faruq of this Ummah, who will distinguish between truth and falsehood. This is the leader of the believers, while wealth is the leader of the wrongdoers."
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and al-Bazzar recorded it from Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) alone, and in it he recorded these words: "You are the first person to believe in me." He also recorded these words in this narration: "Wealth is the leader of the disbelievers." Its chain contains Amr bin Sa'id al-Misri, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Those who were foremost are three: the one foremost in coming to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him) was Yusha' bin Nun; the one foremost in coming to Sayyiduna Isa (peace be upon him) was the companion of Ya-Sin; and the one foremost in coming to Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is Ali bin Abi Talib."
Al-Tabarani recorded it. Its chain contains Husayn bin Hasan al-Ashqar, whom Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy) while the majority declared him da'if (weak); the rest of its narrators are such that their hadith is hasan or sahih.

Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The first of this Ummah to come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (on the Day of Resurrection) will be the one who was first of it in accepting Islam, and that is Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him).
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says: The first person to accept Islam was Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him).
Al-Tabarani recorded it. Its chain contains Uthman al-Jazari, whom I do not know; the rest of its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Habbah al-Urani narrates: I saw Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) laughing on the pulpit; I had never seen him laugh more than that, until his back teeth showed. Then he said: I remembered a statement of Abu Talib. Once Abu Talib came upon us while I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the two of us were praying at Batn Nakhlah. Abu Talib asked: O my nephew, what are the two of you doing? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) invited him to Islam, and Abu Talib said: There is no harm in what the two of you are doing (the narrator is unsure whether the words were:) there is no harm in what the two of you are saying, but by Allah, you will never get my backside to rise above me. (The narrator says:) Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) laughed in amazement at this statement of his father. Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Allah, I do not acknowledge that any servant of Yours from this Ummah worshipped You before me, other than Your Prophet." He said this three times. (Then he said:) I prayed seven before the other people prayed.
Ahmad recorded it, Abu Ya'la recorded it in abridged form, and al-Bazzar and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent as a prophet on a Monday, and I accepted Islam on the Tuesday.
Abu Ya'la recorded it. Its chain contains Muslim bin Kaysan al-Mula'i, who suffered from confusion of memory (ikhtilat).

Al-Hasan and others narrate: The first person to accept Islam was Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), and at that time he was fifteen, or perhaps sixteen, years old.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Urwah bin al-Zubayr narrates: When Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) accepted Islam, he was eight years old.
Al-Tabarani recorded it. Its chain contains Ibn Lahi'ah, in whom there is weakness; the rest of its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Afif al-Kindi narrates: I was a merchant. I came to Makkah and went to al-Abbas bin Abd al-Muttalib to buy some trade goods from him, for he too was a merchant. The narrator says: By Allah, I was with him at Mina when a man came out of a tent close by. He looked towards the sky, and when he saw that the sun had passed its zenith, he stood up and began to pray. Then a woman came out of that tent, the same tent from which the man had come out, and she stood behind him and began to pray. Then a boy came out, also from the same tent; he was close to puberty, and he stood with him and began to pray. I asked al-Abbas: O Abbas, who is this? He said: This is Muhammad, the son of my brother Abdullah bin Abd al-Muttalib. I asked: Who is this woman? He said: This is his wife, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. I asked: Who is this boy? He said: This is Ali bin Abi Talib, his cousin. I said: What are they doing? He said: They are praying. He claims that he is a prophet, and so far no one has followed him except his wife and this young cousin of his. He also claims that the treasures of Chosroes and Caesar will be opened for him. The narrator says: Afif was a cousin of al-Ash'ath bin Qays. Later he accepted Islam, and his Islam was good. He said: If Allah Almighty had granted me Islam on that day, I would have been the second person to accept Islam along with Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him).
Ahmad recorded it, Abu Ya'la recorded something similar, and al-Tabarani recorded it with various chains; the narrators of Ahmad are thiqat (trustworthy). (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: The hadith of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) to the same effect will come in the chapter on the virtues of Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her).

Sayyiduna Abu Rafi' (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed on a Monday, Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) prayed in the latter part of the day, and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed on the Tuesday. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) kept praying in secret for seven years and some months; this was before anyone else prayed.
Al-Tabarani recorded it. Its chain contains Yahya bin Abd al-Hamid al-Himmani, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I am the first person who prayed with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except Habbah al-Urani, though he has been declared trustworthy.

Sayyiduna Zayd bin Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The first person to pray with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). Amr says: I mentioned this to Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, and he rejected it, saying: That first person was Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him).
Ahmad and al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; the narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Abu Rafi' (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent as a prophet on a Monday, and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) accepted Islam on the Tuesday.
Al-Bazzar recorded it. Its chain contains Muhammad bin Ubaydullah bin Abi Rafi', whom Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy) while the majority declared him da'if (weak); the rest of its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).