Battle of The Camel

Aisha: Then what do you suggest?

Qa‟qa: You are the Mother of Believers, the source of our peace and prosperity. Do not deprive us of your beneficence and indulge us in anarchy otherwise you will also have to face the trial. Let us work on reconciliation and forget the differences. When the conflict among us is resolved then together we can take revenge from the murderers of Usman. In this way, we can follow the teachings of Islam and the sanctity of Muslims will also be secured.

Aisha: Your suggestion is valid, we agree to it as long as Ali approves of it as well.

Qa‟qa: I will go talk to him right now. I am sure he will agree to it rather he will be pleased to hear it. Talhah and Zubayr: If Ali will be pleased with this, we will also be delighted upon the unity among the Muslims.

Battle of the Camel is the battle which stained the sanctity of Islamic history. In the battlefield, the leader of one army was the honourable lady whom the Holy Prophet trusted utmostly. She had the honour of being the Mother of Believers. Prophet Mohammad stayed at her home in his last days and her home was chosen as his rest place till the doomsday. This eminent lady was Aisha bint Abi Bakr. Fighting opposite to her was army of the man who was not only brought up by the Holy Prophet but he also married his beloved daughter to him. This was the man loyal to the Prophet and brave like a lion, he was none other than Ali ibn Abi Talib.

It did not suit both personalities to fight against each other. They should not have gotten into a war. In fact, they were not fighting against one another. The world can attest, they did not fight on

their own will. They were tricked and pushed into the flames of war through betrayal and deception. Both parties had already reconciled, they had agreed on the formula of “first unity and reformation then retribution.” However, the evildoers and the enemies of Islam never wanted harmony among the Muslims. The followers of Abdullah ibn Saba and the murderers of Usman put their heads together in the darkness of night and concluded that reconciliation between Ali and Aisha would make their lives miserable. In that case they would be severely punished and beheaded for sure. How could they bear this! Thus, in order to protect themselves, they wove a web to trap the believers which resulted in the loss of thousands of Muslim lives.

After being exhausted for months, both parties were sound asleep in the joy of reconciliation when the rebellious insurgents attacked both sides simultaneously. Disrupted from sleep, they got up and haphazardly held their swords and were forced into killing each other. The army of Aisha thought that Ali had breached the settlement and vice versa. When Talhah and Zubayr heard the screams and saw the storm of arrows, they inquired the reason and were told that the people of Kufa had attacked without waiting for the morning. Both simultaneously hollered, “Alas! Ali is adamant to shed blood.”

On the other hand, when Ali came out of his camp, a person assigned by the evildoers cried that the people of Basra had attacked and their troops were marching forward while shooting arrows. On hearing this Ali said, “Alas! Talhah and Zubayr are adamant to shed blood.”

Ali rode his horse to the battlefield and directed his troops to take position. Then the battle initiated and got so horrendous that no one had the time to comprehend the actual situation. However, Ka‟b ibn Sur went to Aisha and said:

“O Mother of the Believers! The battle has started vigorously. The Muslims are beheading each other and cutting each other‟s chests open. Please go to the battlefield and stop people. Perhaps the Muslims turn towards reconciliation upon seeing you.” Then Aisha was seated in howdah and mounted on the camel. The howdah was covered with armours and brought to a place from where the scene of the battlefield was easily visible. The war continued for some time and then the army of Basra started losing so they began to back off. Ali ordered his troops not to follow them.

Due to the conspiracies of the miscreants when both the armies came face to face, they were so close that the necks of their horses touched one another. At one moment, when Ali looked up, Zubayr ibn al-Awam happened to be in front of him. Talhah ibn Ubaydullah was also nearby. Ali said, “You showed animosity towards me by gathering armaments and soldiers against me. Will you be able to justify this animosity before Allah? Am I not your religious brother? Is it not forbidden upon you to shed my blood and likewise for me to shed your blood? Can you give even one reason that makes it legit for you to take my life?” Talhah: Is it not true that you teamed up with the murderers of Usman? Because of that you are accused of being a part of conspiracies of the assassination of Usman. Ali: I seek refuge in Allah Who is the One to complete His religion. I curse the assassinators of Usman. Allah will also curse them.

Talhah: Indeed! Allah is the One to complete His religion! Ali: O Talhah! Did not you pledge allegiance to me? Talhah: Yes! But it was under compulsion and was subject to conditions. Have you fulfilled the condition of punishing the murderers?

Ali: O Zubayr! Do you remember the day when the Holy Prophet told you, “Indeed! You will rise up in a fight against a man with whom you will have done wrong.” Zubayr: Yes! I have recalled these words of the Prophet of Allah! I wish, I had recalled them before. Now I will not fight with you at all. After this conversation, both armies backed off and path of conciliation was paved. Zubayr announced his separation from the army. Although some people of his group taunted him but he did not care because he had remembered the words of the Holy Prophet and could not disobey him. He parted from his army and went towards as-Siba valley. On his way, he came across the army of Ahnaf ibn Qays but no one questioned him. However, one vile and malign provoking man, Amr ibn Jarmouz started chasing him. When Zubayr noticed him, he asked him the reason of his chase. He made an excuse that he was chasing him so he could ask him a question. Salat time had approached, therefore Zubayr prepared to offer salat. While Zubayr was offering salat, Amr ibn Jarmouz attacked and martyred him. He then escaped from there, stealing Zubayr‟s horse, weapons and ring. When he proudly told Ahnaf ibn Qays about what he had done, Ahnaf said, “Allah knows better whether you did the right thing or wrong.” Then Amr went to the camp of Ali and told the guard to relay his message to Ali that the murderer of Zubayr would like to meet him.

