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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib The Battles of the Khawarij After The Battle of Nahrawan, Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) had the plans of proceeding to Syria. He told his troops, “Allah has given you victory over the Khawarij. Now rise to proceed against the Syrians and achieve victory over that veritable enemy. Al-Ash`ath ibn Qays and some other men said, “O Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s)! Our arrows are finished and the swords blunt!

Please go to al-Kūfah for some days that we have some rest and to sharpen our swords and make some more arrows. Once we are rested, recuperated and ready, we may proceed for the next campaign.” The Imam (a.s) opposed this suggestion and said, “Our destination was Syria and any more delay in going in that direction may not be advisable.” The Imam (a.s) tried his best but the men did not agree. He was forced to return to al-Kūfah.

Instead of entering the city, he camped at al-Nukhaylah and asked the troops too to stay there. He did not want them to get involved with the problems at their homes. They stayed at al-Nukhaylah for some days but then they started making some excuses and going to their homes. After some days, only limited number of persons were there in the camp. Now it was no use staying any more at al-Nukhaylah. Therefore, the Imam (a.s) had to close the camp and enter the city.

When the Imam (a.s) entered al-Kūfah, the Khawarij started their mischief again. Although a major number of them were eliminated during the battle of Nahrawan, they were not totally exterminated. Many contributing to their thinking were still there in al-Kūfah who did not participate in the battle because of some reason or the other. Now they started showing up. They put their heads together to cause problems in the administration of the realm.

Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) got engrossed in quelling the mischief of these people and others. This was another cause for some delay in going on the Syrian campaign. Of these rebel groups, one was under Khirrit ibn Rashid who was the leader of the Khawarij from Banū-Najiyah and was a resident of al-Kūfah. He came one day to Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) with 30 men and said, “By Allah! I shall neither obey any of your orders nor pray in the congregation behind you.