REBELLION OF THE HYPOCRITES, AND MOA’WIAH B. ABU SOFIÂN SENDS HIS ADHERENTS TO MESOPOTAMIA, TO YEMEN, TO THE HEJÂZ, AND TO E’RÂQ.

After Muhammad B. Abu Bakr had been killed, A’mru A´ass ruled in Egypt, and some injury having been inflicted upon the foundations of the citadel of the Khalifate, Moa’wiah appointed A’bdullah Hadzramy to subjugate Bossrah, and when he reached that province Zyâd B. Abihi, whom B. A’bbas had appointed his lieutenant, concealed himself. When A’li the Commander of the Faithful was informed of this state of affairs, he despatched Aa’yn B. Mukhâshi’ to attack A’bdullah, who, however, vanquished and slew him. Then his lordship the Amir of the Faithful sent Hârethah B. Qudâmah to the war, and a conflict between the parties having taken place when he arrived in Bossrah, he put A’bdullah Hadzramy to flight, who thereon took refuge in a castle, which having been set on fire by Hârethah, A’bdullah perished with all his followers.

In the year 39* Moa’wiah despatched No’mân B. Bashir the Anssâry with ten thousand men to A’ynush-shamar, where Mâlek B. Ka’b was at that time governor on the part of the Emâm of the Musalmâns [A’li]. When the people of Mâlek perceived the army of Syria from a distance they fled, whereon Mâlek, having taken refuge with some men in the fort, sent a courier to the Amir of the Faithful, asking for help, and his lordship invited the inhabitants of Kûfah to give him some, without, however, any man responding to his call. When Mâlek saw that the time was getting long, he was under the necessity of sally­ing out from the fort with one hundred men he had with him to fight with No’mân. The contest had lasted till the time of evening prayers, when A’bdu-r-rahman B. Mukhnaf arrived by orders of his father with troops to reinforce Mâlek, and No’mân, imagining them to be very numerous, turned the reins of his intention back towards Syria, so that Mâlek was delivered of the tribulations of the siege.

During this year Moa’wiah B. Abu Sofiân despatched Sofiân B. A’wuf with six thousand men to Habyt, which is a town between Moussul and Syria. After Sofiân had, according to orders, reached Habyt, he marched to Anbâr, which is in the plain of E’râq, where he was attacked by Hasân Albakry, the governor of that place, but killed him, whereon the Syrians, having occupied Anbâr, plundered it. When this information reached A’li the Commander of the Faithful, he became so angry that he said nothing to the people of Kûfah, but left the town alone and went to the camp. The next day the notables of Kûfah hastened to wait on his lordship, and implored him to return, this not being an affair in which one like him ought to engage. His lordship then complied with their request, and despatched Qays B. Sa’d with some troops of valour against Sofiân. Qays then marched with the greatest possible haste till he reached the frontiers of Syria, with­out, however, encountering a foe, because the Syrians, having obtained a great deal of plunder, had marched back to their country without delay.

In that year Moa’wiah sent A’bdullah B. Sa’d Alqurâry with one thousand seven hundred men to Tymâr, and said: ‘Collect the legal alms from the Arabs of the desert, and wage war against those who fail to pay; then march for the same purpose to Mekkah and Madinah.’ Tymâr is a town on the fringe of the desert adjoining Syria, and when, obeying orders, he had arrived there, he collected the legal alms from some Arabs. When A’li the Commander of the Faithful received this information, he appointed Musib Qurâry to march with two thousand men to attack A’bdul­lah B. Sa’d. When Musib arrived in Tymâr, he encoun­tered the Syrians and killed many of them; being, however, a relative of A’bdullah B. Sa’d, he struck him thrice with his turban, saying each time: ‘Run, and do not foolishly jeopardize thy life.’ Therefore A’bdullah and those whom the sword had spared took refuge in the fort, which Musib then besieged, and, having collected a great deal of wood, set it on fire. When the besieged people became certain of their destruction, they raised such shouts of lamentation that the heart of Musib was moved, and he ordered the flames to be extinguished. When the night set in, A’bdullah B. Sa’d came out with his friends and departed to Syria.

