The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall/Chapter 42

by William Muir

CHAPTER XLII

REMAINDER OF ʿALĪ'S REIGN

38–40 A.H. 658–660 A.D.

Remainder of ʿAlī's reign.No gleam of fortune lighted up the remaining days of ʿAlī's reign. What with fanatics at home, and the rival Caliphate abroad, his life was one continual struggle. And, moreover, the daily exhibition of indifference and disloyalty in Al-Kūfa, the city of his choice, was a mortification hard to bear.

Rising at Baṣra suppressed,
38 A.H.
658 A.D.The loss of Egypt and cruel death of Moḥammad preyed upon his mind. He withdrew into strictest privacy. His cousin, Ibn al-ʿAbbās, governor of Al-Baṣra, fearful lest he should resign, or do something rash and unadvised, set out to visit and comfort him. Muʿāwiya seized the opportunity to stir up in his absence the disaffected elements at Al-Baṣra. Among the various clans, he was sure of finding many there who, equally with himself, sought to avenge the blood of ʿOthmān; few were zealously attached to the cause of ʿAlī; the remainder were mostly of the theocratic faction, now quite as hostile to ʿAlī as to Muʿāwiya. The Syrian emissary, carrying for this end a letter to the citizens of Al-Baṣra, was so well received that Ziyād, who held the city's temporary charge, was forced to retire with the treasure and pulpit of State into the stronghold of a loyal clan, from whence he wrote for help to Al-Kūfa. ʿAlī at once despatched a chief having influence with the local tribes, who were by his persuasion induced to rally round Ziyād. After severe fighting in the city, the rebels were at last defeated and driven for refuge to a neighbouring castle. There surrounded, the castle was set on fire, and the Syrian envoy, with seventy followers, perished in the flames. The victory was decisive for the time; but the insurrection had brought to light the alarming spread of disaffection, and showed how precarious was ʿAlī's grasp upon the Bedawi races of factious Al-Baṣra.

Khāriji risings.The spirit of disturbance and unrest was not confined to Egypt and to Al-Baṣra. In a single year, we read of some half-dozen occasions on which considerable bands of the Khawārij were impelled by their theocratic creed to raise the standard of rebellion. One after another they met the common fate of slaughter and dispersion. But though crushed, the frequent repetition of such desperate enterprises, fruit of a wild and reckless fanaticism, had a disturbing effect. Rebellion of Khirrīt in S. Persia,
38 A.H.
658 A.D.The most serious of these risings was that led by Al-Khirrīt ibn Rāshid of the Beni Nājiya; and it is the more remarkable, because this chief had fought bravely with his tribe by ʿAlī's side in the battles both of the Camel and of Ṣiffīn. He was driven, like many others, by strong conviction to rebel. The position of this fanatic was that ʿAlī ought to have accepted the decision of the arbiters to refer the question of the Caliphate to a Council. ʿAlī, with his usual patience, said that he would argue out the matter with him, and arranged a meeting for the purpose. But the night before, Al-Khirrīt stole away from the city with his following. "Gone," said ʿAlī, "to the devil; lost, like doomed Thamūd!" They were pursued, but effected their escape to Al-Ahwāz. There they raised the Persians, Kurds, and Christian mountaineers, by the specious and inflammatory cry that payment of taxes to an ungodly Caliph was but to support his cause, and as such intolerable. With a band of rebel Arabs, they kindled revolt throughout Fars and put the governor to flight. A force from Al-Baṣra drove them to the shores of the Indian Ocean. But they broke out again in Al-Baḥrein, where the tribes had been withholding the taxes, and some had returned to the Christian faith. Luring the people by delusive promises, they still gained head; and it was not till after a bloody battle in which Al-Khirrīt lost his life,Khirrīt defeated and slain. that the supremacy of the Caliphate was re-established in southern Persia. The Muslim prisoners in this campaign were set at liberty on swearing fresh allegiance; but 500 Christians were marched away to be sold into captivity. The women and children, as they were torn from their protectors, wailed with loud and bitter cry. The hearts of many were softened. Maṣḳala, one of the captains, touched by the scene, took upon himself the cost of ransoming the Christian captives and set them free, ʿAlī, hearing of it, demanded from him immediate payment at a thousand pieces for each captive; and Maṣḳala, unable to pay down so great a sum, fled an joined Muʿāwiya.

Ziyād governor of Fars, 39 A.H.
659 A.D.The defeat of the Khawārij did not at once restore peace to Persia; for Fars and Kirman threw off their allegiance and expelled their governors. To quell the spreading insurrection, ʿAlī employed Ziyād from Al-Baṣra, a man, as we have seen, of conspicuous administrative ability. He carried with him a great court and retinue; but it was mainly by setting one rebellious prince against another, and by well-appointed promises and favours, that he succeeded in restoring peace; and by his success earned the government of Fars. He fixed his court at Iṣtakhr (Persepolis), and his administration there became so famous as even to recall to Persian memories the happy age of Anūsharwān.

