Hazrat Ali as the Fourth Caliph

Appointment

Hazrat Ali's Rule

Problems

Changing of Governors

The Battle of the Camel

The Battle of Siffin

Arbitration

Kharijites

The Fall of Egypt

Martyrdom

Appointment:
 After Hazrat Usman’s murder, Medina was plunged into chaos
 Rebels roamed free, virtually controlling the capital of the
Islamic Empire, which was without a government for 3-4 days
 The rebels set about on the appointment of the next Caliph
 First, they went to Hazrat Ali, but he declined, saying that he
was more fit as an advisor
 They approached Hazrat Talha and Zubair, too, but they too
did not take this responsibility
 Next, an ultimatum was given, that within 24 hours, the next
Caliph must be chosen – otherwise, the rebellion would
spread to the rest of the empire
 Thus, prominent companions met at Masjid-e-Nabwi
 There, most people supported Hazrat Ali
 Though he again initially declined, he eventually took up this
responsibility for the good of the Islamic Empire
 On 21st Zil Hajj 35 AH/ 18 June 656 AD, Hazrat Ali was
appointed as Caliph and people took the oath in favour of him
 However, quite a few prominent companions did not give
their allegiance, viewing his election as illegitimate. These
included:
 Zaid bin Thabit, Saad bin Abi Waqas, Abdullah bin Umar, and
Usama bin Zayd (among others)

Hazrat Ali’s Rule:

Problems:

The Division of the Ummah:

 Following Hazrat Ali’s elections, the Ummah was mainly

divided into three groups:
 The supporters of Hazrat Ali – the Ansar, rebels and
supporters of Banu Hashim
 The Umayyads, who opposed Hazrat Ali
 The Quraish, who wanted a return the Caliphates of Hazrat
Abu Bakr
 They left Madinah and moved back to Makkah, where they
established their power
 Hazrat Ali had to decide how to treat those who did not
accept him

The Assassins of Hazrat Usman:

 Many people, especially the Banu Umayyads such as

Muawiya, demanded that Hazrat Usman’s assassins
immediately be brought to peace
 More people were swayed to this opinion when they saw the
bloodstained clothes of Hazrat Usman displayed at the
Mosque of Damascus
 However, Hazrat Ali could not immediately bring them to
justice due to:
 The lack of evidence – the only witness was Hazrat Usman’s
wive, Naila
 Furthermore, the assassins had immediately removed
themselves from the public spotlight
 The law and order situation was more pressing

Demands of Rebels:

 The law and order situation in Madinah was extremely

pressing and had to be dealt with for a return to peace
 The revolters saw this situation as a result of Hazrat Usman’s
policies, which they demanded be reversed
 Hazrat Ali partly sympathized with them, believing that the
rebellion had spread so far due to the incompetent governors
– thus, he immediately set about changing them

Changing of Governors:

 In spite of the advice of Abdullah bin Abbas and Mujhair,

Hazrat Ali decided to change all the governors appointed by
Hazrat Usman as:
 He believed that their leniency had allowed to insurgency to
spread
 To please the rebels
 Because Hazrat Usman had appointed his family members
with questionable merit
 Thus, the governors of Syria, Egypt, Kufa, Basra, and Yemen
were changed
 The governors of Kufa and Syria – Muawiya and Abu Musa –
refused to abandon their post, however
 While Abu Musa eventually did, Muawiya refused to do so
until Hazrat Usman’s assassins had been brought to justice

The Battle of Camel:

