The following historians support this version: Yaqubi - 'Tarikh al-Yaqubi' Ibn.

The following historians support this version: Yaqubi - 'Tarikh al-Yaqubi' Ibn. Kathir - 'Al bidayah wal Nihayah' Baladhuri - 'Ansab al Ashraf' Abul Faraj - 'Maqatil al Talibin' Sheikh Mufid - 'Kitab al Irshad' Ibn. Abi al Hadid - ‘Sharh al-Nahjul Balaghah’ Ibn. Athir - 'Al Kamil fit Tarikh' From the historical evidence available, it is not difficult to decide that initially the commander of the vanguard unit was Ubaidullah b. Abbas, but later the command was officially assigned to Qais b. S'ad.

We will quote only two sources here: (1) The war command of Imam Al-Mujtaba (as) in which he ordered Ubaidullah to take the command of the vanguard brigade and appointed Qais b. S'ad and S'eed b. Qais as his advisers. (2) The letter from Ubaidullah b. Abbas or Qais b. S'ad to Imam Hasan (as), after taking over the command of the vanguard brigade, in which they have mentioned the crisis faced by the leadership.

[^5] From a historical point of view, the authenticity of the two documents and their accuracy is proved. However, the misunderstanding by some that Qais was the commander of the vanguard brigade was due to the main role played by Qais b. S'ad. For sure, during the caliphate of Hazrat ‘Ali (as) he had been the commander-in-chief of a very important brigade ‘the Shurta al Khamis' (the Thursday Soldiers). Imam Al-Mujtaba (as) had also not appointed Ubaidullah b.

Abbas as the sole commander, but he had appointed Qais as his assistant and next in command. Due to later events, when Qais got the command, he was at the centre of all the events, which caused the historians to consider him as the commander of the vanguard brigade. Some historians have raised objection that Imam Al-Mujtaba (as) appointed Ubaidullah as the commander.

In this respect, the following extract from 'Tarikh al-Tabari' etc., needs attention: "When Hazrat ‘Ali (as) was martyred and the Iraqi people paid allegiance to Imam Hasan (as) as the caliph, it became evident that Imam Hasan (as) was not in favour of war. But he wanted to make a bargain for himself with Muawiya before making any agreement. Imam Hasan (as) knew that Qais b. S'ad would not agree with this view of the Imam (as). Therefore, he dismissed him and appointed Ubaidullah b.

Abbas as the commander of the army." [^6] Two conclusions can be drawn from the above historical extract: 1) Imam Hasan (as) did not want a war (2) Before taking any decision about the consequences of peace, he wanted to extract something from Muawiya.