And "Amr ibn al-As's" plan was to get rid of "Abdullah ibn Abbas", the cousin of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, and "Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya".. the son of Imam "Ali ibn Abi Talib".. and in that way our master "Ali" would be shaken.. and collapse.. and lose the battle easily and with ease.
And with the first lights of dawn.. "Mu'awiya's" army rises to carry out the terrible plan.. the attack will be concentrated on these two axes.. and they are to be eliminated as an absolute priority.
And shortly before the men of the Syrian army advance.. and before "Amr ibn al-As" calls out to them to attack.. dust suddenly appears on the horizon: a new army.. and new soldiers.. "Qays ibn Sa'd" has come at last from Egypt, and with him the "Western Army", as they used to call the Egyptian army.. and "Amr" sees with his own eyes "Qays" with him nearly fifty thousand horsemen.. emerging behind them from the heart of the desert dust; dozens of battalions of archers.. and ahead of them more than thirty thousand foot soldiers.. in full equipment and arms.
And the "Western Army" was supporting "Ali ibn Abi Talib".. and the Iraqi army cheered in joy.. and with the sudden, terrifying appearance of the Western Army.. "Mu'awiya's" gaze turns to his brave commander "Amr ibn al-As", appealing for help.
And because courage does not mean folly.. "Amr" realises, with the appearance of "Qays" with the Egyptian forces, that the game is over.. and "Amr ibn al-As" orders the soldiers of Syria to lay down their weapons for the first time.. and raises the white flag.. immediately followed by the flag of negotiation.
It was said that "Amr" ordered his soldiers to raise the Qurans on the tips of their spears.. and this account has no basis and is pure nonsense.. even though it is very widespread.. The truth is that "Amr" advances alone holding his Quran.. and asks "Ali ibn Abi Talib", may God be pleased with him, to negotiate.. and tells him that judgement belongs to God alone.. so our master "Ali" replies with the famous, commonly repeated phrase "a word of truth by which falsehood is intended".
But "Amr" insists on arbitration.. and because "Ali's" army contained many of the "Qurra" we spoke about.. the raising of the Quran stirred awe and respect in their souls.. so they ask Imam "Ali" to agree to the request for arbitration.
Under pressure, and to spare blood, "Ali", may God be pleased with him, agrees to arbitration.. and sends "Qays" away with the Egyptian forces.. The truth is that these forces never stained their hands with the blood of the strife of Siffin at all.. and this brought back to the mind of "Abdullah ibn Amr" a noble hadith in which it was said: "There will be a strife, and the safest of people in it — or he said the best of people in it — will be the Western Army", and at its end it was said: "that is why Egypt was brought forward to you".
Al-Albani is the only one who declared this hadith weak.. and I do not know why.. and I do not know what the importance of Brother al-Albani is, nor what his standing is at all.. that he should reject hadiths and declare them weak and authenticate and improve them.. and I searched for him and found he had been working in a library in Damascus.. and if anyone else had done half of what he did they would have accused him of unbelief and of denying the Sunna.. even if he held a doctorate in Sharia.
The important thing is that the two sides agree on a date for the arbitration.. and "Mu'awiya" chooses his adviser and friend "Amr ibn al-As".. and Imam "Ali", may God be pleased with him, chooses.. the Companion "Abu Musa al-Ash'ari".
And the strange thing is that after agreeing on the date of the arbitration.. something strange happens.
A faction of the Kharijites gathers around the faction of the "Qurra" who had insisted on arbitration in "Ali's" army.. and the two agree that the arbitration was wrong and forbidden.. and after the armies disperse and the Western Army returns to Egypt and the soldiers of Syria and Iraq return to their bases.. they attack "Ali".. and demand that he reject the arbitration!
And because he is a ruler whose word is a contract, not a child in the fourth grade of primary school.. "Ali" rejects their words and denounces them.. so they withdraw from his army along with those who followed them.. and the number of those who withdrew at that time was twelve thousand.. they decide to camp at "Harura".. and to fight Imam "Ali" who, in their view.. is contravening the law of God and His Messenger...!
