History of Khulafah Rashideen by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti - translated by Abdassamad Clarke

Ibn Sacd said: cAli was pledged allegiance as khalifah the morning after the killing of cUthman in Madinah. All of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, who were there pledged allegiance.

It is said that Talhah and az-Zubayr pledged allegiance with displeasure and unwillingly. Then they went to Makkah, and cA’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, was there. They took her and went with her to Basra seeking retaliation for the blood of cUthman. That reached cAli so he went to Iraq and at Basra met Talhah, az-Zubayr, CA’ ishah and whoever was with them, which is known as the Battle of the Camel, and which occurred in Jumada al-Akhirah of the year 36 AH. Talhah, az-Zubayr and others were killed there, the dead reaching thirteen thousand. cAli spent fifteen nights at Basra and then he went to Kufa.

Then Mucawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan and those with him in Syria came out against him. That reached cAli and he went out to meet him. They met at Siffin in Safr of the year 37 AH. The fighting continued there for some days, until the people of Syria raised the mushafs calling to that which is in them, which was a trick of cAmr ibn al-cAs. People hated the war and they called each other to negotiate and appointed two arbiters. cAli appointed Abu Musa al-Ashcari and Mucawiyah appointed cAmr ibn al-cAs. They signed a decree between them that they should meet at the beginning of the year at al-Adhruh where they would consider seriously the command of the ummah. People separated, Mucawiyah returning to Syria and cAli to Kufa.

Then (a group known as) the Khawarij (the seceders - literally ‘those who go out’) from among his companions and those with him, went out against him. They said, ‘There is no judgement but (that) of Allah’, and they set up a military camp at Harura’. He sent Ibn cAbbas to them, who argued with them and convinced them, so that many of them returned. A group of them stayed firm, went to an-Nahrawan and obstructed the roadway. cAli went to them there and killed them at an-Nahrawan, killing Dhu’th-Thudayyah.12

12 Literally, ‘the possessor of the little breast’, a man who had been foretold to be among the Khawarij by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

That was in the year 38 AH.

People gathered in al-Adhruh in Shacban of this year, among them Sacd ibn Abi Waqqas, Ibn cUmar and other Companions. cAmr allowed Abu Musa al-Ashcari to go first, as a trick he had devised.

He (Abu Musa) spoke and removed cAli from office. Then cAmr spoke and confirmed Mucawiyah in office and pledged allegiance to him. People split up over this. cAli disagreed with his companions to such an extent that he began to bite his fingers saying, ‘I am disobeyed and Mucawiyah is obeyed?’ Three men of the Khawarij hastened to act: cAbd ar-Rahman ibn Muljam al-Muradi, al-Burk ibn cAbdullah at-Tamimi and ‘Amr ibn Bukayr at-Tamimi. They gathered in Makkah and made a covenant with each other that they three would kill: cAli ibn Abi Talib, Mucawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan and cAmr ibn al-cAs, and that they would give the slaves (of Allah) rest from them. Ibn Muljam said, ‘I will take cAli for you.’ Al-Burk said, ‘I will take Mucawiyah for you.’ cAmr ibn Bukayr said, ‘I will suffice you for cAmr ibn al-cAs.’ They made a covenant on that one night, either the eleventh or the seventeenth of Ramadan, and then each of them directed himself to the land in which his intended victim was. Ibn Muljam went to Kufa, met his companions of the Khawarij and told them secretly of what they intended to do.

On the night preceding the Jumucah of the seventeenth of Ramadan of the year 40 AH, cAli woke up before dawn. He said to his son al-Hasan, ‘This night I saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace, and I said, “Messenger of Allah, what distress and argumentation I have received from your ummah\” He said to me, “Supplicate Allah against them.” I said, “O Allah, give me in exchange for them what is better for me than they are, and give them in exchange for me what is worse for them than I am.’” Then the mu’adhdhin Ibn adh-Dhabbah came in to cAli and said, ‘The prayer.’ cAli went out the door crying out, ‘People, the prayer, the prayer!’ Ibn Muljam stood before him, struck him with the sword, and it hit the top of his forehead reaching the brain. People rushed upon him from every side, and he was held and bound. cAli lingered for the Jumufah and Saturday, and died the night before Sunday. Al-Hasan, al-Hussein and “Abdullah ibn Jacfar washed his body, al-Hasan led the prayer over him, then he was buried in the house of the Amirate in Kufa at night. Later they cut off the limbs of Ibn Muljam, he was put in a reed basket, and they burnt him in a fire.

All of the above are the words of Ibn Sacd. He summarised all of these events and battles excellently well, and he didn’t expand on them greatly as others did. This is more befitting to this occasion. He said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘When my companions are mentioned, restrain yourselves (from speaking)’, and he said, ‘It is sufficient for my Companions (to mention) their killing.’ There is in al-Mustadrak that as-Suddi said: cAbd ar-Rahman ibn Muljam fell passionately in love with a woman of the Khawarij called Qatam, and he married her and gave her as a dowry three thousand dirhams and the killing of cAli. Al-Farazdaq said about that:

‘I have not seen a dowry sent by a liberally generous one, Like the dowry of Qatam, of human beings (slaves) and beasts:

Three thousand, a slave, a maidservant And the striking of cAli with the penetrating sword.

There is no dowry dearer than cAli even if it were very expensive, And no assassination but that it is less than the assassination by Ibn Muljam.’ Abu Bakr ibn cAyyash said: The grave of cAli was concealed so that the Khawarij would not dig up his body; and Sharik said: His son al-Hasan carried him to Madinah. Al-Mubarrad said from Muhammad ibn Habib: The first to be transferred from one grave to another was cAli, may Allah be pleased with him.

Ibn cAsakir narrated that Sacid ibn cAbd al-cAziz said: When cAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, was killed, they carried him to bury him with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. While they were journeying with him at night, the camel on which he was bolted. No-one knew where it had gone, and they couldn’t overtake it. For that reason the people of Iraq say, ‘He is in the clouds.’ Others say, ‘The camel arrived in the lands of Tayy, where they took him and buried him.’ When cAli was killed he was sixty-three years old. It has been said that he was sixty-four, sixty-five, fifty-seven and fifty-eight. He had nineteen women slaves.