In pietistic literature of Shi’i and Sufi Muslims, the allegories constructed around the sun and the moon, as imported from the 91st chapter of the Qur’an, are representative of the Prophet Muhammad (d. 11 AH/632 CE) and ‘Ali (d. 40 AH/661 CE). “By the sun and its brightness, and the moon as it follows it,” herein the Prophet is the sun, and the sun’s brightness is the message of Islam which he carried, ‘Ali as the spiritual successor of the Prophet is the moon who in turn reflects the light of the sun, guiding those who seek it. While this understanding of the Qur’anic verse is endorsed by several hadith, specifically from Imami and pro-‘Alid chains, it does not take long for it to also become a motif within the realm of poetics. The Batini missionary, al-Mu’ayyad al-Shirazi (d. 470 AH/1078 CE) in his diwan writes concerning ‘Ali, that as does the moon he too repels darkness. Rumi (d. 672 AH/1273 CE) in his masnavi pleads to ‘Ali, demanding him to reveal the divine mysteries as he is the gate to the city of knowledge; finding contentment instead in that ‘Ali, even without words, guides as does the moon in the night sky. In his Gulshan-i Raz, the gnostic Mahmud Shabistari (d. 740/1339) answers the question of how to identify a mard-i kamil (perfect man), that he is one who has perfected his obedience, as the moon has done of the sun. Examples of such allegory are numerous in the Persianate tradition, however they are mostly limited to panegyrical usage. Mirza Ghalib Dihlawi (d. 1285 AH/1869 CE), the famed court poet of Indo-Persian and Urdu, elevated the function of this allegory to the level of polemics. He masterfully promoted the idea that as only the moon inherited the sun’s position in the night sky, therefore only ‘Ali could be considered the successor of the Prophet, superior to all others. This paper will thus attempt to survey the allegory of the sun and moon, pertaining to the Prophet Muhammad and ‘Ali, as it appears within centuries of Persian literature, culminating in Mirza Ghalib’s employment of it. Doing such reveals how allegories not only assisted in establishing Islamic hagiography, but also how allegories were weaponized to advance certain theological notions, such as ‘Ali’s succession to the Prophet.