Malik spared the life of Abdullah bin Zubayr more in contempt than in pity. The latter stood up from the dust, and unnerved as he was by this brush with death, rapidly put himself out of the range of Malik's sword, with the resolution of never to be caught by him again.
Malik returned to the sport of severing the arms of the rebels. But they were not dismayed by the fear of losing their arms to him. Eventually Malik got tired of cutting the arms of men, and he decided to put an end to the game which had lasted much too long.
He planted his feet at the bodies of the dead, aimed a blow of his irresistible sword, and killed Ayesha's camel.
The camel fell bespattering all around it with its blood, and Ayesha's howdah fell to the ground with it. But she was not hurt.
Ali immediately sent Ayesha's brother, Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, and Ammar ibn Yasir, to put the howdah on the ground, and told him to escort his sister to the house of the widow of a certain noble of Basra.
Ayesha's camel was the visible emblem for which the army of Basra was fighting. Suddenly the army of Basra had nothing for which to fight, and it began to come apart — visibly. Everyone in it began to flee every which way. In their flight, the soldiers forgot even Ayesha for whom they were fighting so heroically only a little earlier.
Soon nothing was left on the battlefield except the dead and the wounded. Since Ali had forbidden his army to pursue the fugitives, most of the rebels were able to escape, and the battle was practically over.
Ali promulgated once again the orders he had issued before the battle that the dead were not to be robbed or mutilated; the enemy camp was not to be plundered; and those combatants who had surrendered, were not to be killed. He maintained that his own army must set an example of gentleness, restraint, decency and uprightness as the basic values underpinning a genuinely Islamic military organization. The battle of the Camel was fought in December As soon as the enemy withdrew, Ali gave orders that there should be no pursuit and that killing should immediately cease.
When Ali entered Basra, he endeavored to conciliate all parties. The defeated army was treated with generosity. Ali urged that bygones be bygones, for he was of a mild and generous, perhaps an easy-going nature and wished to reunite the empire rather than revenge himself upon his enemies. The reason he did not chastise the rebels was that he had an extreme hatred of bloodshed in general, and of intra-Muslim bloodshed in particular. He also forbore from destroying the rebel city of Basra for the same reason, viz.
Incidentally, no one else among his contemporaries shared this belief with him. They were not squeamish like him about shedding Muslim blood; they shed it, and torrents of it. Ayesha interceded with Ali for her nephew and adopted son, Abdullah bin Zubayr, and begged him to pardon him.
There is pardon for everyone. Nowhere in the entire history of the world has a conqueror treated his defeated enemy as generously as Ali, before or since. In granting amnesty to the rebels, he was, once again, imitating his late friend and master, Muhammad, the blessed Apostle of God, who had also pardoned the polytheists of Makkah, among them his most rabid enemies, when he conquered that city.
Ali walked in the footsteps of Muhammad, and he lived in imitation of his sainted life. A few days later, Ayesha was ready to travel. Upon her request, Ali sent her to Makkah. Her brother, Muhammad, went with her. In Makkah, she performed Umra, and then she went to Medina. Ayesha has the reputation of being highly knowledgeable in matters of religion, and she was also a muhadittha, i. Being so knowledgeable, is it possible that she did not know that she had no right to seek vengeance for Uthman's blood?
Vengeance-seeking is the business of the injured party, and imposing penalty upon the offender s is the duty of the government.
Ayesha was neither related to Uthman in any way nor she was a representative of the government of the Muslims. And yet she challenged the lawful government in the name of vengeance, and pushed an immense number of Muslims into the flames of war. Her obsession with war made thousands of children orphans, and thousands of women widows. Iqd-ul-Farid , vol. Some members of Ayesha's own family wished she had never led armies and fought battles. On one occasion, she sent a messenger to her nephew, Ibn Abil-Ateeq, asking him to send his mule to her for riding.
When her nephew received the message, he said to the messenger:. Does she now want to start a battle of the mule? I, page Ibn Abil Ateeq's remark was prompted in jest. They were going to prevent the Banu Hashim from burying Imam Hasan beside his grandfather. The Umayyads were not alone; Ayesha, the mother of believers, came with them, riding a mule! Hasan could not be buried with his grandfather because of her and Umayyad opposition, and he was buried in the cemetery of Jannat-ul-Baqi.