This faction of the Kharijites is called the "Haruriyya".
Imam "Ali" decides to fight them and wage war on them for their outright rebellion against the state.. so "Abdullah ibn Abbas", may God be pleased with them both, objects and says to him: "O Commander of the Faithful, let me go to these people and speak to them".. but the Imam objects out of fear for him and for his life at their hands.. but "Ibn Abbas" insists.. and heads for them at the place where they are encamped.
The moment he arrives they ask him what he has come with.. and he replies: "I have come to you from the companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, and from his son-in-law, upon whom the Quran was revealed, and they are more knowledgeable of its interpretation than you, and there is not one of them among you, so that I may convey to you what they say and inform them of what you say."
I have come to you from the family of the Messenger and his companions, and he is the one upon whom the Quran was revealed, and they are more knowledgeable of its interpretation.. and there is no one among you like them, nor any of them among you.
So tell me now, what is the reason for your anger and your sit-in? And they say to him: The first is that "Ali" accepted arbitration.. and had men judge in the affair of God.. whereas God Most High has said: Judgement belongs to none but God.
As for the second.. it is that he fought and did not take captives and did not take spoils; if they were unbelievers he should have stripped them, and if they were believers, what made fighting them lawful for him...
He fought "Aisha" and "Mu'awiya" and we saw no captives and no spoils.. if they were unbelievers, then he should not have agreed to a truce and fought and we would have taken spoils.. if they were believers.. then why was he fighting them in the first place?
So Ibn Abbas replies: "These are two, so what is the third?" And they replied to him: "He has erased himself of the title Commander of the Faithful, so he is the commander of the unbelievers"...
Meaning he did not write "Commander of the Faithful" before his name.. so he is the commander of the unbelievers.. so "Ibn Abbas" says to them: "Does that mean your honours have any other deaf spots, or is that all?".. and they say to him: "This is enough for us".. no, that is all we have.
So "Ibn Abbas", may God be pleased with him, replies.. all right, if I refute you by the Book of God and the Sunna of His Messenger.. will you be satisfied?
They said: "Yes, we will be satisfied."
So he replies to them with the words of God Most High: "O you who have believed, do not kill game while you are in the state of ihram. And whoever of you kills it intentionally, the penalty is an equivalent from livestock, judged by two just men among you".. and he tells them that our Lord has had men judge, and has commanded that they be just men.
As for the second.. he says to them.. that "Aisha" at the Camel was an opponent of Imam "Ali".. would you be content to take your mother as a captive and a prisoner of war? If you agree, you have disbelieved.. and if you refuse that she is your mother, you have disbelieved, because God says of the wives of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to the believers: "and his wives are their mothers".
As for the third.. the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, erased the words "Messenger of God" from beside his name on the day of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah when the polytheists objected.. so if we said the same as you say, you would have disbelieved, because by that the attribute of Messenger would have been negated from him.
And here about two thousand fighters of the Haruriyya agree with what "Ibn Abbas" said.. and they withdraw and leave.. and ten thousand remain.. who did not like the words and are determined to fight.. and bear in mind that many of them were "Qurra".. who taught reading and the Quran to people.. and despite that they rebelled against the state, so fighting them became an obligation and an individual duty.
In the end, our master "Ali" is obliged to march out against them with the army.. and he fights them and defeats them.. and they are routed and scattered.. and he is free to deal with the arbitration.
We were told that "Amr" tricked "Abu Musa al-Ash'ari".. and "Ali", may God be pleased with him, had appointed him as his representative.. while "Mu'awiya" appointed his friend "Amr ibn al-As".. and it was said that the two met.. and agreed to depose "Ali" and "Mu'awiya", so "Abu Musa" addressed them, praising and extolling God, then said:
"O people, we have examined the affair of this nation and we have found no course more sound for it than the opinion on which I and Amr have agreed, which is that we depose Ali and Mu'awiya.. and leave the matter to consultation, and I have deposed Ali and Mu'awiya."
And here "Amr ibn al-As" replies: "This man has said what you have heard, and he has deposed his companion, and I have deposed him.. and I confirm my companion Mu'awiya."
