Burdened with these thoughts, a body of 12,000 men fell out from Aly’s ranks on their homeward journey; and, keeping the same direction towards Kûfa, marched side by side with the army, at some little distance off in the desert. Loud and violent in their speech, they beat about their neighbours in rude Bedouin fashion with their whips, and reproached one another for having abandoned the cause of Islam to the bands of godless arbitrators; while some few amongst them were uneasy at having betrayed the Caliph on the field of battle, and at having now separated themselves from the body of the Faithful. In this frame of mind they avoided Kûfa, but encamped in its vicinity, at the village of Harôra.[542] They chose for themselves a temporary leader. But their resolve was, that when they gained the ascendency, they would no longer have any prince or Caliph, nor any oath of allegiance but to the Lord alone; and would vest the administration of affairs in a Council of State. This theocratic dream was not confined to the schismatics at Harôra, but had widely leavened the factious and fanatical population of Kûfa. Aly, aware of the danger, sent his cousin, Mohammed son of Abbâs, to reason with the seceding body, but to no effect. He then proceeded to their camp himself, and gained over their leader, Yezîd, by the promise of the government of Ispahan. He urged, and with good ground, that, so far from being responsible for ‘the godless compromise,’ he had been driven to accept the Arbitration against his better judgment by their own wayward and persistent obstinacy; that the Umpires were bound by the terms of the truce to deliver their decision in accordance with the sacred text, which equally with himself the theocrats held to be the final guide; and that, if the Umpires’ deliverance should after all turn out to be in disregard of it, he would without a moment’s hesitation reject the same, and again go forth at their head to fight against the enemies of the Faith.
They are pacified by Aly.
There was a strange mingling of innocence and simplicity in these Seceders, with a fanatical indifference to the distinctions of vice and virtue, and a readiness to perpetrate any crime, whether against the person or the State, so that it forwarded the cause they had at heart, namely, ‘the Rule of the Lord,’ and the setting up of that which they conceived to be His kingdom.
And retire to their homes.
For the present they were pacified by the assurances of the Caliph. They broke up their camp and returned to their homes, there to await the decision of the Umpires.
CHAPTER XLI.
DECISION OF THE UMPIRES.
A.H. XXXVII. A.D. 658.
The interregnum.
The interval passed uneasily. Muâvia ruled in Syria; Aly, over the rest of the Moslem world. Neither, for the moment, interfered with the other. The empire held itself in suspense.
The Umpires meet. Ramadhân, A.H. XXXVII. Feb. A.D. 658.
Within the time appointed, Amru appeared at Dûma, and, shortly after, Abu Mûsa. Each was followed, according to agreement, by a retinue of four hundred horsemen.[543] Thither also, to the neutral spot, flocked multitudes from Irâc and from Syria, from Mecca and Medîna. With intense interest they watched the strange proceeding, which (as they expected) was about to decide the future of Islam. The leading chiefs of the Coreish were also there; some, we are told, with the distant hope that haply the choice might fall on one of themselves.[544]