CHAPTER XXXV
BATTLE OF THE CAMEL
36 A.H. 656 A.D.
ʿAlī, with help from Kūfa, advances on Baṣra,
vi. 36 A.H.
Dec., 656 A.D.Finding that the insurgent troops, with ʿĀisha, Az-Zubeir, and Ṭalḥa had already passed, ʿAlī, as we have seen, halted for a while on the road to Al-Baṣra, with the view of strengthening his army; for, although joined on his march by certain loyal tribes, he still felt too weak for immediate action. To AI-Kūfa he addressed a special summons, inhabited as it was by many veterans on whose loyalty he might reasonably depend; and he added force to the call by promising that Al-Kūfa should be his seat of government. "See," he wrote, "have not I chosen your city before all other cities for my own? Unto you do I look for succour, if haply peace and unity should again prevail as it behoveth, among brethren in the faith." But the summons was at the first unheeded. The overgrown City was made up of many factions; and from some of these the message of ʿĀisha, demanding revenge for ʿOthmān's blood, had already found response. Abu Mūsa, its governor, was unequal to the emergency. Loyal to the memory of the murdered Caliph, he yet sought to allay the ferment by a neutral course, and urged the citizens to join neither party, but remain at home. A second deputation meeting with no better success, ʿAlī bethought him of sending his elder son Al-Ḥasan, in company with ʿAmmār, the former governor of Al-Kūfa, to urge his cause. The appeal of Al-Ḥasan, grandson of the Prophet had at last the desired effect. The chord of loyalty in the fickle city’s heart was touched; a tumult arose, and Abu Mūsa, unable to maintain his weak neutrality, was deposed. The Arab tribes rallied, and for the moment heartily, around
246
