Chapter XXXV: The Election of Aly

End of A.H. XXXV. June, A.D. 656.

[Sidenote: Revulsion of feeling.]

On the Caliph’s death, his kinsfolk, and such as had taken an active part in his defence, retired from the scene. The city was horror-struck. They had hardly anticipated, and could now with difficulty realise, the tragical end. Many who had favoured, and some who had even joined, the rebels, started back, now that the deed was done. The nearer relatives of the murdered Caliph fled to Mecca and elsewhere, with vows of vengeance. A citizen of Medîna, wrapping carefully up the severed fingers of Nâila in the blood-stained shirt of Othmân--meet symbols of revenge--carried them off to Damascus and laid them at Muâvia’s feet.

[Sidenote: Aly elected Caliph, 24 Dzul Hijj, A.H. XXXV. 23 June, A.D. 656.]

For several days anarchy reigned at the capital of Islam. There was neither Caliph nor any settled government. The regicides had the entire mastery of the city. Amongst them the Egyptians were foremost in those first days of terror; and public prayers (mark of supreme authority) were conducted in the Great Mosque by their leader. Of the citizens, few ventured forth. At last, on the fifth day, the rebels insisted that, before they quitted Medîna, the citizens should exercise their right, elect a Caliph, and restore the empire to its normal state. Shrinking, no doubt, from the seething elements which Othmân’s successor would have at once to face, Aly at first held back, and offered to swear allegiance to either Talha or Zobeir. But in the end, pressed by the threats of the regicides and the entreaties of his friends, he yielded, and so, six days after the fatal tragedy, he publicly bound himself to rule ‘according to the Book of the Lord,’ and was saluted Caliph. Zobeir and Talha were themselves the first to take the oath. They asserted afterwards that they swore unwillingly, driven to do so through fear of the conspirators. The traditions here are so divergent that it is hardly possible to say how far this was true, or a mere afterthought.[493] Talha’s arm had been disabled by the wound he received when defending Mahomet on the battle-field; unhappy auguries were now drawn from his withered hand being the first to strike the hand of Aly in taking the oath of fealty. The mass of the people followed. There were exceptions; for Aly was lenient, and, from a praise-worthy delicacy, would not press the immediate adherents of the late Caliph to swear allegiance.[494] The insurgents, having themselves done homage to Aly, took their leave and departed to tell the tale at Kûfa, Bussorah, and Fostât.

[Sidenote: He declines to punish the regicides.]

No bed of roses was strewn for Aly. Both at home and abroad rough and anxious work was before him. To the standing contention between the Arabs and the Coreish was now added the cry, which was soon to rend Islam, of vengeance on the regicides. Further, the red-handed treason enacted at Medîna had loosened the bonds of society. Constituted authority was set at naught. Bands of Bedouins, scenting from afar the approach of anarchy and the chance of plunder, hung about the city. They were bidden to depart; but encouraged by the servile population, which, broken loose during the insurrection, still kept aloof from their masters, they refused.[495] Aly was pressed on many sides, by those who held him bound by his accession-oath, to vindicate the majesty of the Divine law, and to punish the wicked men who had imbrued their hands in the blood of Othmân. Even Talha and Zobeir, awakening too late to the portentous nature of the crime enacted before their eyes and hardly against their will, urged this. ‘My brothers,’ replied Aly, ‘I am not indifferent to what ye say. But I am helpless. These wild Bedouins and rampant slaves will have their way. What is this but an outburst of Paganism long suppressed--a return, for the moment, of “the days of Ignorance,” a work of Satan? Just now they are beyond my power. Let us wait; and the Lord will guide us.’ This waiting, hesitating mood was the bane of Aly’s life. He loved ease; and though sometimes obstinate and self-willed, his ordinary principle was that things left to themselves would mend.

[Sidenote: The Coreish alarmed.]

The Coreish were anxious and alarmed. The revolt, under the veil of discontent at the ungodly rule of Othmân, was now (they said) taking a far wider range. The Bedouins were becoming impatient of the control of the Coreishite aristocracy; and that which had happened to the Beni Omeyya--now forced to fly Medîna--might happen at any moment to the whole body of the Coreish. Yet Aly, though professing to denounce the attack of the regicides as high treason, took no steps to punish it, but temporised. A prompt and vigorous pursuit of the traitors would no doubt have been joined in, heart and soul, by Muâvia and by the whole nobility of Islam. But Aly preferred to let the vessel drift, and so it was drawn rapidly into the vortex of rebellion.

[Sidenote: Aly seeks to supersede Muâvia in Syria.]