 While coming back from Hajj, Hazrat Ayesha was informed of

Hazrat Usman’s assassination
 She returned to Makkah, where she gathered a large force for
the vengeance of Hazrat Usman which included and the
Governor of Makkah
 When Hazrat Ali tried to appoint a new governor, the
Makkans refused to swear allegiance from him
 Hazrat Talha and Zubair met up with Hazrat Ali and asked
him to immediately bring the assassins to justice
 However, he explained that the current conditions did not
allow that
 They were not satisfied with this response and joined Hazrat
Ayesha in Makkah
 In a meeting, it was discussed as to what the next course of
action should be
 Marching to Syria, where Muawiya supported them, or
straight to Madinah, was considered, but both were
considered impractical
 Eventually, upon the suggestion of Abdullah bin Amir, the ex-
governor of Basra, they decided to go there
 Hazrat Ayesha then marched to Basra, amassing 3000
followers on the way in order to strike against the Caliph
 What happened next is controversial – some say that the
governor, Usman bin Hanif, let them in, and others say that
he was defeated in battle
 According to some, they managed to kill a few assassins
there, too
 Hearing of the situation, Hazrat Ali raised an army of 10,000
men, many from Kufa, and marched to Basra
 When he reached there, negotiations began
 The hypocrites, seeing them going well decided to take
matters into their own hands by attacking the army of Hazrat
Ayesha at night
 Hazrat Ayesha believed that this was the action of Hazrat Ali
and decided to fight back
 During the fighting, Hazrat Zubair was reminded by Hazrat Ali
of an incident when the Holy Prophet told him that he would
fight Ali wrongly
 Thus, he left that area and travelled away. However, when he
stopped at a village to pray, he was killed by Amr bin Jermoz,
who had been following him
 Hazrat Talha was killed by Marwan’s arrow
 Seeing the fighting, Hazrat Ayesha rode out on a camel in an
attempt to quell the fighting
 However, unfortunately, it had to opposite effect – people
gathered around eher and fought desperately
 Eventually, Hazrat Ali ordered that the legs of the camel be
cut
 When it fell, her army lost the visible sign of its strength and
stopped fighting
 In all, 10,000 people lost their lives from both sides in the
first Muslim civil war
 Hazrat Ayesha was treated with great respect and allowed to
return with her brother
 A new governor of Basra was appointed

Change of Capital:
 Following the battle, Hazrat Ali changed the capital from
Madinah to Kufa as:
 He wanted to save Madinah, where the Prophet had lived,
from further political disturbance such as the assassination of
Hazrat Usman
 He had many more supporters at Kufa
 Kufa had a more central position in the empire

The Battle of Siffin:

Build-up:

 As discussed earlier, Muawiya had refused to step down from

his post of governor until the assassins were brought to
justice
 He even hung Usman’s bloody clothes in the mosque of
Damascus
 On top of this, he went so far as to accuse Hazrat Ali of ill-
treatment of Hazrat Ayesha and of milling Hazrat Talha and
Zubair
 Seeing the situation, Hazrat Ali sent a messenger to Muawiya
 In response, Muawiya detained the messenger and didn’t
respond for three months
 When he did, the message contained no reference to peace
 Eventually, Hazrat Ali set out with 90,000 troops
 Muawiya, too, set out to meet him
 They camped on opposite sides of Siffin
 Initially, Muslims had captured the sources of water in the
area, but Hazrat Ali demanded that they be allowed to drink
from it

Battle:

 Initially, everyone was reluctant to fight against their Muslim

brothers
 Thus, for the month of Zil Hajj, there was nothing but light
skirmishes
 In Muharram, there was a truce in respect of the holy month
 During this time, Hazrat Ali sent another missionary, but that
too was rejected
 Finally, on the last day of Muharram, Hazrat Ali organized his
troops for battle
 He gave them a lecture on etiquette in the battlefield
 First 3 days of battle:
 On the first day, Ushtar led the battalion against Habib bin
Muslimah
 On the second day, Hashim bin Utbah led a battalion against
Abul Awar Salma
 On the third day, Ammar bin Yasir led an army against Hazrat
Amr bin al Aas
 During one of the days of fighting, Ammar bin Yasie was
killed. There is a hadith narrating that he would be killed by
revolters: “May Allah be Merciful to `Ammar. He will be
inviting them (i.e. his murderers, the rebellious group)
to Paradise and they will invite him to Hell-fire.”
 On the eight day of battle, Ali seemed to gain an edge. At one
point, he even challenged Muawiya to a duel to decide it all,
but that was rejected
 Seeing this situation, Muawiya turned to Amr bin al Aas for
help
 Upon his suggestion, copies of the Quran were tied to the
lances of the soldiers
 Though Ali wanted to keep fighting, his soldiers refused.
Thus, he told his soldiers to stop fighting
 In the end, it was decided that the conflict be resolved via
arbitration
 Though Hazrat Ali wanted to appoint Abdullah bin Abbas,
though he was forced by his supporters to appoint Abu Musa
Khan, a simple man who had not initially supported him
 Muawiya appointed Hazrat Amar bin al Aas
 It was decided that the result would be declared 6 months
later in between Syria and Iraq
 Sadly 90,000 men perished

