REBELLION AT BUSSORAH.
A.H. XXXVI. A.D. 656.
[Sidenote: Work nearer home.]
But, before crossing arms with Muâvia, heavy work was still in store
for Aly.
[Sidenote: Ayesha retires to Mecca.]
On her way back from the pilgrimage at Mecca, Ayesha was met by the
tidings of Othmân’s murder and of Aly’s accession to the Caliphate.
‘Carry me back,’ forthwith cried the incensed and impetuous lady;
‘carry me back to Mecca. They have murdered the Caliph. I will avenge
his blood.’
[Sidenote: And propagates sedition there.]
In the early period of Othmân’s troubles, Ayesha, like the rest of the
world, is said to have contributed her share towards fomenting public
discontent. We are told that she even abetted the conspirators, among
whom (as we have seen) her brother Mohammed son of Abu Bekr was a chief
leader. But however this may have been, she certainly was no party to
the factious proceedings so soon as they began to be pressed to cruel
extremities; and she had, in fact, sought to detach her brother from
them by carrying him off with her to Mecca. Vain and factious, she
had never forgiven the cold and unhandsome conduct towards her of Aly
when, on the occasion of the misadventure with Safwân, her virtue had
been doubted by the Prophet;[501] and now she would gladly have seen
Zobeir Caliph in the place of Aly. Instead, therefore, of proceeding
onwards to her home at Medîna, she returned straightway to Mecca. There
the disaffected (who ever gravitated for safety to the Sanctuary)
gathered around her, while from her veiled retreat she plotted the
revenge of Othmân, and with shrill voice loudly harangued her audience
on the enormous crime that had desecrated the Prophet’s home and
resting-place.[502]
[Sidenote: Zobeir and Talha, with Ayesha, march on Bussorah, Rabi II.
A.H. XXXVI. A.D. 656.]
Thus when Zobeir and Talha reached Mecca, they found sedition well in
the ascendant. The numerous members of the Omeyyad family, who had
fled on the Caliph’s death from Medîna, and the adherents of that
powerful House still residing at Mecca, as well as the factious and
discontented population at large, listened eagerly to the tale of their
distinguished visitors. ‘They had left the men of Medîna,’ they said,
‘plunged in perplexity. Right and wrong had been so confounded that
the people knew not which way to go. It was therefore for the citizens
of Mecca now to lead, and to punish the traitors who had slain their
Caliph.’ The standard of rebellion was raised, and many flocked to join
it. Bussorah was chosen as the first object of attack. It was a city
which had always favoured the claims of Talha; and Ibn Aámir, the late
governor, had an influential following there. The treasure which he had
brought away with him, as well as that carried off by Alâ from Yemen,
was now expended in equipping the force, and providing carriage for
the more needy followers. Ayesha, spurning the restraints of her sex,
prepared to join the campaign and to stir up the people of Bussorah, as
she had stirred up those of Mecca. Haphsa, daughter of Omar, another
of ‘the Mothers of the Faithful,’ was with difficulty restrained by
her brother (who had just fled from Medîna, and held aloof from either
side) from accompanying her sister-widow. At length, some four months
after Othmân’s death, the rebel army set out 3,000 strong, of whom a
thousand were men of Mecca and Medîna. Ayesha travelled in her litter
on a camel, which was destined to give its name to the first engagement
in the civil war.[503] The other widows of Mahomet residing at Mecca
accompanied her a little way, and then returned. As they parted,
the whole company, men and women, gave vent to their feelings, and
wept bitterly at the louring fortunes of Islam; ‘there was no such
weeping, before or after, as then; so that it was called _The Day of
Tears_.’[504]
[Sidenote: Ambition mingled with cry for revenge.]
