Now you should tell us why you have got ready to fight against Ali.

Now you should tell us why you have got ready to fight against Ali. Has he misappropriated the war booty, and deprived you of it? Has he done anything unlawful? Has he committed any offence which has disqualified him for the caliphate? And then the questions: Why are you so keen that we, too, should join you in fighting against Ali?” He ended his speech with these words: “When no such thing has happened why have you created all this nuisance?”. None could give any reply to his speech.

All were dumbfounded. However, brute force follows no logic. The supporters of Talha and Zubayr attacked the man but his kinsmen came to his help. Fierce fighting took place and eventually the speaker was killed along with seventy persons of his tribe. The people of the camel gained control over all the key points and took hold of the amount of revenue as well as the Public Treasury. Zubayr and his son Abdullah distributed the entire property of the Public Treasury among their supporters.

Hakim bin Jabalah who was obedient and faithful to the Commander of the Faithful was very much disturbed on account of the activities of these people. He gathered many of his supporters and attacked the people of the camel. He said about Talha and Zubayr: “They took oath of allegiance to Ali voluntarily and promised to obey him. Now they have come to fight against him as his opponents and want to avenge the murder of Uthman.

They have created differences between us although we belonged to the same city and were the neighbours of one another. O Lord! It is not the intention of either of them to avenge the murder of Uthman”. Hakim was killed and so was his son and brother. Thereafter Talha and Zubayr mercilessly put the people of Basra to sword. The people of the camel had now full control over Basra, and had become its despotic rulers.

The people of Basra took oath of allegiance to Talha and Zubayr - some of them voluntarily and others in duress. After having subdued Basra, the people of the camel became over-joyous. Zubayr said: “If I had one thousand horsemen I would have proceeded to meet Ali and I am sure that I would have killed him before he arrived here.” Ayesha conveyed the good news of her success to Hafsa who was in Madina. She wrote: “I have to inform you that Ali has halted at a place called Zi Qar.

He is very much afraid because he has received news about our large army and equipment.