The matter came up before Mu`awiya and the Syrian produced...

The matter came up before Mu`awiya and the Syrian produced fifty witnesses to prove that the she-camel was his. Mu`awiya, therefore, decided the case in his favour. The Kufan said to Mu`awiya: “May God forgive you! It is a he-camel and not a she-camel. Mu`awiya said that as the decision had been taken it was not possible to reverse it. When the court was dispersed and there was no one there, he called the Kufan secretly and enquired from him about the value of his camel.

When he mentioned its cost Mu`awiya gave him double the amount and something more and said: “When you reach Kufa tell Ali that I will bring to fight against him one hundred thousand such persons who don't differentiate between a he-camel and a she-camel”. Jahiz has also confirmed these remarks of Mu`awiya and has explained as to why the Syrians were so obedient to him. He says: “The reason for the Syrians being so submissive was that they were very stupid and foolish.

It was in their nature to follow others blindly and to stick to the views once formed by them. If someone was slandered before them in his absence, they never cared to verify if it was true or false”. As mentioned above the conspiracies of the enemies of Ali were not limited to the Battle of the Camel but it was only a link of the chain of even greater conspiracies againt him. After defeating the army of Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr, he started making preparations to bring Mu`awiya to his knees.

His sole object was to guide the people towards high morals and good deeds, to prevent them from committing oppression and to establish a government which should consider the protection of their rights to be its foremost duty. Ali's method was quite different from those who flatter the powerful, forgive the rebels to seek their assistance, and approach the influential persons to help them in establishing their rule.

We have already mentioned before that Ali did not seek any recompense from the people for the services rendered by him to them except that they should obey him. He often uttered this sentence: “If knowledge, wisdom and justice could be measured I would have measured them for you gratis. However, what is necessary for it is that I should get competent persons and intelligent brains”. Mu`awiya was not a receptacle in which knowledge, wisdom and justice could be contained.

Justice and public rights were not safe in his hands and if they were left with him there was no surety that he would pass them on to the people.