There is no way to rationalize the roles Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr played after the death of Uthman. The fact that they were famous personalities in the history of the Muslims, does not change or affect the roles they played. An error does not become less reprehensible because some important person committed it.
An error remains an error regardless of who committed it. The wives of the Prophet were especially expected to be discreet in everything they said or did. After all, they had to be models before the umma of exemplary deportment and decorum. A lapse from excellence may be condoned in the wives of the commoners but not in them. O consorts of the Prophet! If any of you were guilty of evident unseemly conduct, the punishment would be doubled to her, and that is easy for God.
Chapter 33; verse This is perhaps the earliest extant example in history of recycling. According to these historians, Abdullah bin Saba and his followers looked at peace as their nemesis. They were convinced that if Ali's overtures for peace were successful, then they would become its first casualties.
Therefore, the only guarantee that they could find for their own safety, was in the civil war of the Muslims. It was with this understanding, so say the Sunni historians, that Abdullah bin Saba and his party, attacked at night, the two armies, simultaneously.
In the darkness, neither side could see or recognize the real agents provocateurs, and each side was convinced that the other had started the battle. The invention of Abdullah bin Saba was dictated by the pragmatic necessity for the window-dressing of some embarrassing passages in history. For example, was it Abdullah bin Saba who violated the truce with Uthman ibn Hunaif, and who attacked Basra at night, captured it, seized its treasury, and killed more than Muslims in the city?
And was it Abdullah ibn Saba who threatened to kill Uthman ibn Hunaif, brutalized him, drove him out of his home, and banished him from Basra? Was it Abdullah bin Saba who killed him? And who was it who was practicing archery at Ali's army? The archers in the rebel army had killed more than twenty young men in his army before he allowed them to fight. Were these archers killing Ali's soldiers without the knowledge of Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr?
Ayesha lived for many years after the battle of Basra but she never referred to Abdullah bin Saba and his role as the catalyst of war. She often said that she wished that she had died long before that battle in which many thousands of Muslims were killed. If Abdullah bin Saba had been a historical figure, she would have scourged him for the carnage in the battle of Basra.
Abdullah bin Saba was created a long time after the battle of Basra, and the death of Ayesha. Was he not present in the battles of Siffin and Nehrwan? Didn't he trigger those two battles also after he had had such success in Basra? And didn't Muawiya and the Kharjis also become victims of his intrigues? Whatever happened to such an important, if sinister, character in the history of the Muslims? Abdullah bin Saba was an entirely synthetic and an ad hoc character.
He was designed especially by the admirers and partisans of some important personages in the early history of the Muslims. Their aim was to protect the reputation, and also, if possible, to mask the identity, of these personages. These latter were actually responsible, first, for the assassination of Uthman, the third khalifa; and then, for the outbreak of the Second Civil War in Islam — the battle of Basra or the battle of the Camel.
They hoped that the reputation of the personages in question would become safe from the judgment of history if they could foist the blame for these events upon Abdullah bin Saba. Abdullah bin Saba, it appears, was a most remarkable man in the history of the Muslims.
Muslims were not only eager to obey him; they were also eager to die for him, and many did, in the battle of Basra. He must have been highly charismatic. One cannot help admiring his gumption and his amazing powers. But notwithstanding all his charisma, and his abilities and capacities, Abdullah bin Saba appears to have been a shy man.
Immediately after the battle of Basra, he plunged into obscurity, and never surfaced again. He perhaps died unsung and un-mourned. The battle of Basra or the battle of the Camel is one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Islam.
It struck the death blow to the unity of the Muslim umma , and Islam never recovered from its trauma. Many Muslim historians tell the story of the battle of Basra but when doing so they try to soft-pedal some vital issues, and they try to obfuscate the reader. The duty of a historian is to state facts. He may analyze facts, interpret them, and establish generalizations resting on them but he must never tamper with them.
The failure of a historian to do this means that he is suppressing Truth which is the same thing as broadcasting Falsehood! If the battle of Basra had not been fought, then the battles of Siffin and Nehrwan also would not have been fought. The seeds of dissension in Islam were sown and they burgeoned in the battle of Basra. If Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr had not challenged the lawful sovereign of the Muslims, the doors of schism in Islam would never have been opened.
The rebel leaders were free agents. Their choice was determined by their own personal blend of ambition, hatred, guilt and jealousy. It was not principle that prompted them but chagrin, self-interest and the lust for power posing as altruism. Their bellicosity proved counter-productive not only for the Muslims but also for themselves.
