Preparations
for the fighting in Siffin
With his arrival in Kufah, Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) was determined to
make preparations against Syria. Abdullah bin Abbâs also left Basrah with his
army. Hearing this, Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
too marched to Nukhailah putting Abu Mas'ud Ansâri in his place. Abdullah bin
Abbâs joined Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
there. Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
then dispatched Ziyâd bin Nadr Hârithi at the head of an eight thousand strong
vanguard. He also sent Shuraih bin Hâni at the back of Ziyâd with four thousand
fighters. Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
came to Madâ'in and sent Ma'qal bin Qais with a detachment of three thousand
after putting Saad bin Mas'ud Thaqafi in charge of Madâ'in. From Madâ'in, Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) reached Raqqah and
crossed the Euphrates to meet the joint forces of Shuraih, Ma'qal and others.
When Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
came to know that Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
was marching on Syria, he hurriedly sent Abul-A'war Sulami at the head of a
squadron in the form of vanguard. Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ
عَنْهُ) sent Ziyâd and Shuraih ahead of the vanguard. When these
generals entered the Syrian borders, they were informed that Abul-A'war was
heading a detachment against them. They informed Ali (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) of the situation who sent Ashtar to take charge of the forces
and to put Ziyâd and Shuraih to the right and left wings. He also instructed
not to attack the Syrians unless they were attacked by them.
Ashtar acted accordingly. Abul-A'war
camped in front of them. Both camps passed the whole day in silence. By the
evening, Abul-A'war launched an attack on his opponents but they separated
after a brief encounter. The next day, Abul-A'war stepped forward and was faced
by Hâshim bin Utbah and they kept fighting until noon. Each of them was
retreating to his camp when Ashtar launched a sudden attack. Abul-A'war also
responded with his men. The fighting continued until the darkness of night
intervened to stop it.
The next day, Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) appeared on the scene. News also came
about Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
's march towards the battlefront. Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ
عَنْهُ) stopped fighting and ordered Ashtar to capture the banks of
Euphrates for water. But Ashtar found to his disappointment that Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) had already captured
the water of the Euphrates. When Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ
عَنْهُ) became aware of this, he sent Sa'sa'ah bin Suhân with a letter
addressed to Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
which, contained: "We would not have started this fight with you until we
heard your grievances and called you to the right path. However, your men preferred
to launch an attack on our troops and started the aggression. Now we think it
fit to first invite you to the straight path before meeting you in the
battlefield. It is quite unfortunate that you have initiated your war
activities by capturing the water resources and stopped the supply of water to
us, with the result that our troops are under the stress of thirst. It is
better to ask your men not to prevent us from fetching water until the
controversies are peacefully resolved. However, if you want to fight over the
water instead of attaining the main goals, we are ready for that as well."
Mu'âwiyah called an emergency
meeting and placed the demand before his advisers. Abdullah bin Saad, the
former governor of Egypt and Walid bin Uqbah spoke against lifting the ban on
water so that they should be left to die without water as they had done with Uthmân
bin Affân. But Amr bin Al-Âs (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
said pleading against them, "Stopping the supply of water is not
reasonable because many from your camp may not bear the tragic deaths of Ali's
men without water and they might join Ali's camp to fight against you declaring
you unfair and stone-hearted." Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) announced not to block the supply of water and the situation
that was heading towards an armed conflict was defused. [The dispute over the
water seems to be incorrect. Euphrates is not a tank or pool that any party can
get hold of it. It is a river thousands of miles in length and each party could
have taken water from its side.]
Following this, both sides kept
silent for two days. Parties from Hijâz, Yemen, Hamadân and other parts of
Arabia and Persia joined Ali's army to make it swell to ninety thousand, while
Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) was in command of
eighty thousand troops. [Historians differ on the number of troops. Some have
mentioned the same and others have mentioned differently.]
Ali had given the command of the
horsemen of Kufah to Ashtar and those of Basrah to Sahl bin Hunaif, the
infantry of Kufah was commanded by Ammâr bin Yâsir and those of Basrah by Qais
bin Saad bin Ubâdah, while Hâshim bin Utbah was made the standard-bearer. Other
clans and parties from various provinces were put under the command of their
respective chiefs. In the army of Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ), Dhil-Kala' Himyari was put on the right wing, Habib bin
Maslamah on the left and the vanguard was handed over to Abul-A'war Sulami. The
cavalry of Damascus was put under the command of Amr bin Al-Âs (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) while the infantry
was headed by Muslim bin Uqbah. Other small columns were given to the
commanding officers like Abdur-Rahmân bin Khâlid, Ubaidullah bin Umar and
Bashir bin Mâlik Kindi and others.
On the third day, Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) broke his silence and
sent Bashir bin Amr bin Mihsan Ansâri, Saeed bin Qais and Shabath bin Rib'i
Tamimi to convince Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
to accept obedience and to take Bai'ah of Ali. Bashir bin Amr said to Mu’âwiyah
(رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ), "O Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ), refrain from
creating any rift in the Muslim ranks and avoid bloodshed." Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) retorted, "Have
you counseled this to your friend Ali?" Bashir replied, "He is among
the first believers in Islam and a very close relative of the Prophet and has,
therefore, more right to caliphate than all others." Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) said, "It is
not at all possible for us to give up our demand for avenging the blood of
Uthmân." Thereupon Shabath bin Rib'i said, "O Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ), we know very well
your purpose behind the demand for Qisâs. You delayed help to Uthmân so that he
would be martyred giving you an opportunity to stake your claim to the
caliphate on the pretext of avenging Uthmân's blood. O Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ), avoid any conflict
with Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) and see
reason." This led to hot exchanges with Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) and the deputation proved fruitless.
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