ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Shi'ite Encyclopedia (chapter 10) Abdullah Ibn Saba (part Iv) Who Started The Battle of Camel? The battle of Camel (Jamal) was the first war declared against Imam Ali (AS) in Basra in year 36/656 after people appointed Ali as their leader of the Muslim community. It was called so, because Aisha, one of the leaders of the opposition group was riding a camel.

The other leaders among the opposition were Talha and Zubair who were two well-known companions of the messenger of Allah. This war is also known in the history as the battle of Basra. The result was shedding the blood of more than ten thousand Muslims.

The circulators of false accusation against the Followers of the Members of the House of the Prophet quote from Sayf that the followers of Ibn Saba started the battle of Basra at night just before the negotiations between Imam Ali and his three opponents (Aisha, Talha, and Zubair) were about to succeed. They started the battle at night by attacking the two armies simultaneously in order to make them plunge into battle.

Ibn Saba wanted to make each of the two armies accuse the other of starting the battle. This would abort the peaceful efforts whose stipulations were supposed to include the punishment of Uthman's killers.

This allegation is in contradiction with many clear historical facts, of which the following events were recorded by the Sunni historians and traditionists: al-Sha'bi (Amir Ibn Sharahil al-shi-abi) reported the following: The right side of the army of the Commander of Believers (Ali) attacked the left side of Basra's army. They fought each other and people resorted to Aisha and most of them were from Dhubbah and al-Azd tribes. The Battle started after sunrise and continued until afternoon.

The Basrites were defeated and a man from the tribe of al-Azd said: 'Come back and attack.' Muhammad (Ibn al-Hanafiya), son of Ali, hit him with his sword and severed his hand. The man shouted: 'Azdites, run away.' When the Azdites were overwhelmed by the army of the Ali, the Azdites shouted: 'We belong to the religion of Ali Ibn Abi Talib.' Sunni reference: History of al-Tabari, Arabic version, Events of year 36 AH v4, p312.

(The English version of this part is not yet published at the time of writing of this article) The above report gives evidence to the fact that the fight did NOT start during the night as the inventor of Ibn Saba claimed. Rather it started AFTER the sunrise.