Two things would have happened in the event of their victory, viz. In this new alignment, Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr would have been on one side, and Muawiya and Amr bin Aas, on the other. The Muslim world would have been divided into these two hostile camps, and in the following struggle for hegemony, the two sides would have decimated each other.
The Muslim world would have been deluged in blood leaving a vast power vacuum. Into this vacuum would have marched the emperor of the Byzantines with his army, and would have snuffed the light of Islam out! From this possible catastrophe, it was the skill, the vision, the humanity and the statesmanship of Ali that saved the umma of Muhammad. May God bless him and all other members of the Ahlul-Bayt of Muhammad.
Ali had offered redemption to them, not once but repeatedly, and they had turned it down. If the Companions of the Camel repented, then it is for God alone to accept their repentance.
God will accept their repentance if they were sincere. But acceptance by God of their repentance will not become known to us until the Day of Judgment. The historian's job, as stated earlier, is only to isolate Truth from the mass of falsehood in which it may be hidden, and then to state it, with clarity and precision. He should interpret facts but he must not suppress them or invent them or distort them out of his fear lest they reflect an unflattering image of his favorite character s in the history of Islam.
After the battle, Ali said prayers for the dead of the two armies, and ordered his men to bury all the corpses lying on the battle-field. His orders to them were to show respect to the dead Muslims whether they were friends or foes. It was only when all dead Muslims were given a burial, that he could turn his attention to other matters. It is also a sidelight on his military organization, and the place of the Ansar in it. A distinguished citizen of Basra told me that when he heard that the conquering army was approaching the main gate of the city, he climbed on top of the ramparts to see it, and this is what he saw:.
There were many formations of cavalry and infantry in the army of Medina though the army itself was rather small. Marching at the head of a contingent of cavalry, the first one that entered Basra, was an elderly horseman.
A sword was hanging by his side, and he was carrying the standard of the unit he was leading. I inquired from the people around me who he was and they told me that he was Abu Ayub Ansari, the friend and one-time host in Medina, of Muhammad Mustafa, the Messenger of God. His contingent of cavaliers comprised the warriors of the Ansar. Behind them, there was another rider. He was wearing a pale yellow turban and a white robe. He carried a bow on his right shoulder, and the standard of his unit was in his left hand.
He too rode at the head of cavaliers, and they too were the Ansar. He was, I learned, Khuzaima ibn Thabit Ansari.
The third officer was riding a powerful bay. He wore a white turban, carried a sword and a bow, and led a contingent of horsemen. He was Abu Qatada ibn Rabi'i Ansari. The fourth officer rode a beautiful white charger. His dress was white and his turban was black. He appeared to be a man of great dignity and distinction, and he inspired respect and reverence among all beholders. He was very old but he had a military bearing.
A sword was suspended by his side, and a bow hung from his right shoulder. Behind him there were horsemen. They were mostly elderly men, and they all carried long spears in their hands. Riding behind him were both the Muhajireen and the Ansar, and many of them were the veterans of Badr.
My eye was next caught by a most handsome man. He was riding a spirited roan. With him were his brothers and his nephews. By this time, most of the cavalry had entered Basra, and it appeared to me that the last two detachments were approaching the city gate. Presently, the first of them came up. At its head rode a horseman of powerful build. He was in full battle-dress, and he struck terror into the hearts of all those who saw him. He was carrying a black banner in his right hand, and a spear in his left.
He appeared to be the standard-bearer of the army or some other high-ranking officer. My guess was right. He was Malik ibn Ashter, the Chief of Staff of the army of Medina, and the greatest swordsman that the Arabs ever produced. No adversary who ever faced him, escaped him. He led four thousand warriors of both cavalry and infantry. The last man to pass in review was a cavalier who was radiant like the sun.
On his right and left, there were two young men, each radiant like the full moon. All three were dressed in black. The proud and prancing horses they were riding, were also black. Another young man carrying a lance, rode ahead of them.
The man in the center, I learned, was the general of this army - Ali ibn Abi Talib. The two young men on his right and left, were his sons, Hasan and Husain - the apples of the eyes of Muhammad, the Apostle of God.
The young man who was riding ahead of them, was also his son, Muhammad ibn Hanafiyyah. Behind them, there were several other formations of men in arms. They were bringing up the rear-guard of the army. They were the last horsemen to enter Basra.
