ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims The Battle of Siffin To dissuade muawiya from waging war against the Muslims, Ali used all those argument that he had used, earlier, in his appeals to Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr for the same purpose, and the outcome in both cases was the same. In the perception of all his enemies, peace could only compound the already complex problems of the Dar-ul-Islam.

They saw only one remedy for those problems, and that was war. This time, however, Ali was confronted by an enemy who was far more subtle, devious, insidious and dangerous than the “triumvirate” of Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr had ever been. In fact, he was so subtle that in comparison, Talha and Zubayr were little more than political backwoodsmen. In Basra, the rebel group was a coalition of disparate interests, and its members were held together only by their common hatred of Ali.

It lacked singleness of purpose. Ayesha was fighting to elevate her nephew, Abdullah bin Zubayr, to the throne of khilafat. But Talha and Zubayr were not going to defer to her in this matter; they themselves were the candidates for that prize. Thus their coalition was far from being the one-for-all and all-for-one triumvirate that their supporters might have liked it to be. The triumvirate of Basra was dogged and hobbled by their divided counsels but Muwaiya was not.

He sought the advice of Amr bin Aas and others but he himself made all the decisions. Ali was still in quest of unity. The unity of the umma of Muhammad was threatened by growing stresses and strains, and he was struggling to protect it and preserve it. But unfortunately, his enemies did not share this anxiety with him. Their only interest was to rip apart the unity of the umma , and they succeeded in ripping it apart.

In the spring of 657, Muawiya left Damascus with his army to carry war into Iraq. He crossed the boundary and halted at a village called Siffin – on the bank of the river Euphrates. His first act was to occupy the water-front. Hearing the news of the advance of the Syrian army, Ali appointed Aqaba ibn Amr Ansari as governor of Kufa, called Abdullah ibn Abbas from Basra to accompany him, and left Kufa with his army for Siffin in April 657.

“Seventy veterans of the battle of Badr and 250 of the Tree of Fealty marched under his flag with the army along the banks of the Euphrates toward Siffin.” (Mustadrak, vol. III).