Ali said to the guard, “Allow him to come in, giving the news of his place in hell.”

During the war, an arrow hit Talhah‟s foot, piercing his vein so deep that he was bleeding terribly. Due to excessive blood loss, he was feeling very feeble and was in acute pain. His servant took him to Basra but on the way he fainted and soon passed away due to excessive bleeding.

Ka‟b ibn Sur who had taken Aisha to the battlefield out of sincerity to restrain Muslims from shedding blood, stopped her camel at a prominent place in the battlefield. On seeing her, the rebellious group that had mingled in Ali‟s army turned their arrows towards her. Seeing this, the people of Basra who had backed off earlier, returned to the battlefield. This instigated horrendous war which resulted in thousands of fatalities.

The Mother of the Believers told Ka‟b, “Leave the camel! Go to the centre of battlefield with Quran and invite them towards the ordainment of Book of Allah.”

Ka‟b followed her order, raised the Holy Book of Allah with respect and went to the battlefield. Why would the rebels want the decision following the command of Quran because then they would certainly be punished. Therefore, they started shooting spears at Ka‟b and martyred the Companion of the Prophet who was the well-wisher of his umma.

Ali sincerely wanted to end the battle. He thought that as long as the Mother of Believers was in the battlefield on her camel, the battle would not stop. He could see that the people were giving their lives crazily in front of her camel like moths plunge into the flames. Ali appointed a group to make the camel sit down in any condition even if they had to hamstring the camel.

On Ali‟s ordain some people attacked the camel and cut off its hamstrings. As soon as the camel fell screaming, the war slowly began to end.

It is also said that on the ordain of Qa‟qa, a man named Bajir ibn Waljah cut the hamstrings of the camel. Anyways, this action was not based on hostility rather it was done prudently as the intention behind it was to stop the war. When the camel fell, the brother of Aisha, Mohammad ibn Abu Bakr and Ammar ibn Yasir carried her howdah to a safe place where there was no one. Ali then went to her and had a dialogue:

Ali: How are you, O Mother? Aisha: Thanks to Allah! I am well.

Ali: May Allah forgive you. Aisha: May Allah forgive you as well.

Qa‟qa stepped forward and greeted her. While replying to him she said:

Aisha: I wish I had died twenty years before today‟s incident.

When Qa‟qa told Ali what Aisha had said, he replied, “I also wish the same. ”

Ali then made arrangements to send Aisha to Basra. From there, along with forty elite women of Basra she was sent back to Makkah under the supervision of Mohammad ibn Abi Bakr in Rajab 36 AH. Ali accompanied her caravan to some miles to see her off and Hasan ibn Ali went with her to a distance of a day. Aisha then returned to Makkah.

There are different opinions about the number of casualties in Battle of the Camel. According to a calculated estimate, more or less ten thousand people died in both armies who included both emigrants and Ansar of Madina in addition to the people of Kufa, Basra and Egypt. Several Companions of the Prophet were also martyred in this battle. At the end of war, when Ali reviewed the battlefield, he was extremely saddened to see that Ka‟b ibn Sur, Abd al-Rahman ibn Attab, Talhah ibn Ubaydullah and many other Companions were martyred. Ali ordered to gather the dead bodies of both sides at one place and offered their funeral prayer and made arrangements of their burial. The injured of both sides were sent to the city for treatment. All the possessions were gathered in the city mosque and it was announced that people may take their belongings after identifying them.

When two persons or groups fight, it is not necessary that one of them is right and the other one is wrong. We will have to make careful opinion about both the groups involved in Battle of the Camel. One group was led by the chosen leader of the Muslims who had high level of intellect and prudence. Prophet Mohammad declared him as the gateway of knowledge and he was unparalleled in wisdom and sagacity. During the era of his predecessor three Caliphs, he used his greatest abilities to deal with very intricate problems prudently. The three personalities who led the other group were undoubtedly pious and extremely wise. Whatever was destined to happen, did happen and it is not appropriate to hold any group fully responsible for it. Those people were prone to commit mistakes. May be they were mistaken in understanding the situation and making judgement. It neither is essential nor it suites us that we highlight those mistakes and point fingers on the Companions of the Holy Prophet who are ranked the highest among the Muslim umma. The evildoers and rebellious group took advantage of the situation. It can be stated without any doubt that the assassinators of Usman provoked war between the two groups. They did this to save their lives as they were certain that in case of reconciliation they would not be spared. Both fighting groups were sincere to one another. They did not want to hurt each other or the Muslim umma. As Ali said:

“I hope that no one amongst us or from the opposite side is killed anymore. Allah has cleansed our inwards and those who lost their lives in the war will be sent to heaven by Allah.” (Tareekh ibn

Khaldun)

Ali ibn Abi Talib gave this answer to Abu Salama Doulani when they were having a conversation about reconciliation and there was quite a possibility of it.