The truth is that this account is pure rubbish, with no authority and no chain of transmission.. and it is fabricated and garbled...
"Mu'awiya" was not a caliph.. nor was he claiming the caliphate at that time for "al-Ash'ari" to depose him or "Amr" to confirm him.. He was merely a rebel provincial governor, nothing more. Add to that the fact that "Abu Musa" was a clever, great and tactful jurist.. and these accounts have portrayed him as a foolish, simple-minded dupe, easy to laugh at, contrary to reality.
The truth is that the two men met and sat and agreed that the senior Companions should look for a solution to the crisis.. especially the ten given glad tidings of Paradise, those of them who were present.. and the arbitration sessions follow one another and drag on...
And matters remain as they are.. until the affair is settled.. and on that day they asked Imam "Ali", may God be pleased with him.. why had the world been turned upside down in your time.. and it was not so in the time of prophethood? And he replies to them bitterly, saying: "He was an imam over the likes of me.. and then I became an imam over the likes of you."
And on the night of 21 Ramadan in the year 40 AH.. corresponding to 27 January 661 AD.. Imam "Ali", may God be pleased with him, was entering the mosque for the prayer.. and the moment he passed through the door he heard a sharp whistle cutting through the air.. a whistle that would not have escaped his mind as a military expert and fighter who had spent his life in the field.. and he felt the blade of a sharp sword swooping down on his head, along with a strange phrase:
"Judgement belongs to God, and not to you and your companions, O Ali."
I honestly do not understand the phrase.. and I hope one of my friends will explain it to me.. Is this a man of the Kharijites who reached such a state of confusion that he was waiting for the deity to incarnate himself to him and judge him in person, or what exactly? This man said later:
"I sharpened my sword and prayed to God that He would kill with it the worst of His creation, and I found none but Ali"...!
And the killer was one of the Kharijites named "Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam".. "Ali's" companions seize him and are about to tear him limb from limb.. so he says to them, with blood flowing from his head: "Feed him from my food, and give him to drink from my drink, a life for a life; if I die, then kill him as he killed me.. and if I live.. I shall see my own view of him."
Before his death they try to ask him to appoint a caliph.. but he refuses and tells them that he refers them back to that which the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, left them upon.. consultation.. let them choose whom they love.
And here the people choose his son "al-Hasan".. who rules for only six months.. during which "Mu'awiya" fights him as well.. so he decides to relinquish the rule to him.. and pledges allegiance to him as caliph to spare blood.. and the strange thing is that despite his relinquishing the caliphate, "Mu'awiya" remains fearful that people will gather around "al-Hasan" once more.
And without warning and for an unknown reason.. someone poisons him.. no historian has ever established the identity of the perpetrator historically.. but he suffered terribly, to the point that it was mentioned that he vomited part of his liver.. and medically that is not correct nor reasonable.. but it is a sign of the intensity of the pain and torment he endured.
"Al-Hasan ibn Ali", may God be pleased with him, asked to be buried beside the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him.. and they asked "Aisha", may God be pleased with her, for him to be buried in her chamber, and she agreed.. but "Marwan ibn al-Hakam", the governor of Medina, refused.. and said: "We will not let him be buried with the Messenger of God; Uthman is buried in al-Baqi, and al-Hasan ibn Ali is to be buried in the chamber??"
And a massacre almost broke out between "Marwan" and "al-Husayn", the brother of "al-Hasan".. had the senior Companions not intervened.. and they buried him in al-Baqi next to the grave of "Fatima bint Asad".. and it was said that on the day of his burial there was not a foot's width of ground in al-Baqi because of the sheer crush of people who escorted him to his final resting place.
And with the death of al-Hasan, may God be pleased with him, and "Mu'awiya's" official seizure of the reins of power.. the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs comes to an end.. and we enter a new era called the "era of the Umayyad state", in which "Mu'awiya" returns rule to what it was before Islam and to the consultation of Islam.
To hereditary succession.
And this state would take a long time to speak of...
And there remains more to be said.. to come.
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Previous posts:
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