ALI (656-661 A.D.)
[656-657 A.D.]
Ali commenced his reign by deposing all the governors of the provinces. Amongst these were several men of great influence; especially Moawiyah the son of that Abu Sufyan, who had been long the chief of the Meccan idolaters, and the most bitter enemy of Mohammed. After Mecca had submitted, Mohammed made Moawiyah one of his private secretaries; the caliph Omar had raised him to the government of Syria, and he had now ruled that important province during fifteen years. Crafty, subtle, intriguing, possessing inflexible obstinacy, and boundless ambition, he received Ali’s mandate for his deposition with violent indignation. As he was a near relative of Othman, he resolved to declare himself his avenger, and though that sovereign had left children, Moawiyah claimed to be his heir and successor. He found allies in the centre of Arabia; and while the Syrians were preparing to take arms, Aisha, with a numerous body of followers, was already in the field. Though she had notoriously shared in the conspiracy against Othman, she now proclaimed herself his avenger, and she denounced Ali as the author of his death.
Joined with her were Talha and Zobair, two of Mohammed’s old companions, who well knew the falsehood of Aisha’s allegations. They had been the foremost to swear allegiance to Ali, but not having obtained all that they desired, they ranged themselves in the ranks of the rebels, to whom their presence gave additional confidence. The obligation of their oaths they evaded by the expiatory offerings prescribed in the fifth chapter of the Koran, which is one of the greatest blots on the character both of the book and its author.
Aisha, contrary to the established custom of Arabia, led her forces in person, mounted on a strong camel, and protected by an escort of picked men. When she approached a small village named Jowab, all the dogs in the place rushed out and barked at her with great fury. This she regarded as an evil omen, and declared that Mohammed had told her, “One of my wives, engaged in an evil design, shall be attacked by dogs in Jowab; take care that you be not the wicked person.” Full of alarm, she wished to return; but Zobair and Talha, knowing how important was her presence, suborned fifty false witnesses to swear that the village was never known by the name of Jowab. As she still seemed anxious to depart, they spread a report, that the army of Ali had gained a position in their rear, and consequently that she could not return in safety. “This,” say the Moslem historians, “was the first public lie told since the promulgation of Islam.”
The two armies met at Khoraiba, a place in the neighbourhood of Bassora; Ali’s forces amounted to twenty thousand men, all picked soldiers, those of Aisha were more numerous, but they were, for the most part, raw and undisciplined levies. After a brief contest, the rebels were routed; Talha fell wounded mortally from his horse, and with his dying breath besought pardon from God for his share in the murder of Othman and his treachery to Ali. When told of this, the generous conqueror exclaimed that God had granted Talha time for repentance before receiving his soul into heaven. Zobair escaped from the battle, but was overtaken on the road to Mecca by his pursuers, who cut off his head, and brought it as an acceptable present to the caliph. Ali expressed so much indignation at the sight, that the bearers assailed him with bitter reproaches, saying, “You are the evil genius of the Mussulmans; you consign to hell those who deliver you from your enemies, and you name those who attack your men companions of Satan.” The victory, however, could not be regarded as complete until Aisha had been forced to submission; the strictest orders were given to respect her person, but also it was desired that no pains should be spared to make her prisoner. Seventy men had their hands cut off attempting to seize her camel by the bridle; the pavilion in which she sat, was stuck so full of arrows that it resembled a porcupine; at length a soldier cut the back sinew of the camel, the animal fell helpless on his knees, and Aisha remained a captive. Muhammed, the son of Abu Bekr, was sent to take charge of her; she loaded him with the fiercest invectives, but he did not make any reply. When she was brought before Ali, he received her in the most courteous manner, recommended her to forbear from meddling with public affairs for the future, and sent her under a faithful escort to Medina. Thus ended the first great battle between the opponents and the partisans of Ali; it is frequently called by eastern writers “the battle of the camel” from the animal on which Aisha rode; it was the prelude to many and fearful scenes of slaughter.
The rebellion in Syria next engaged the attention of Ali; Moawiyah had not only rejected his offers of accommodation, but denied his title to the caliphate: in order to justify this rebellion, and strike the eyes of the multitude, Moawiyah procured the bloody robe in which Othman was murdered, and caused it to be borne in solemn procession through the streets of Damascus. This sight so powerfully inflamed the popular passions, that though it was then the middle of summer, more than thirty thousand persons bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to taste fresh water, until they had avenged the death of Othman. Among the leading partisans of the Syrian governor was Amru, the conqueror of Egypt, who seemed to share the general excitement, though well aware that Ali was innocent of the imputed crimes.
[657-658 A.D.]
The hostile forces met in the plains of Siffin, on the western bank of the Euphrates, not far from the city of Racca. Neither leader was prepared for general action, and ninety days were wasted in desultory skirmishes between divisions. His impetuous valour gave Ali the victory in most of these encounters; he challenged his rival to decide the dispute by single combat; but Moawiyah would not venture to enter the lists. The last action at Siffin continued all night, to the great disadvantage of the Syrians; they would have been driven from their very entrenchments, had not the crafty Moawiyah made an appeal to the superstitious feelings of Ali’s followers. He ordered some of his men to place copies of the Koran on the points of their lances, and advancing to the front of the lines, exclaim, “This is the book that ought to decide all differences between us; this is the word of God, and the code of our faith; it expressly forbids the shedding of Moslem blood.” Coarse as was the artifice, it had the most complete success; the troops of Irak, the flower of the caliph’s forces, threw down their arms, and clamorously demanded that a negotiation should be commenced. In vain did Ali command them to continue the fight, assuring them that Moawiyah disregarded the Koran, and was equally the enemy of God and man; the soldiers clamorously replied that they would not fight against the book of God, and threatened the caliph with the well-known fate of Othman.
From the moment that he was checked in the midst of victory, Ali seems to have despaired of the issue of the contest; when required to name an arbitrator, he coldly answered, “He that is not at liberty, cannot give his advice; you must now conduct the affair as you think proper.” His soldiers took him at his word, and nominated on the part of the caliph, Abu Musa, whose chief merit was, that he had written a faulty copy of the Koran, and whose fidelity had been long more than suspected. Moawiyah appointed a much more subtle negotiator, Amru, universally regarded as the most able statesman of the period. The arbitrators were enjoined to decide the dispute according to the Koran and the traditions of the prophet, and to pronounce judgment in the next month of Ramadhan.