Syrian expeditions against ʿIrāḳ,
38–39 A.H.
659 A.D.Though successful thus in Persia, ʿAīi was subject to trouble and molestation nearer home. Muʿāwiya, relieved now from apprehension on the side of Egypt, began to annoy his rival by frequent raids on Arabia and the cities beyond the Syrian desert. The object was various—now to ravage a Province or surprise a citadel, now to exact the tithe from Bedawi tribes, or secure allegiance to himself. Such inroads, though not always successful, inspired a sense of insecurity; and worse, betrayed the lukewarmness of the people in the cause of ʿAlī. These would stir neither hand nor foot to repel the Syrians invading villages close even at their door. To show his displeasure at their listlessness and disobedience, ʿAlī went forth himself into the field almost unattended. On this, the men of Al-Kūfa, partly from shame, partly lured by promise of increased stipends, marched to the defence of their frontier. In the year 39 A.H. there were nearly a dozen inroads of the kind. Though eventually repelled, it was not always without loss in prisoners, plunder, and prestige. On one occasion ʿAlī's commander, with a flying column, pursued the raiders back into the heart of Syria as far as Baalbek; and thence, turning northward, escaped by Ar-Raḳḳa again into Al-ʿIrāḳ. On the other hand, Muʿāwiya, to show his contempt for the power of ʿAlī, made an incursion right across Mesopotamia, and for some days remained encamped on the banks of the Tigris.Muʿāwiya visits Al-Mauṣil. After leisurely inspecting Al-Mauṣil, which he had never seen before, he made his way back to Damascus unmolested.

Raid of Busr on Arabia,
40 A.H.
660 A.D.The 40th year of the Hijra opened with a new grief for ʿAlī. When the time of pilgrimage came round, Muʿāwiya sent Busr, a brave but cruel captain of his host, with 3000 men into Arabia, to secure for him the allegiance of the Holy Places. As he drew nigh to Medīna, the governor fled and Busr entered unopposed. Proceeding to the Mosque, he mounted the sacred steps of the Prophet's pulpit, and recalling ʿOthmān to mind, addressed the people thus: "O citizens of Medīna! The aged man! Where is the grey-haired aged man whom, but as yesterday, and on this very spot, I swore allegiance to? Verily, but for my promise to Muʿāwiya, who bade me stay the sword, I had not left here a single soul alive!" Then he threatened the leading citizens with death if they refused to acknowledge Muʿāwiya as their Caliph; and so, fearing for their lives, all took the oath of allegiance to the Umeiyad ruler. Passing on to Mecca, the same scene was enacted by the imperious envoy there, and with the same result.^[1] Then marching south to the Yemen, he committed great atrocities there upon the adherents of ʿAlī. The governor, a son of Al-ʿAbbās, escaped to his cousin ʿAlī at Al-Kūfa.Infant children of ʿAlī's cousin slain. But two of his little children, falling into the tyrant’s hands, were put to death in cold blood, with their Bedawi attendant, who in vain protested against the cruel act. An army of 4000 men was despatched in haste from Al-Kūfa, but too late to stop these outrages; and Busr made good his escape to Syria. The wretched Peninsula fared no better at the hands of the relieving army. Many of the inhabitants of Nejrān were put to death because they had belonged to ʿOthmān's party. The men of Mecca were forced to recall the oath they had just taken, and again do homage to ʿAlī. Similarly, the citizens of Medīna swore allegiance to Al-Ḥasan, son of ʿAlī, at the point of the sword; but no sooner were the troops gone, than the leader of the opposite faction resumed his functions. Thus bitterly was the Peninsula rent in two. The cruel death of his cousin's infant children preyed on ʿAlī more, perhaps, than all his other troubles; and he cursed Busr in the daily service with a new and bitter imprecation. The disconsolate mother poured forth her sorrow in plaintive verse, some touching couplets of which are still preserved.^[2]

ʿAbdallah son of ʿAbbās retires to Mecca.Yet another grief was in store for ʿAlī. He had promoted his cousins, the sons of Al-ʿAbbās, to great dignity, giving the command of the Yemen to one, of Mecca to another, of Medīna to a third; while ʿAbdallah, the eldest, held the government of Al-Baṣra, the second city in the Empire. Complaints having reached the court of irregularities at Al-Baṣra, ʿAlī called upon his cousin to render an account. Scorning the demand, ʿAbdallah threw up the office, and, carrying his treasures with him, retired to Mecca. ʿAlī was much mortified at this unfriendly act; and still more by the desertion of his brother ʿAḳīl to Muʿāwiya.

Alī concludes treaty with Muʿāwiya,
40 A.H.
660 A.D.These troubles, crowding rapidly one upon another, at last broke ʿAlī's spirit. He had no longer heart to carry on hostilities with Syria. If he might but secure the eastern provinces in peaceful subjection to himself, it was all he could hope for now. Accordingly, after a lengthened correspondence, an armistice was concluded between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiya, by which they agreed to lay aside their arms, respect the territory of each other, and maintain, in time to come, a friendly attitude. Muʿāwiya, however, assumed the title of Caliph at Jerusalem in July 660 A.D. (ii. 40 A.H.); and it is said that ʿAlī gathered an army of 40,000 men, when the events narrated in the next chapter occurred.

1. On Busr's approach, Abu Mūsa (the umpire) fled from Mecca for his life. The unfortunate man had been living there ever since the arbitration, equally obnoxious to both sides.
2. For example:

   "Ah! who hath seen my two little ones—
   Darlings hidden, like pearls within their shell?"

   As grandchildren of Al-ʿAbbās, their fate naturally occupies a conspicuous place in ʿAbbāssid tradition. ʿAlī cursed Busr, praying that he might lose his senses, and in answer to the prayer he became, we are told, a hopeless, drivelling idiot.