Next morning the governor moved to attack them...

Next morning the governor moved to attack them, and there was fierce, but inconclusive, fighting in which many was killed.[^11] The agreement to wait for 'Ali's arrival was clearly unfavorable to the rebels, and Talha persuaded al-Zubayr to break it and take 'Uthman b. Hunayf by surprise. On a windy and dark night, they attacked and seized him as he was leading the evening prayer in the mosque.[^12] 'A’isha first advised them to kill 'Uthman b.

Hunayf, but a woman reminded her of Ibn Hunayf's hip with the Prophet, she changed her mind and ordered them to imprison him. Now a Basran advised the captors to beat him and pluck his beard. Thus, they gave him forty lashes, plucked out the hair of his head, his eyebrows and eyelashes, and put him to prison.[^13] On the next morning, there was disagreement between Talha and al-Zubayr about who should now lead the prayer.

Al-Zubayr as the older man was then given precedence, and thereafter the leadership was alternated between them day by day.[^14] At dawn on this morning, 'Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr with a group of men went to the treasury, which was guarded by forty (or four hundred) Sayabija, the former slaves from Sind converted to Islam. Since they resisted, they killed all of them, including their leader, Abu Salama Zutti, a pious man.[^15] The general command of the Basran army was given to al-Zubayr.

📌'A’isha insisted that he should be acclaimed merely emir, not caliph. A decision on the caliphate would be made after the victory.[^16] In the exchanges before the battle, 'Ali b. Abi Talib took off his armor; approached al-Zubayr and reminded him of an incident in their childhood when the Prophet (S.A.W.A.) predicted that al-Zubayr would unjustly fight 'Ali. Remembering the incident, al-Zubayr swore that he would never fight 'Ali.[^17] His son 'Abd Allah, however, accused him of cowardice.

Al-Zubayr changed his mind again and on 'Abd Allah's advice, freed a slave in atonement for his broken oath.[^18] Al-Zubayr became frightened when he learned that 'Ammar b. Yasir was participating on the side of 'Ali.

He remembered the famous hadith ascribed to the Prophet (S.A.W.A.) stating that 'Ammar was of the righteous and predicting that the rebel party would kill him.[^19] He might have recognized that he was merely being used as a pawn for the ambitions of 'A’isha and Talha, who were clearly guiltier of inciting the rebellions against 'Uthman than was 'Ali.

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