ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Ali the Magnificent Chapter Xx: the Disafection of the Kharijites The prospect of a truce between Ali and Moaviya did not please the Kharijites. For one thing, a strong and stable government would put an end to the plundering raids on which so many of them depended for enormous wealth and booty.

At the same time the fanatically pious amongst them longed fervently for the restoration of God's kingdom on earth and believed that this could never be accomplished while Ali and- Moawiya remained alive. To the Kharijites, they were both ambitious tyrants who had usurped power and established ungodly kingdoms in defiance of the will of God. **A concerted plot ** Some of the remaining Kharijites, after the battle of Nahrwan, had gone to Mecca, to find sanctuary in Kaaba, the house of God.

Here they held frequent religiopolitical meetings in the holy sanctuary, devising plans to avenge their relatives who had fallen at Nahrwan. Here, too, they planned the assassination of Ali and Moawiya, adding a third name to the list of the ungodly that of Amr bin Aas. They feared that Amr bin Aas, the wily umpire, might lay claim to the Caliphate for himself in the event of the death of Moawiya.

The three boldest of these Mcccan Kharijites, Abdur Rahman ibn Muljim al - Sarimi, Burk ibn Abdullah, and Amr bin Bakr volunteered to rid the world of the tyrants. Abdur Rahman agreed to kill Ali, Burk to kill Moawiya and Amr to kill Amr bin Aas, now Governor of Egypt. The morning of Friday, the 19th of Ramazan, was fixed for the execution of the plot. The three assassins then poisoned their swords and swore to kill their enemies or perish in the holy deed.

Then they separated, Abdur Rahman taking the road to Kiifa, Burk that to Damascus and Amr that to Egypt. Abdur Rahman's proposal of marriage Abdur Rahman arrived in Kufa and began making secret plans. Help came to him from an unexpected quarter, for he fell passionately in love with a woman who had a great hatred for Ali.

This was the beauteous Qutaum, whose father and brother, according to one account and, whose uncle and husband, according to another, had been slain by Ali in the Battle of Nahrwan.