About the Battle of Camel...

About the Battle of Camel, al-Hakim and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and others recorded that: We were in the camp of Ali on the day of Battle of Camel, where Ali sent for Talha to talk to him (before the beginning of war). Talha came forward, and Ali told him: I adjure you by Allah! Didn't you hear the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) when he said: `Whoever I am his MAWLA, this Ali is his MAWLA.

O God, love whoever loves him, and be hostile to whoever is hostile to him'?" Talha replied: "Yes." Ali said: "Then why do you want to fight me?" Sunni reference: al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim, v3, pp 169,371 Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, on the authority of Ilyas al-Dhabbi Muruj al-Dhahab, by al-Mas'udi, v4, p321 Majma' al-Zawa'id, by al-Haythami, v9, p107 Ahmad Ibn Hanbal recorded in his Musnad that: Abu Tufayl narrated that He (Ali) gathered the people in the plain of Rahbah (on year 35 AH) and adjured in the name of Allah every Muslim male present there who had heard the proclamation of al-Ghadir from the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) to stand up and testify what they had heard from the Messenger on the Day of Ghadir.

Thereupon thirty (30) men stood up and gave evidence that the Prophet grasped Ali's hand and said to the audience: "He (Ali) has superior authority over those who believe me to have superiority over their lives. O Allah! Love him who loves him and hate him who hates him." Abu Tufayl says that it was in a state of great mental agitation that he left the plain of Rahbah, for the Muslim masses had not complied with the tradition.

He therefore called on Zaid Ibn Arqam and told him what he heard from Ali. Zaid told him not to entertain any doubt about it for he himself had heard the Messenger of Allah uttering those words. Sunni reference: Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v4, p370 also: Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abu Laylah said: I witnessed Ali administering an oath to the people in the plain of Rahbah.

Ali said: "I adjure those of you in the name of Allah who heard the Messenger of Allah on the day of Ghadir saying `Ali is the Mawla of whom I am Mawla' to stand up and to testify. He who was not an eyewitness doesn't need to stand up." Thereupon twelve (12) such companions who had participated in the Battle of Badr stood up. The occasion is still fresh in my memory.

Sunni references: Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v1, p119, see also v5, p366 Khasa'is, by al-Nisa'i, pp 21,103, narrated similar to above on the authority of three others: Umayah Ibn Sa'd, Zaid Ibn yathigh, and Sa'id Ibn Wahab.