In this year Moa’wiah sent Dzohâk B. Qays with numerous troops into the desert, ordering him to strive to destroy the habitations with all the people he could find in them, and not to allow any pilgrims to go to Mekkah, but to say to them: ‘You have no Emâm [leader] there! Where are you going, and with whom will you perform the pilgrimage?’ Dzohâk entered the desert, caused much destruction, slew every Arab he found, plundered every­where, and in every station where A’li the Commander of the Faithful had established people they were killed by the sword of Dzohâk. When the Shah and recipient of the Vicariate heard of the doings of Dzohâk, he sent Hajar B. A’dy Alkindy with four thousand cavalry to attack him. Hajar then started, reached his destination, and having begun hostilities with Dzohâk, sent many of his troops to the abode of non-existence, and Dzohâk was put to flight.

In this year Moa’wiah had sent one of his friends to Mekkah for the purpose of directing the pilgrimage of persons from Egypt and the boundaries of Africa, but at the time of the pilgrimage Quthm B. A’bbâs, who was governor on behalf of the Amir of the Faithful, prohibited the agent of Moa’wiah from presiding at the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, and both parties were on the point of com­mencing hostilities, when the people of Mekkah said: ‘We shall not allow you to shed each other’s blood in the season of the pilgrimage.’ Then they appointed Shaybah B. O’thmân to be the leader of the people and to perform with them the ceremonies of the pilgrimage.

In this year Moa’wiah started in person, by way of Moussul, to E’râq. The people having asked what the purpose and destination of this movement was, Moa’wiah replied: ‘I want to see the Tigris, which I have never beheld.’ When he arrived at Moussul he spent several days on the banks of the Tigris, and then returned again to Damascus, his intention being only that the Amir of the Faithful should hear that Moa’wiah had himself entered the province of E’râq.

In the beginning of the fortieth year* Moa’wiah sent Bashir B. Arttâ with three thousand men to conquer the sanctuaries of Mekkah and Madinah, and then to march to Yemen, for the purpose of inviting the inhabitants of that country to pay homage to Moa’wiah. Bashir obeyed orders, and first went to Madinah, but Ayûb, the Anssâry, who was governor of the town on behalf of A’li the Commander of the Faithful, absconded, whereon Bashir entered the mosque, ascended the pulpit, and addressing the people with reference to O’thmân, asked: ‘Where is your lord?’ The people then began to weep, and Bashir continued: ‘O ye inhabitants of Madinah, as you have yourselves killed O’thmân, why is all this weeping? I swear by God that if Moa’wiah had not forbidden me to kill you I would not have left one of you alive, but whoever will not pay him allegiance will become the cause of his own death.’ Then he alighted from the pulpit and invited the inhabitants to pay homage to Moa’wiah, whereon most of them complied. Of the notable Anssâr, however, Jâber concealed himself, and Ahnaf spent every day at home. Whenever Bashir heard that Jâber was in a house he went there and plundered it, till at last Jâber took refuge in the domicile of Omm Solmah, the spouse of the prophet—u. w. bl.—who was a partisan of A’li the Commander of the Faithful. Omm Solmah said to him: ‘O Jâber, go and pay homage, because it appears that the government will devolve on Moa’wiah.’ Hereon Jâber, leaving the corner of his hiding-place, paid allegiance to Moa’wiah. Bashir, having appointed Abu Haryrah to be governor of Madinah, departed to Mekkah, from which town Quthm B. A’bbâs, who was the governor of it, fled. Abu Mûsa Asha’ry had con­cealed himself, but was found by the men of Bashir and brought into his presence, whereon he asked him: ‘Why hast thou fled?’ He replied: ‘For fear of my life.’ Bashir continued: ‘I have orders from Moa’wiah not to kill the companions of the prophet—u. w. bl.—but to receive their allegiance.’ Abu Mûsa then paid homage and returned to his house. After Bashir had settled the affairs of Mekkah, he marched to Yemen, whereon A’bdullah B. A’bbâs, the governor of it, fled, after having appointed A’bdullah Hârethy to be his lieutenant. When Bashir arrived in that province he killed A’bdullah and his father, as well as the two little sons of A’bdullah B. A’bbâs, one of whom was called A’bdu-r-rahman and the other Quthm.

