ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib The Aggressive Attacks of the Syrians After the ignominy of al-Basrah, Mu`awiyah realized that attacking the Iraqi cities and achieving success was difficult. However, making raids on suburbs and remote hamlets to frighten and terrorize the people was to his advantage. Therefore, he started attacking the border habitations and the army barracks and in no time the pleasant habitations were rendered into veritable ruins.

There was a flood of the blood of innocents everywhere. The purpose of these nefarious activities was to spread disturbance and unrest in the realm. The Imam (a.s) did not get any respite from handling these disturbances to give his attention to reform and development, as he would have wished to do. In 39 H Mu`awiyah sent al-Nu`man ibn Bashir with 2,000 troops to attack `Ayn al-Tamr. There Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) had an arms depot. Malik ibn Ka`b al-Arhabi was in charge of this depot.

Under him 1,000 troops always used to be there. When Malik heard of al-Nu`man’s move, he had only 100 men with him and the rest had taken permission and had gone to al-Kūfah. He wrote to Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) that a contingent of 2,000 Syrians was headed to attack him and the men present were not sufficient to meet the onslaught. He therefore requested for urgent reinforcement. The Imam (a.s) told al-Harith al-Hamdani to proclaim, in al-Kūfah that all people must urgently assemble at al-Rahbah.

The next morning the Imam (a.s) went to al-Rahbah after the Morning Prayer. He found about 300 men assembled there. When he saw the lack of interest in the people, he said, “O people of al-Kūfah! I had called you to rise to the help of your brothers! But when the troops of the Syrians hover over your heads, you shirk from fighting. `Adi ibn Hatam, finding the Imam (a.s) disturbed, said, “O Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s)! In my tribe of Banū-tay there are 1,000 strong fighters.

If you order, I shall take them to teach a lesson to the enemy” The Imam (a.s) said, “I do not like that to face the enemy, people from only one tribe volunteer. This gives an impression that the other tribes are not interested in taking part in the campaigns. You go to al-Nukhaylah and invite others to participate as well” Therefore he went and talked to the people and in addition to Banū-tay he raised another 1,000 men.