ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib The Martyrdom In 40 H after the Battle of Nahrawan the remnants of Khawarij had a conclave in Makkah and discussing about the loss of lives in their ranks, they put the blame of these killings on `Ali (a.s), Mu`awiyah and `Amr Ibn al-`As. To avenge all those killings, they wanted to do away with all the three. The blood of the Khawarij was already seeking revenge.

They unanimously agreed that Bakr ibn `Abdullah al-Sarimi would kill Mu`awiyah, `Amr ibn Barrak al-Tamimi to kill `Amr ibn al-`As and `Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljim to assassinate `Ali (a.s). They also agreed that all the three killings were to be committed on the same day and at the same time. They did not want any of the three to get the wind of the killing of the other and get wary and make the attempts fail.

Therefore, they fixed the day and time and sent Barrak ibn `Abdullah to Damascus, `Amr ibn Bakr to Egypt and `Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljim to al-Kūfah. For this difficult task they had fixed 19th of Ramadan and the time was the Morning Prayer. Therefore, Barrak ibn `Abdullah reached the Masjid of Damascus and when the congregation stood up, he took station behind Mu`awiyah in the first row. When Mu`awiyah bent forward in genuflection, he struck a blow with his sword.

The wound was small and healed within a few days. The assailant was taken captive. `Amr ibn Bakr reached the Masjid of Egypt on the night of 19th Ramadan with the plan of killing `Amr ibn al-`As during the Morning Prayer, but it so happened that `Amr ibn al-`As suffered from a bout of colic and had deputed Kharijah ibn Hudhafah al-Sahmi to lead the prayer in his place. `Amr ibn Bakr was not able to identify in the darkness that it was not `Amr ibn al-`As. He killed Kharijah in that confusion.

The people caught hold of him, bound him in ropes and took to `Amr ibn al-`As. When he realized that Kharijah was killed by him in place of `Amr ibn al-`As, he felt sorry for the failure of his design. `Amr ibn al-`As addressed him and said, “You wanted to kill me, but the death turned towards Kharijah and you have failed in your attempt on my life!” Then he was killed for killing Kharijah.

`Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljim arrived in al-Kūfah around the end of the month of Sha`ban and stayed in the locality of Banū-Kindah with some Khawarij. He did not inform anyone of his plans nor did he give any indication of his intention through his behavior.