Arbitration:

 When the two parties met, they agreed on the fact that
Hazrat Usman’s murder had been unlawful. The matter of
Hazrat Ali and Muawiya’s status remained unresolved,
however.
 Initially, Amr bin al Aas declared that both should step down
 However, when Abu Musa agreed with him, Amr bin al Aas
immediately amended his statement and declared that he
had said that only Muawiya should step down
 Thus, a conflict broke out between the judges
 Due to this, the arbitration was unsuccessful and both parties
left frustrated

Kharijites:

 When Hazrat Ali returned to Kufa after the battle, a rebellion

broke out in his army
 There was a faction which was against the idea of arbitration,
saying that it was unIslamic, quoting Quran 12:40
“Authority belongs to no one but Allah” (La hukma illa
lillah)
 After the failed arbitration, 12,000 Kharijites (separatists)
Insisted on a battle. When this was not given, they left and
captured Nahrawan
 There, they were extremely ruthless and killed all those who
had differing opinions
 They believed Muawiya was a rebel and said Allah had given
instructions in 49:9 “but if one of them rebels against
the other, then fight you (all) against the one that
which rebels till it complies with the Command of
Allah; then if it complies, then make reconciliation
between them justly, and be equitable”
 The Battle of Nahrawan:

 Initially, Hazrat Ali planned to fight the Syrians, but the

Kharjite became a more pressing danger
 Thus, he arrived at Nehrawan, where he tried and failed to
negotiate peacefully
 Next, he offered amnesty to all Kharijites who left
 Though 3,000 left, quite a few stayed, due to which a fierce
fight followed during which most were defeated
 Though it was a victory, it distracted Hazrat Ali from Muawiya
and paved the way for his assassination

The Fall of Egypt:

 After the battle, Hazrat Ali wanted to move against Muawiya,

but his army refused as:
 There were Muslims on both sides
 They were fed up with the constant warfare
 According to some, they were under the influence of Muawiya
 Thus, when Muawiya decided to attack Egypt, he easily
annexed the area and slew its governor
 Hazrat Amr bin al Aas was appointed instead

Martyrdom:
 After their defeat at Naharwan, the Kharijites decided to kill
Hazrat Ali, Muawiya, and Amr bin al Aas
 They viewed the conflict between Hazrat Ali and Muawiya as
the reason for the division of Muslims and thus saw fit to wipe
them both out
 Hazrat Amr bin al Aas they viewed as Muawiya’s right-hand
man
 Three men were appointed to kill their victims
 Ibn Muljim was to assassinate Ali
 Bakr ibn Abdullah was to assassinate Muawiyah
 Amr ibn Bakr was to assassinate Amr bin al Aas
 Hazrat Muawiya and Amr bin al Aas managed to escape
 Muawiya was only slightly wounded
 Amr bin al Aas did not turn up for Imamat that day due to
illness
 Kharija was killed in his stead
 Hazrat Ali was not this lucky, however.
 On the 17th of Ramadan, Ibn-e-Muljim wounded him with a
poisoned sword while he was leading the prayer
 He was carried to his house, where he later died
 The place he is buried is slightly controversial as Hazrat
Hasan moved his body after he was buried due to fear of the
Kharijites