Ali dismounted from his horse at the gate of the great Mosque of Basra. He went into the mosque, offered his prayers, and thanked God for His bounties, and for the gift of victory.
The citizens of Basra had gathered in the court of the mosque awaiting Ali's arrival. Presently he came out of the mosque to address them. He reproved them for their mindless conduct throughout the campaign, and said to them:. When it bellowed you obeyed it; when it was killed, you all fled, and were scattered. Then Ali took the pledge of loyalty from the citizens of Basra.
He advised them to obey God and His Messenger at all times, and never again to act like dumb sheep. From the Mosque, Ali went to the treasury. The treasury had been plundered. He ordered all stolen property to be returned to the treasury immediately. When he paid a second visit to the treasury a little later, he noticed pieces of gold and silver piled high on the ground.
The treasurer distributed everything, and nothing was left in the treasury. For some mysterious reason, Ali and the Ansar were en rapport from the beginning. And for reasons just as mysterious, the Ansar could never cotton to the Quraysh. There was little, if any, cordiality between the Quraysh and the Ansar. It was not until Ali became caliph that the Ansar could play, for the first time since the death of their friend, Muhammad, a meaningful role in the government of the Muslims.
Ali appointed them to the highest positions in the empire — both as generals in the army and as governors of the provinces. In both spheres, the Ansar distinguished themselves by their ability and integrity. In his government, a man did not have to be a Qurayshi to rise to high position.
Skip to main content. He took it up with Talha and Zubayr and the following exchange took place between them: Saeed: If you win the war against Ali, who will become the next khalifa? Talha: Whoever is chosen by the Muslims, would become their khalifa.
Ali sent similar letters to Talha and Zubayr and they also did not reply to him. Sir John Glubb As soon as Ali heard that Zubair, Talha and Aisha had left Mecca, he decided to follow them, but found considerable difficulty in raising a force for the purpose. The venerable Oways was duly inducted into the army of Medina.
Edward Gibbon A life of prayer and contemplation had not chilled the martial activity of Ali; but in a mature age, after a long experience of mankind, he still betrayed in his conduct the rashness and indiscretion of youth. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire In neglecting to secure, either by gifts or fetters, the doubtful allegiance of Talha and Zubayr, Ali was not betraying the rashness and indiscretion of youth, as Gibbon claims. Abul Aswad: O mother of believers, what is your purpose in coming to Basra with an army?
Abul Aswad: Whoever killed Uthman, is not in Basra. Hazrat Ali ra was of the view that owing to the unrest and disorder, it was vital to allow matters to settle before punishing those responsible for this heinous act.
Hazrat Aisha ra , Hazrat Zubair ra and Hazrat Talha bin Ubaidullah ra were of the opinion that according to the dictates of the Sharia , the killers of Hazrat Uthman ra should be brought to justice immediately. Both opinions were correct in their own right. When the two armies met at Basra, Hazrat Ali ra sent an envoy to enquire why Hazrat Aisha ra , had come with an army, to which she replied that she only sought reconciliation.
In fact, once the talks had begun, it was decided that there was no need for war, as both parties desired the same outcome. It was only when the battle ensued that he reluctantly took part. Furthermore, Hazrat Talha bin Ubaidullah ra and Hazrat Zubair ra , both eminent companions of the Prophet Muhammad sa who were with the army of Hazrat Aisha ra , both died having pledged allegiance to Hazrat Ali ra.
This would have pleased me more than if I had given birth to 10 children from the Holy Prophet sa , each of whom were like Hazrat Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham. Hence, the motive of this war was not power; instead it was a disagreement about what to do with the killers of Hazrat Uthman ra.
Perhaps then, the journalist is referring to the Battle of Siffin, which took place between Hazrat Ali ra and Hazrat Ameer Muawiya ra — who likewise was a companion. This too was a war, the context of which was governed by revenge against the killers of Hazrat Uthman ra.
Being from the same tribe as Hazrat Uthman ra , his motive for revenge is understandable. I will not go as far as to say that this is the only version of history we find. Indeed, a plethora of books has been written on the history of Islam, and indeed some portray certain figures of Islam in a different light to what has been presented here. So the question really is do we take those dark accounts to be closer to the truth, or do we take the overwhelming majority of accounts that sing praises of their noble deeds?