The next matter which pressed for immediate settlement was the confirmation, or otherwise the supersession, of the various governors of provinces and cities; and here Aly, turning a deaf ear to his friends, proved himself wayward and precipitate. When Ibn Abbâs returned from the pilgrimage at Mecca (to the presidency at which he had been deputed by the late Caliph), he found that Moghîra had been wisely urging Aly to retain the governors generally in their posts, till, at the least, the people throughout the empire had recognised his succession to the throne. But Aly had flatly refused.[496] Ibn Abbâs now pressed the same view: ‘At any rate,’ he said, ‘retain Muâvia; there is a special reason for it; Omar, and not Othmân, placed him there; and all Syria followeth after him.’ The advice, coming from so near and distinguished a kinsman of his own, deserved the consideration of Aly. But he answered sharply, ‘Nay; I shall not confirm him even for a single day.’ ‘If thou depose him,’ reasoned his friend, ‘the Syrians will question thine election: and, worse, they may accuse thee of the blood of Othmân, and, as one man, rise up against thee. Confirm him in his government, and they care not who is Caliph. When thou art firmly seated, depose him if thou wilt. It will be easy with thee then.’ ‘Never,’ answered Aly, ‘he shall have nought but the sword from me.’ ‘Thou art brave,’ Ibn Abbâs replied, ‘but innocent of the craft of war; and hath not the Prophet himself said, _What is war but a game of deception?_’[497] ‘That is true,’ responded Aly, ‘but I will have none of the aid that cometh from Muâvia.’ ‘Then,’ said Ibn Abbâs, ‘thou hadst better depart to thy property at Yenbó, and close the gates of thy stronghold behind thee; for everywhere the Bedouins are hounding along; and if thou makest the rest of the people thine enemies, these will find thee alone, and will surely lay the blood of Othmân at thy door.’ ‘Come,’ said Aly, trying another line, ‘thou shalt go forth thyself to Syria. See, now, I have appointed thee.’ ‘That,’ replied Ibn Abbâs, ‘can never be. Muâvia would surely behead me or cast me into prison because of Othmân’s death, and my being akin to thee. Hearken to me, and make terms with him ere it be too late.’ But Aly turned a deaf ear to his appeal.[498]

[Sidenote: Aly appoints new governors throughout the empire. Moharram, A.H. XXXVI. July, A.D. 656.]

Acting on these wayward impulses, Aly sent men of his own to replace the existing governors in the chief commands throughout the empire. In most places they met with but a sorry reception. At Bussorah, Ibn Aámir, unwilling to provoke hostilities, retired, and his successor, Othmân ibn Honeif, entered unopposed; but the faction which clung to the memory of the late Caliph was as strong at Bussorah as that which favoured Aly, while a third party waited to see how the tide of public opinion might run at Medîna. In Egypt it was much the same. Cays, appointed to the command, was a singularly wise and able ruler; but he only succeeded in passing the frontier garrison by feigning attachment to the cause of Othmân; while a strong and aggressive faction occupied the district of Kharanba, swearing that they would not submit until the regicides were brought to justice. In Yemen, the new governor obtained possession, but only after Yála, his predecessor, had carried off to Mecca all the treasure. The governors-elect of Aly who attempted to enter Kûfa and the province of Syria, met with a rough reception on the border, and were fortunate in escaping with their lives back again to Medîna.

[Sidenote: Aly sends letters to Muâvia and Abu Mûsa.]

Dispirited by these reports, Aly again took counsel with Talha and Zobeir. The sedition, he said, which he had apprehended, was already kindled, and would spread like wildfire, catching whatever came in its way. ‘Then,’ replied they, ‘let us depart, that we may do thee service in the field.’ ‘Wait,’ answered Aly; ‘the cautery must be the last resort.’ So he resolved, in the first instance, to address letters to Muâvia, and also to Abu Mûsa at Kûfa, demanding their allegiance. Abu Mûsa replied in loyal terms, but at the same time bade the Caliph beware of the spirit of disaffection which in Kûfa was rife around him. With Syria, all communication was cut off; weeks elapsed, and there was no reply. In truth, a strange scene was being enacted there.

[Sidenote: Emblems of vengeance suspended on the pulpit at Damascus.]

