Ali

Ali ibn Abi Talib (/ˈɑːli, ɑːˈliː/;Arabic: علي بن أبي طالب‎, translit. ʿAlī bin Abī Ṭālib, Arabic pronunciation: [ʕaliː bɪn ʔabiː t̪ˤaːlɪb]; 13 Rajab, 21 BH – 21 Ramadan, 40 AH; 15 September 601 – 29 January 661) was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic caliphate from 656 to 661.

Born to Abu Talib and Fatima bint Asad, Ali was the only person born in the sacred sanctuary of the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam, as many sources, especially Shia ones say. Ali was the first young male who accepted Islam. After migrating to Medina, he married Muhammad's daughter Fatimah. Ali took part in the early caravan raids from Mecca and later in almost all the battles fought by the nascent Muslim community. He was appointed caliph by Muhammad's Companions (Sahaba) in 656, after caliph Uthman ibn Affan was assassinated. Ali's reign saw civil unrest and in 661, he was attacked and assassinated by a Kharijite while praying in the Great Mosque of Kufa, dying two days later.

Saleh

Saleh (/ˈsɑːlə/) or Salih (/ˈsɑːli/; Arabic: صالح‎ Ṣāliḥ, meaning "Pious") was a prophet of ancient Arabia mentioned in the Qur'an, who prophesied to the tribe of Thamud. He is mentioned nine times throughout the Qur'an and his people are frequently referenced as a wicked community who, because of their sins, were ultimately destroyed. Saleh is sometimes equated with Salah, a figure from the Hebrew Bible, although the two have little in common save for their names. The preaching and prophecy of Saleh is linked to the famous Islamic story of the She-Camel, which was the gift given by God to the people of Thamud when they desired a miracle to confirm the truth of the message Saleh was preaching.

Historical context

Thamud people are believed to have been the successors to the ancient tribe of ʿĀd. Their ancestral descendant may have been Eber, the great-grandson of Noah and their location is likely to have been in the Northwest corner of Arabia, between Madinah and Syria. In later Islamic history, when Muhammad led his expedition to Tabuk against the Romans, on a reported Roman invasion from Syria, the prophet and his companions walked past the land of Thamud. With the advance of material civilization, the people of Thamud became materialistic and arrogant as well as godless. Thus, God sent the prophet and seer Saleh, to warn them about the impending doom they would face if they did not mend their sinful ways.

Ali Abdullah Saleh

Ali Abdullah Saleh Al-Snhani Al-Humairi (Arabic: علي عبدالله صالح السنحاني الحميري‎, ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ; born 21 March 1942) is a Yemeni politician who was President of Yemen from 1990 to 2012. Saleh previously served as President of North Yemen from 1978 until unification with South Yemen in 1990.

After more than 33 years in power, Saleh signed the Gulf Cooperation Council agreement in November 2011, paving the way for his vice president to become acting president until 21 February 2012; at that point the vice president would be elected to the presidency. On 22 January 2012, the Yemeni parliament passed a law that granted Saleh immunity from being prosecuted, and he left Yemen for treatment in the United States. Saleh stepped down and formally ceded power to his deputy Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi at the Presidential Palace on 27 February 2012.

More recently, Saleh has openly allied with Houthis (Ansar Allah), a "revivalist Zaydi [Shia] group" leading to the Yemeni Civil War, where an insurgency succeeded in capturing Yemen's capital Sana'a and causing Hadi to flee the country.

Katy Perry

Katheryn Elizabeth "Katy" Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After singing in church during her childhood, she pursued a career in gospel music as a teenager. Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her debut studio album Katy Hudson in 2001, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles the following year to venture into secular music after Red Hill ceased operations. After being dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records, Perry signed a recording contract with Capitol Records in April 2007.

Perry rose to fame in 2008 with the release of the singles "I Kissed a Girl" – which sparked controversy for its homosexual themes – and "Hot n Cold" from her second album, a pop rock record titled One of the Boys. Her third album, Teenage Dream (2010), ventured into disco, and contained the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" as well as the number-three single "The One That Got Away". The album became the first by a female artist to produce five number-one Billboard Hot 100 songs, and the second overall after Michael Jackson's album Bad. In March 2012, she reissued the album as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, which produced the songs "Part of Me" and "Wide Awake".