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.