Muâvia had no sooner received the emblems of his Master’s murder--the gory shirt and Nâila’s mangled fingers--than he hung them up on the pulpit of the Great Mosque at Damascus. There suspended, they remained a spectacle maddening the Syrians to a bloody revenge.[499] Still they took no immediate action. Biding their time, they waited to see what the new Caliph might do. Aly, had he been wise, would have used such allies to take vengeance at once on the conspirators, and at the same time crush the rising democracy and disaffection of the Arab tribes. In this work Syria would have been his strongest stand-by; for it never suffered from the Bedouin turbulence which kept Irâc and Egypt in continual turmoil. In the early campaigns, Syria was the favourite field of the Coreish, who, settling there in larger proportion than elsewhere, found their influence, in consequence, better recognised. Moreover, the conquering race inhabited the ancient Syrian cities in common with the Christian population, which had surrendered, for the most part, on favourable terms. Society was thus throughout all classes of the community orderly and loyal, whereas on the banks of the Euphrates the settlements of Bussorah and Kûfa were filled with wild and headstrong Arab tribes who regarded the vanquished lands as their patrimony. Law prevailed in Syria; in Irâc and Egypt, the pride and petulance of arms. Syria was, moreover, attached to its Coreishite governors of the Omeyyad stock, and remained thus faithful to the end.

The Syrians had not long to wait for the outcome of Aly’s plans. The abortive attempt to supersede Muâvia, and the refusal to arraign the regicides, gave colour to the charge of collusion; and, with the bloody shirt before their eyes, the Syrians soon raised that cry against the Caliph. [Sidenote: Muâvia sends defiant answer to Aly’s letter, Safar, A.H. XXXVI. August, A.D. 656.] The majesty of outraged law must be vindicated; and if the assassins were not pursued to justice, then who but Aly was responsible for the failure? Damascus was in this excited temper when Aly’s letter was handed to Muâvia. At the first no answer was vouchsafed. The envoy was kept in waiting from day to day to witness the gathering storm. At last Muâvia sent a despatch; and a stranger document, perhaps, was never seen. It bore, as was usual, the seal of state outside upon the cover, which was superscribed with this address--_From Muâvia to Aly._ It contained no other word, but was all blank within. The despatch was carried by Cabîsa, a chief of the Beni Abs, and with him the envoy was given permission to depart. Arriving at Medîna just three months after Othmân’s death, Cabîsa presented the letter to Aly, who read the address, and, breaking open the seal, found the despatch all blank within. ‘What meaneth this?’ cried Aly, starting at the unwonted sight;--‘let the enigma be explained.’ Cabîsa, instructed by his Master, inquired whether his life was safe. ‘It is safe,’ answered Aly; ‘the person of an ambassador is sacred. Speak on.’ ‘Know then,’ proceeded the envoy, ‘that but now I left behind me, weeping under the blood-stained shirt of Othmân, by the pulpit of the Great Mosque at Damascus, sixty thousand warriors, all bent on revenging the Caliph’s death--and revenging it on thee!’ ‘What!’ exclaimed Aly, aghast, ‘_on me_! Seest thou not that I am powerless to pursue the murderers? Oh, Lord! I take Thee to witness that I am guiltless of Othmân’s blood. Begone! See, thy life is safe.’ As the Absite chief withdrew, the petulant slaves and rabble shouted after him, ‘Slay the dog; slay the envoy of dogs!’ He turned, and, apostrophising the Coreish, cried at the pitch of his voice, ‘Children of Modhar! Children of Cays! The horse and the bow! Four thousand picked warriors are close at hand. See to your camels and your horses!’

[Sidenote: Aly resolves to attack Muâvia and invade Syria.]

Medîna was startled by the envoy’s cry, only as Mecca had been startled by the voice of Dham-dham at the battle of Bedr, four-and-thirty years before. The time was come when Aly could no longer put his decision off. Hasan, ever poor in spirit, counselled his father to wait; but Aly saw too plainly that the hour for action was now or never. He gave vent to his troubled soul in martial lines which were soon in everyone’s mouth, and from which the people first learned his resolve to make the sword the arbiter betwixt Muâvia and himself. An expedition against Syria was proclaimed. Captains were appointed to command the various companies of the expected levies, and banners were presented to them by Aly; but he was careful to name no one who had taken any part in the attack on Othmân.[500] Orders were also sent to Kûfa, Bussorah, and Egypt, to raise troops for the war. Having made these preparations, Aly mounted the pulpit and harangued the citizens of Medîna. If they failed to fight now, he told them, the power would pass away from them, never more to be regained. ‘Fight, then, against the cursed schismatics, who would destroy the unity of Islam and rend in twain the body of the Faithful. Haply the Lord will set that right which the nations of the earth are setting wrong.’ But the people did not respond to the appeal, and the ranks were slow of filling.

[Sidenote: Talha and Zobeir depart to Mecca.]

Talha and Zobeir, when they saw how affairs were drifting, again asked that they might be allowed to quit Medîna. With Aly’s leave, they now set out for Mecca, on pretext of performing the Lesser Pilgrimage.