“Whenever ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn made wudu, he turned pale. His family asked, “What is this that comes over you at wudu?” He said, “Do you know before whom I am about to stand?””

‘Ali ibn al-Husayn (d. 94 AH / 713 CE), the Prophet’s great-grandson through Fatimah and al-Husayn, was called Zayn al-‘Abidin, “the adornment of the worshippers.” Ibn al-Jawzi collects this in Sifat as-Safwah together with a second report: when he stood for prayer a trembling took hold of him, and when asked why, he said, “Do you not know before whom I stand, and whom I am addressing?”