[521] Life of Mahomet, p. 311.
[522] A separate chapter is generally assigned by the Arabian historians to this episode; but its interest lies almost wholly in the intense hatred conceived by the usurper towards Othmân. Hearing of his factious courses, Othmân, to soften and remind him of his past care and favour, sent him from Medîna a purse, and also a camel laden with rich garments, as a present. The ungrateful rebel hung these up in the Great Mosque of Fostât, and used them to point his invectives against Othmân and the corruption of the age. Having joined the insurgent faction, he, no doubt, hoped that Othmân’s successor would have confirmed him in the government of Egypt. But Aly, treating him as he deserved, showed him no favour, and appointed a man of his own to the government.
[523] I give the narrative as related by concurrent tradition, which I can only question when there is strong internal probability against it. It would, no doubt, have been satisfactory to have had some evidence of Muâvia’s deceptive course of action. It may, however, all be true, for Muâvia was never overscrupulous. But we have no proof excepting fama clamans; and court influence under the Abbassides disposed the historians of the day to make the most of every report that was damaging to the character of the Omeyyad dynasty. The reader must, therefore, be cautious of accepting implicitly all these imputations of underhand machination.
[524] Aly’s cousins (sons of Jáfar, the Prophet’s uncle) appear to have encouraged the suspicions against Cays, hoping thus to pave the way for the appointment of Mohammed son of Abu Bekr, who was their uterine brother (Abu Bekr married Jafar’s widow, Life of Mahomet, p. 410).
[525] One of his sons is said to have advised Amru to remain in retirement and leave the impending conflict to be settled by those immediately concerned. The other urged that it was not becoming one of his father’s rank and dignity to be neutral. The former, Amru advised (so runs the Abbasside tradition), him the best for his spiritual advantage; the latter for his temporal, and he followed it.
[526] The oath reminds one of a similar vow taken by Hind after the battle of Bedr. (Life of Mahomet, p. 246.)
[527] The western detachment, 12,000 strong, was forced by the hostile attitude of Syria hastily to retrace its steps as far as Hît, where they recrossed the river, and then marched north through Mesopotamia. They were so long delayed that Aly, with the main body, reached Ricca first, and, on seeing them come up, naïvely exclaimed, ‘Lo, here is my advanced column in the rear!’
The main body took the Tigris route, perhaps as affording better forage at that dry season of the year.
[528] When the people refused to throw a bridge of boats over the river at Ricca, a detachment moved farther up, intending to cross by the standing bridge at Membaj; but meanwhile Ashtar threatened to put the inhabitants to the sword, and so had a bridge constructed at Ricca. Ricca (Nicephorium) is at the junction of the Belîk with the Euphrates, at which point the Great River, in its upper course, trends westward, and thus approaches Aleppo. Sûr al Rûm (now in ruins) is a little way west of Ricca. It is near Thapsacus of the ancients, on the line of the march of Cyrus.
[529] Freedmen begin to play prominent parts. Aly, on his side, gave a banner to Kinbar, his freedman, and put him in command of a column; and a verse of Amru’s has been preserved in which he pits the one freedman against the other.