Questions even now began to arise as to which of the two, Talha or
Zobeir, would in event of victory be the Caliph; but Ayesha, staying
the strife, as premature, desired that Abdallah son of Zobeir should
lead the prayers; and it was given out that, if success should crown
their efforts, the choice of the future Caliph would be left, as
heretofore, in the hands of the men of Medîna.[505] Saîd, with a body
of the rebel troops, distrusting the motives of the leaders, turned
aside at the last moment, and went back to Mecca. As the cavalcade
swept by him, shouting that they were on their way to destroy the
murderers of Othmân root and branch, Saîd cried out to Merwân: ‘Whither
away? the proper objects of your vengeance are on the humps of their
camels before your eyes.[506] Slay these, and return to your homes!’ It
is not improbable that with many of the party, and notably with Talha
and Zobeir, ambition, the ruling motive, was mistaken for the desire
of a just revenge. In the whirl of passion and intrigue, party-cry
too often takes the place of reason; and we need not doubt that both
leaders and followers had wrought themselves up into the belief that
punishment of the high treason enacted at Medîna was their real object.
[Sidenote: Ayesha’s qualms of conscience.]
Yet, notwithstanding all this parade of justice, the conscience
of Ayesha was ill at ease. As they journeyed through the desert,
her camel-driver beguiled the tedium of the long autumn nights
by calling out the names of the hills and vales along which they
passed. Approaching a Bedouin settlement the dogs as usual began to
howl;--‘_The Valley of_ HAWÂB!’ cried the guide. Ayesha started and
screamed. Something dreadful which Mahomet had spoken, about those
at whom the dogs of Hawâb should bark, flashed across her memory or
imagination. ‘Carry me back,’ she cried; and, making her camel kneel,
she hastily alighted from her litter. ‘Alas and alas!’ she continued,
‘for I heard the Prophet say, reproaching us, as he sat surrounded by
his wives one day: “_O that I knew which amongst you it is at whom
the dogs of Hawâb will bark!_” It is me! I am the wretched Woman of
Hawâb. I declare that I will not take another step on this ill-omened
expedition.’ They sought to persuade her that the guide had mistaken
the name; but she refused to stir, and the army halted for her a whole
day. In despair, they bethought them of a stratagem. The following
night, they raised the cry that Aly was upon them. The greater terror
prevailing, Ayesha hastened to her camel, and the march was resumed.
[Sidenote: Aly fails to intercept the rebels.]
The alarm, feigned for the purpose, was not, however, altogether
groundless. When rumours of the defection first reached Medîna, Aly
declared that he would not move against malcontents at Mecca, so long
as no overt act of rebellion threatened the unity of Islam. But shortly
after, a message arrived from the widow of Abbâs[507] at Mecca, with
news of the design against Bussorah. At the first, Aly was disposed to
congratulate himself that the conspirators had not made Kûfa, with its
greater Bedouin population, their object. The son of Abbâs, however,
pointed out that Bussorah was really the more dangerous of the two,
because fewer of the leading chiefs were there, able as at Kûfa, if
they chose, to curb the people and repress rebellion. Aly admitted
the truth of this; and, now thoroughly alarmed, gave orders that the
Syrian column should march instead to Nejd, hoping thereby to intercept
the rebels on their way to Bussorah. But the people still hung back.
Finding that Abdallah son of Omar had disappeared, Aly, in alarm
lest he too should have gone to join the rebels, sent scouts in all
directions after him. Meanwhile his own daughter, Omm Kolthûm, widow
of Omar, sent to assure her father that Abdallah had really gone on
pilgrimage to Mecca, and was altogether neutral; whereupon Aly, ashamed
of his apprehensions, recalled the scouts.[508] At last a column of
900 men was got together, at the head of which Aly himself marched to
Nejd.[509] But, although they used all expedition on the road, they
found on reaching Rabadza that the insurgents had already passed. Not
being equipped for further advance, Aly halted at Dzu Câr. Messengers
were sent to Kûfa, Egypt, and elsewhere, demanding reinforcements; and
for these the Caliph waited, in his camp, before he ventured forwards.
[Sidenote: The rebels attack Bussorah.]