I for one would never condemn the early figures in Islam, and I WOULD sacralise them, as their noble character and example have shown us that they are worthy of this honour. Zafir Malik 2 Comments. You may also like. An example is the narration is that once she heard the news of murdering of Ali ibn Abi Talib in mosque, she gratefully prostrated in happiness. This is a summary translated from the links in the end. If you need more details and more references for each part, let me know or ask as a separate question.
Shia and Sunni scholars have different views about the causes of the war mostly because Aisha is highly regarded in Sunni view. However, although Aisha is respected by Shias and insulting her has been made forbidden, she is not regarded as a high ranking sahaba prophet's companion and is highly criticized for her conduct especially after the passing of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, towards Prophet's family and righteous companions.
In the beginning she supported him along other Muslims. But after a while, when Uthman distributed power among his close Umayyad relatives, muslim public went angry. But when Uthman succeed Umar conflicts grew between him and Aisha, and he finally cut her salary.
Aisha among other notable Islamic figures such as Talha and Zubair declared Uthman as Kafir apostate. Their reason for supporting Uthman at the time was that they wanted to prevent the precedent of killing of caliphs by the Ummah.
But despite their efforts, Uthman was ultimately killed by revengeful muslims and his dead body remained on ground for 3 days and no one did any funeral for him. Finally Muslims left his body in rubbish wasteland outside the city where became his grave. But years later when Muaviyeh declared himself the caliph he extended the cemetery of Medina to include the grave of Uthman.
Talha and Zubair came to Ali and asked him to give them the governments of Kufa and Basra arguing that they were the ones who helped Ali to rise to power by contributing to the fall of Uthman, which was a faulty argument for two reasons. Ali had no role in the fall of Uthman in the first place. In fact he did all he could to prevent this from happening. Second, authority over Muslims according to Ali had to be based on Islamic virtues not self-interested political alignments.
Therefore Ali refused their requests telling them that he needed them the most in the capital, Medina. His refusal also implied that he didn't consider them qualified for the positions. Aisha, who was in Mecca at the time, was delighted upon hearing the news of murder of Uthman and decided to travel to Medina to see her tribesman from Bani Tamim tribe succeeding Uthman.
But on her way to Medina at Serf caravansary, she met Ibn Umm Kilab who told her that the people of Medina had pleaded allegiance to Ali as their Caliph. Aisha, furious at the news, went back to Mecca and declared that she was to take revenge on the killers of Uthman meaning people of Medina who had pleaded allegiance to Ali. But Aisha made up other excuses to carry on with the rebellion. She allied herself to Talha. Uthman's governors financed the war against Ali.
On their way to Basra, The army of Mecca reached a place called Hawab where they heard dogs barking. Aisha immediately recalled a prophecy by Prophet Muhammad in which he related to them that he saw one of his wives passing over a location named Hawab while dogs barking at her, and told them lest they be the one finding themselves in the situation.
Upon the recalling of the alarming prophecy, Aaisha changed her mind and decided to return to Mecca but Abdullah Ibn Zubair testified falsely that they had already passed Hawab behind long ago, and Aisha was, thus, fooled. Ultimately the army arrived at Basra and secured it after suppressing opposing groups who had recognized the ill intentions behind the rebellion against the established Caliph. They put the governor of Basra who was faithful to Ali under arrest. Some rebels plundered the city treasury after killing the guards.
Ali Ibn Abi Talib, departed Medina to stop the rebellious army. His envoys finally managed to encourage ten thousands from Kufa to join the Medina army of four thousands. Ali sent many messengers to the three rebel leaders Aisha, Talha and Zubair to discourage them from war and to invite them to unity but despite the strong arguments of his messengers the rebel leaders were determined to fight as they thought they can easily win the battle.
The war started while Aisha was seated on a camel and dozens protecting her ride. She and her camel were seen by the rebelling army as a testimony to their legitimacy and also a source of morale as she was viewed as the wife of the holy Prophet. During the war Ali made many attempts to discourage the rebels and its leaders from war but to no avail.
As war continued Ali ordered his men to approach the camel carrying Aisha and severe its legs. The camel collapsed and Aisha surrendered herself and the battle was over. Talha and Zubair were killed in the meantime. Aisha on numerous occasions expressed much regret and remorse at her decision to rebel against Ali. Ali also felt much pity for the ill fate of Talha and Zubair who used to be among faithful supporters of the Holy Prophet during his life.
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