An early report in Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah says that Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, passed near a house being built in an area associated with the tribe of Murad, where a piece of brick or building material fell and wounded his head. Ali is then reported to have prayed that the building not be completed, and the later wording says that no further brick was placed upon it and that it remained unlike completed houses. The route runs through Muhammad ibn Bishr from Abu Makin from his maternal uncle Abu Umayya; Abu Makin is well attested as trustworthy, while Abu Umayya has more limited rijal documentation. Later classical sources preserve substantially the same route family, so the event is suitable only with source-level caution rather than as an unqualified sahih historical fact.
Ali is then reported to have prayed that the building not be completed. The extraordinary outcome appears in the continuation preserved in the classical source family: no further brick was placed upon the structure, and it remained in a state unlike completed houses. The story therefore follows a simple sequence of accidental injury, supplication, and a reported lasting interruption of the construction.
The earliest directly checked source for the event is Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, report 32805. Its route is Muhammad ibn Bishr from Abu Makin, identified as Nuh ibn Rabi'a, from his maternal uncle Abu Umayya. Ibn Abi al-Dunya later preserves the same event in Mujabu al-Da'wa through Muhammad ibn Bishr and Abu Makin. Al-Lalaka'i includes it in his section on the karamat of Ali, while Ibn Asakir and Ibn Kathir also preserve or quote the report. These later appearances show continued classical reception, but they substantially depend on the same route family rather than supplying multiple independent chains.
The narrator evidence is mixed but not empty. Abu Makin is well attested in rijal literature: Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Ma'in, and Yahya al-Qattan are cited as regarding him as trustworthy. His maternal uncle Abu Umayya is identified by al-Bukhari and Ibn Abi Hatim as Shurayh Abu Umayya, a man who saw Ali and from whom Abu Makin narrated. Ibn Hibban includes him among the trustworthy, but his biographical and grading record is comparatively sparse. That limited documentation is one reason the report should remain qualified.
The public account also needs clear boundaries. The verified evidence only places the construction in a Murad-associated area; it does not justify inventing a more precise modern location. The wording that the building remained incomplete belongs to the reported historical scene and should not be expanded into a claim that the structure could never have changed throughout all later history. Likewise, the falling material should remain an accidental injury unless a source says otherwise.
The strongest conclusion is therefore measured: an early Sunni route reports that Ali was injured by falling building material, prayed that the structure not be completed, and that construction then ceased in the way described. Classical authors received the event as a karamah, but because the evidence is essentially one route family with limited documentation for Abu Umayya, it should be presented with caution rather than as an unqualified sahih certainty.
Conclusion
Classical Sunni sources preserve a report that after falling building material wounded Ali ibn Abi Talib, he prayed that the structure not be completed and that the construction then remained unfinished in the reported period. The route has meaningful support but is essentially a single transmission family, so the event is best presented as a medium-confidence karamah report with caution.