To return to Ayesha. The insurgent army, having resumed its march,
reached Bussorah, and encamped close by. Messages were exchanged, and
immediately on Ibn Honeif, the governor, becoming aware that the cry
of vengeance on the regicides covered designs against his Master, he
called together an assembly to try the temper of the people. Finding
from the uproar that the strangers had a strong party in the city,
he put on his armour, and, followed by the larger portion of the
citizens, went forth to meet Ayesha, who, on her side, was joined
from the town by the insurgent faction. A parley ensued. Talha, the
favourite at Bussorah, Zobeir, and even Ayesha, with her shrill and
powerful voice, declaimed against the murderers of Othmân, and demanded
justice. The other side were equally loud in their protestations
against the expedition. It was a shame, they said, and a slight on
the memory of the Prophet, for Ayesha to forego the sanctity of the
Veil, and the proprieties of ‘the Motherhood of the Faithful.’ Aly had
been duly elected, and saluted Caliph; and now Talha and Zobeir were
treacherously violating the allegiance which they had been the first to
swear. These both protested that the oath had been forced upon them.
On this point the controversy turned; and from words they fell to
blows. Night interposed; but fighting was resumed the following day,
and with so serious a loss to the loyalists that a truce was called,
and an agreement come to, on the understanding that the facts should
be ascertained from Medîna. [Sidenote: Reference to Medîna on question
of compulsion.]If it were shown that force had been put upon the two
leaders to take the oath, then Ibn Honeif would retire leave the city
in their hands. An envoy accredited by either side was accordingly
deputed to Medîna. He arrived while Aly was absent in his camp, and
forthwith proclaimed the commission he was charged with, before the
assembled city. The people at first were silent. At last Osâma ibn
Zeid, a Companion of the highest rank,[510] declared that both Talha
and Zobeir had done homage under compulsion, whereupon a great tumult
arose; and the envoy, having seen and heard enough to prove diversity
of opinion on the subject, took his leave.
[Sidenote: Fighting at Bussorah. City occupied by Zobeir and Talha.]
When tidings of these things reached Aly, who was with his army in
Nejd, he addressed a letter to Ibn Honeif: ‘There was no compulsion,’
he wrote; ‘neither of these my adversaries was constrained otherwise
than by the will of the majority. By the Lord! if their object be to
make me abdicate, hey are without excuse; if it be any other thing,
I am ready to consider it.’ So when the envoy returned, and upon
his report the insurgents called on Ibn Honeif to evacuate the city
according to agreement, he produced the Caliph’s letter, and refused.
But the rebels had already obtained the footing they desired within
the city. Arming themselves, they repaired to the Mosque for evening
service, and, the night being dark and stormy, were not perceived until
they had overpowered the body-guard, entered the adjoining palace, and
made Ibn Honeif a prisoner. On the following day, a severe conflict
raged throughout the city, which ended in the complete discomfiture
with heavy loss of Aly’s party, and so the government passed into the
hands of Talha and Zobeir. True to their ostensible object, these now
made proclamation that every citizen who had engaged in the attack on
Othmân should be brought forth and executed. The order was carried
rigorously out, and great numbers were put to death.[511] The life of
Ibn Honeif was, after some hesitation, spared. He was set at liberty,
his head and beard shaven, and his eyelashes and moustaches clipped;
and in this sorry plight the ousted governor made the best of his way
to Aly.
[Sidenote: Ayesha’s messages to Kûfa, &c.]
The insurgents communicated tidings of their success to Syria. And
Ayesha wrote letters to Kûfa, Medîna, and Yemen, seeking to detach the
people from their allegiance to Aly, and stir them up to avenge the
death of Othmân.
[Sidenote: Apathy of Bussorah towards Talha and Zobeir.]
Meanwhile the citizens of Bussorah swore allegiance to Talha and Zobeir
conjointly. To avoid all appearance of rivalry, the public prayers
were conducted alternately by a son of each. Little active sympathy
was evoked by the usurpers. Talha proclaimed an expedition to proceed
against Aly. But no one responded to the call, and his spirit fell.
Thus some weeks passed uneasily, till the city was aroused by the
announcement that Aly with a great army was in full march upon it.