They took her to Basrah where those two (Talhah and...

They took her to Basrah where those two (Talhah and az-Zubayr) put their own women in their houses but exposed the wife of the Messenger of Allah to themselves and to others in the army in which there was not a single individual who had not offered me his obedience and sworn to me allegiance quite obediently, without any compulsion.

فَخَرَجُوا يَجُرُّونَ حُرْمَةَ رَسُولِ اللهِ(صلى الله عليه وآله) كَمَا تُجَرُّ الاْمَةُ عِنْدَ شِرَائِهَا، مُتَوَجِّهِينَ بِهَا إِلَى الْبَصْرَةِ، فَحَبَسَا نِسَاءَ هُمَا فِي بُيُوتِهِمَا، وَأَبْرَزَا حَبِيس رَسُولِ اللهِ(صلى الله عليه وآله) لَهُمَا وَلِغَيْرِهِمَا، فِي جَيْش مَا مِنْهُمْ رَجُلٌ إِلاَّ وَقَدْ أَعْطَانِي الطَّاعَةَ، وَسَمَحَ لِي بِالْبَيْعَةِ، طَائِعاً غَيْرَ مُكْرَه، Here in Basrah they approached my governor and treasurers of the public treasury and its other inhabitants.

They killed some of them in captivity and others by treachery. By Allah, even if they had wilfully killed only one individual from among the Muslims without any fault, it would have been lawful for me to kill the whole of this army because they were present in it but did not disagree with it nor prevented it by tongue or hand, not to say that they killed from among the Muslims a number equal to that with which they had marched on them.

فَقَدِمُوا عَلَى عَامِلِي بِهَا وَخُزَّانِ بَيْتِ مَالِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَغَيْرِهِمْ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا، فَقَتَلُوا طَائِفَةً صَبْراً، وَطَائِفَةً غَدْراً. فَوَاللهِ لَوْ لَمْ يُصِيبُوا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ إِلاَّ رَجُلاً وَاحِداً مُعْتَمِدِينَ لِقَتْلِهِ، بِلاَ جُرْم جَرَّهُ، لَحَلَّ لي قَتْلُ ذلِكَ الْجَيْشِ كُلِّهِ، إِذْ حَضَرُوهُ فَلَمْ يُنْكِرُوا، وَلَمْ يَدْفَعُوا عَنْهُ بِلِسَان وَلاَ يَد. دَعْ مَا أَنَّهُمْ قَدْ قَتَلُوا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِثْلَ الْعِدَّةِ الَّتِي دَخَلُوا بِهَا عَلَيْهِمْ!

Alternative Sources for Sermon 172 (1) Al-Tabari, Ta'rikh, VI, 48; (2) al-Bayhaqi, al-Mahasin, 41; (3) al-Saduq, al-'Amali; (4) Ibn al-'Athir, al-Nihayah, (bab al-ba'); (5) al-Karajiki, Ma`dan, 226; (6) al-'Amidi, Ghurar, 329; (7) al-Thaqafi, al-Gharat, see Ibn Abi al-Hadid, I, 295; (8) al-Mufid, al-Jamal, * 45, 76.

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