A.H. 36.
Losses in the Battle of the Camel.The carnage in the ill-starred Battle of the Camel (for so it came to be called) was very great. The field was covered with 10,000 bodies in equal proportion on either side; and this, notwithstanding that the victory was not followed up. For ʿAlī had given orders that no fugitive should be pursued, nor any wounded soldier slain, nor plunder seized, nor the privacy of any house invaded. A great trench was dug, and into it the dead were lowered, friends and foes alike. ʿAlī, encamped for three days without the city, himself performed the funeral service. It was a new experience to bury the dead slain in battle not against the infidel, but believer fighting against believer. Instead of cursing the memory of his enemies (too soon the fashion in these civil wars), ʿAlī spoke hopefully of the future state of such as had entered the field, on whatever side, with an honest heart. When they brought him the sword of Az-Zubeir, he cursed the man who took his life; and, calling to mind the feats displayed by the brave man that wielded it in the early battles of Islām, exclaimed:—"Many a time hath this sword driven care and sorrow from the Prophet's brow." The Muslims might well mourn the memory both of Ṭalḥa and Az-Zubeir, remembering how on the field of Oḥod the former had saved the life of Moḥammad at the peril of his own; and how often the latter had carried confusion into the ranks of the idolaters of Mecca. Their fall, and that of many of the Companions, was a loss to the Empire itself, because seriously weakening Ḳoreish in the struggle yet to be fought out betwixt them and the Arab tribes. In fact, this victory of ʿAlī was virtually the victory of the regicides, supported by the factious citizens of Al-Kūfa. Thenceforward ʿAlī was wholly dependent upon them. If, instead, he had effected a compromise with Ṭalḥa and Az-Zubeir, his position would have been incomparably stronger.
ʿAlī's magnanimity towards the enemy.The bearing of ʿAlī was generous towards his fallen foe. Having entered the city, he divided the contents of the treasury amongst the troops which had fought on his side, promising them a still larger reward "when the Lord should have delivered Syria into his hands." But otherwise he treated friends and foes alike, and buried in oblivion animosities of the past. Merwān and the adherents of the house of Umeiya fled to their homes, or else found refuge
