After the killing of Uthman, the mass of the Islamic nation at that time concluded that it was only Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib who could save this ship caught in a whirlwind, stop its deviations and bring it to the shore. This continuous insistence of the people increased and their last statements were said: “We do not know anyone more worthy for leadership and imamate than you, no one has more experience in Islam than you, and in terms of kinship and proximity to the Messenger of Allah, and no one is closer to him than you!”
Ali said: “Don’t do that, because it is better for me to be your minister and assistant; rather than your leader and ruler.” Ali who had understood the dangerous situation of the Muslim and noticed that the people would not leave him alone, said: “Now that this is the case, then the appointment should be done in the mosque because my allegiance should not be hidden! And it should not be done except in the mosque!”
Consequently, Ṭalha was the first person who pledged allegiance to Imam Ali. And followed by Zubair who after four months of their pledge of allegiance fled to Mecca and stood against Ali.
It is pertinent to note that during the leadership of Imam Ali, one of the things he did was the letters he wrote to governors and rulers and invite them to pledge allegiance and obey him. The Commander of the Faithful therefore sent Jarīr to Syria and Mu’awiya and he invited him to accept Allah’s decree, pledge allegiance to him as the Caliph of the Muslims and submit to the truth.
Jarīr took the Imam’s letter and left for Syria. He came to Mu’awiya and advised and encouraged him to pledge allegiance to Ali. And Mu’awiya answered him thus: “I have to think about this, and consult with the people of Syria as well.”
After a few days, Mu’awiya invited the people of Syria to the mosque and gave a speech to them, in that speech, he reminded them of his leadership position in Syria through the appointment by Umar and Uthman. Then he said: “The oppressed Uthman has been killed and what are you doing now?” The people of Syria shouted: “We are pledging allegiance to you for the revenge of Uthman’s blood and we will avenge his blood and we will not spare our lives and property on this path.”
Similarly, Mu’awiya wrote a letter to Amr ‘Ᾱs and invited him to Syria to assist him on his mission. Amr ‘Ᾱs was the one who conquered Egypt and ruled there for a while and had good memories of it. He also had a strong attachment to the government of Egypt and finally, the same interest in the government seduced him and he preferred this unstable world over the Hereafter and sold his religion for the material world.
At that moment, a letter from the Commander of the Faithful reached Jarīr thus: “When you receive this letter, force Mu’awiya to give the last word. Either a ruinous battle or a blessed peace… Thus, if he chooses battle, throw his treaty back to him, but if he chooses peace, then take his oath of allegiance…”
Mu’awiya also declared his readiness to fight with Ali in the reply he wrote to the Imam through Jarīr. The Commander of the Faithful wrote letters to his governors about the incident and invited them to fight against this internal and traitorous enemy of Islam. The Imam did not consider delay any longer and in order to move the people towards the battle with Mu’awiya, gathered the elders of his companions and consulted them and said to them thus: “You are men blessed with judgment, meek and tolerant, your deeds are blessed and your words are true.” We have now decided to fight with our enemy and your enemy, so express your opinion about this.”
Among the people of Kufa and the companions of the Commander of the Faithful, there were many hypocrites and weak-minded people who constantly defied the orders of the Imam and perhaps protested against his orders and gave excuses for not participating in the battle proposed by the Commander of the Faithful.
Imam Ali appointed ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amr Anṣārī as his vicegerent in Kufa and he left for Nakhliyah with a group of armies and stopped there to wait for the upcoming army to arrive and thereafter, they moved towards Siffin. According to the famous report, it was on the 22nd of Muharram of the year 37 Hijrah that the Commander of the Faithful arrived in Siffin and the number of his troops was more than one hundred thousand people.
When the Commander of the Faithful reached Siffin, he noticed that Mu’awiya’s troops had chosen and camped in a flat ground next to the Sharia Euphrates and the Imam also ordered his troops to camp in a place. And when they went to the Euphrates to fetch water, they realized that Mu’awiya’s troops based on his directive had blocked the waterways and prevented them from taking water.
Thus, they came to the Commander of the Faithful and informed him about the incident. Imam sent Ṣa’ṣa’a ibn Sūhān to Mu’awiya to inform him that we have come here, we don’t like to start a battle with you before the establishment of proof, but it was you who sent a section of your army and started the battle with us. And now it is you who have become a barrier between our people and the water. Stop this act and let the people take the water and then let’s see where our work and yours will end.
Ṣa’ṣa’a conveyed this message and Mu’awiya turned towards his companions and asked them for their opinion. They responded: “They killed Uthman by thirst. Now we have to starve them to death…” Ṣa’ṣa’a got up and came to the Commander of the Faithful and narrated the incident to him. Thereafter, there was an uproar in his army, and the commanders of the army, such as Mālik Ashtar and Ash’ath ibn Qais, decided to fight and free the Sharia Euphrates and they received the consent of the Imam for this mission.
A tough battle broke out. The Syrian forces, who did not have the strength to resist the fierce attacks of the Iraqi forces after suffering many casualties and losing several of their commanders and war heroes – all of whom were killed by Mālik Ashtar – vacated the battlefield and withdrew their forces from the Euphrates.
The month of Muharram of the thirty-seventh year of Hijrah came to an end and the crescent of the month of Safar appeared, and the two armies prepared for a fight, while the Commander of the Faithful decorated his army.
It was the eve of Wednesday, the seventh day of the month of Safar in the year thirty-seven Hijrah when the two parties were preparing for a general attack. The Commander of the Faithful ordered his troops to pray, recite the Qur’ān and pray for victory, and he himself came out of the tent that night and started preparing the troops.
The seventh day of the month of Safar was great and difficult in the history of the Battle of Siffin, as the attacks and escapes from both sides were very important and decisive.
It didn’t take long before Ali’s army was destroyed by successive attacks [by the enemy]. Suddenly, the Commander of the Faithful realized that his troops were all in disarray, many of them fled the battlefield and there was no one left except a few children and relatives, those were the ones who strongly defended the Imam.
The Commander of the Faithful told them to resist, persevere and manage them, and at this moment, he met Mālik Ashtar and called him while saying: “Go and meet these people and tell them: Where are you running to, as you cannot escape from the death that you are running away from? And from a life in which there would be nothing left for you there?”
Mālik Ashtar quickly reached in front of the fugitives and conveyed the Imam’s life-giving message to them. Gradually, many of the fighters from Hamadān and other tribes returned to the battlefield and they became an iron barrier against the group of deviators with their bravery and courage. In addition, the remaining fugitives also returned, and the resistance and battle between the two parties began.
Finally, in those last hours when the roots of disbelief and hypocrisy were about to be uprooted and the germs of corruption to be cut off from the Muslim community, they resorted to that shameful historical trick and pre-planned conspiracy as they hung copies of the Qur’an on their spears and chanted the slogan: “O people of Iraq! Let the Book of God be our arbiter!” This was a conspiracy that brought about the biggest disaster in the history of Islam.
Following this conspiracy, Ash’ath ibn Qays called for peace, reconciliation and submission to the Syrian army and the authority of the Qur’an. A large number of weak-minded people who were tired of the battle and were looking for such an opportunity agreed with him and suggested peace to the Commander of the Faithful.