When the departure of Bashir to Mekkah and Madinah had become known to his lordship the Amir of the Faithful, he despatched Hârethah B. Qudâmah and Wohb B. Sa’ûd Thaqfy with four thousand men after him. They marched according to the orders they had received, and when they arrived in Najrân they killed a number of the partisans of O’thmân and then proceeded to Yemen, but Bashir had fled to save his life.—When A’li the Commander of the Faithful was informed that Bashir B. Arttâ had killed the sons of A’bdullah [as mentioned above] he was much dis­tressed, uttered a malediction against Bashir, and said: ‘O Allah, deprive him of his religion and of his intellect.’ The prayer of his lordship having been responded to, Bashir was overtaken by imbecility, uttered nonsense, and when he once asked for a sword his attendants brought him one of wood, as well as a bag blown full of air, which he then attacked with the sword, so as to destroy it.—In this year an estrangement took place between A’bdullah B. A’bbâs and A’li the Commander of the Faithful, and the reason was because Abu-l-aswad Dylemy had sent informa­tion to Kûfah, that the public treasury of Bossrah was not in good order, whereon his lordship the recipient of the Vicariate sent the following letter to A’bdullah: ‘In case thou shouldst have stretched forth thy hand to the public treasury, thou wilt be called to account by me.’ He then ordered the accounts of A’bdullah to be examined, whereon the latter felt so aggrieved that he abdicated his post, left Bossrah and went to Mekkah, where he established himself; but when his lordship A’li the Amir of the Faithful was informed of this he wrote him a letter of conciliation, and induced him to return to his post.

In this year O’qayl B. Abu Ttâleb went to Moa’wiah and paid him allegiance, which act greatly dismayed the Amir of the Faithful. The details of this affair are that O’qayl waited on his brother the Amir of the Faithful, complained of his poverty and of the largeness of his family, and desired to obtain an increase of his stipend from the public treasury, but his lordship replied: ‘I have granted to thee what is due to thee, but I cannot give thee what is due to others.’ O’qayl replied: ‘My distress has reached its limit and my embarrassment is extreme.’ A’li the Com­mander of the Faithful said: ‘If I must, forsooth, give thee something, come to-night that we may bore through the wall of a certain rich man’s house, and having taken possession of his goods, may give them to thee.’ O’qayl asked: ‘Wouldst thou give me stolen goods?’ The Amir of the Faithful replied: ‘On the day of reckoning it will be easier to answer for a transgression against one man than against all the Musalmâns, because all the adherents of Islâm have a right to the goods of the public treasury.’ —Some said that when O’qayl implored the Amir of the Faithful to increase his allowance, his lordship told him to wait a little, then went inside the house, brought out a piece of hot iron and placed it on the palm of O’qayl, who withdrew his hand, saying: ‘O brother, if thou wilt not brighten my face with a gift, refrain, at any rate, from burning me with the iron of vengeance.’ The Amir of the Faithful said: ‘O’qayl, if thou canst not bear fire which man has kindled, how canst thou allow that I shall be burnt by a fire which the God of both worlds has kindled?’ When O’qayl had ascertained that his request would by no means be granted, he watched his opportunity, and betook himself from Kûfah to Syria, where Moa’wiah showed him much honour, and made him independent of allowances and solicitations for money. It is said that he presented him with one hundred thousand dirhems, they having been intimate friends already before the time of Islâm. Once Moa’wiah praised him in a select assembly, and said: ‘O’qayl is a man whom Abu Ttâleb preferred to A’li.’ O’qayl, however, replied: ‘Alas! alas! will any man who can see prefer the moon to the world-illuminating sun? No intelligent person will consider the ant to be equal to Suleimân.* What has an atom to do with the world-heating sun, and how can a drop be compared with the boundless ocean? Thou must thyself confess that when the Lord A’li was fighting for the religion and attending to prayers both of us were worshipping idols. See what a difference there is between these pursuits. I, however, being destitute and anxious for worldly possessions, have ceased to wait on the model of saints, and have come to thee.’ Many conversations of this kind passed between Moa’wiah and O’qayl, but it was considered sufficient to adduce only the above in this place.—In this, namely, the fortieth year* of the Hejret, A’li the Amir of the Faithful departed to the gardens of paradise; and the affairs of the Khowârej, with their vicissitudes, having up to this time not yet been jotted down by the reed of explanation, it will be proper that, after having noticed their affairs, the musky and mourning pen should describe the martyrdom of that centre of nobility and blessedness, if it pleaseth Allah the Most High.