This group relied and depended on two of the Prophet's wives namely A’isha...

This group relied and depended on two of the Prophet's wives namely A’isha, daughter of Abu Bakr (who alone was a party by herself) and Hafsa, daughter of ‘Umar. After this party had been formed they gradually invited some Ansars to cooperate with them and in order to find out the weak points of the masses, they commissioned some persons from out of Ansar for spying, so that they might collect information about the affairs of the opposite parties.

The persons so commissioned were those like Uwaym bin Sa'ida, and Ma'n bin Addi. These two persons possessed soft and mild political habits and were reckoned to be the people "whose tears are under their control.”[^2] The second party was that of the Ansar.

This party was next to the first one from the point of view of strength and influence; notable persons and thinkers of the Ansar were its members, who had made innumerable sacrifices, provided quarter to the Muhajirs, and assisted Islam and enjoyed historical influence in Madina, were owners of lands and property, and had also transferred wealth to this city previously from Yemen. The chief and leader of this party was Sa'ad bin Ubada Khazraji, whereas its spokesman was Manzar bin Hubab bin Jumu.

Of course, the weak point of this party was their conflict with Bani Aws and their tribal rivalry. Relations maintained by this party with the first party were due to their common ways and methods. However, when the hopes of this party to acquire the Caliphate did not materialize, they became the supporters of ‘Ali and continued their support to him. The third party was that of Abu Sufyan. As regards the mysteries and techniques of politics this party was perhaps most competent of all others.

However, the defect inherent in this party was the bad record of its leader; and this bad record of his consisted of his violent opposition to Islam since the commencement of the Prophet's mission. And as his continuous hypocrisy and political aspirations were not hidden from anyone the same hampered his success.

For this reason Abu Sufyan had hidden himself behind ‘Uthman, who was his cousin, and similarly behind Abdur Rahman bin 'Awf, who was the son-in-law of ‘Uthman and the chief of Bani Zohra tribe, and had sent two vipers of his (viz. Mughira bin Sho'ba and Mu'awiya) in the field, who joined hands with those polytheists who had embraced Islam unwillingly and considered it to be the ladder for advancement. In this way Abu Sufyan availed of the opportunity and became active.