In the early period of Othmân’s troubles, Ayesha, like the rest of the world, is said to have contributed her share towards fomenting public discontent. We are told that she even abetted the conspirators, among whom (as we have seen) her brother Mohammed son of Abu Bekr was a chief leader. But however this may have been, she certainly was no party to the factious proceedings so soon as they began to be pressed to cruel extremities; and she had, in fact, sought to detach her brother from them by carrying him off with her to Mecca. Vain and factious, she had never forgiven the cold and unhandsome conduct towards her of Aly when, on the occasion of the misadventure with Safwân, her virtue had been doubted by the Prophet;[501] and now she would gladly have seen Zobeir Caliph in the place of Aly. Instead, therefore, of proceeding onwards to her home at Medîna, she returned straightway to Mecca. There the disaffected (who ever gravitated for safety to the Sanctuary) gathered around her, while from her veiled retreat she plotted the revenge of Othmân, and with shrill voice loudly harangued her audience on the enormous crime that had desecrated the Prophet’s home and resting-place.[502]
Zobeir and Talha, with Ayesha, march on Bussorah, Rabi II. A.H. XXXVI. A.D. 656.
Thus when Zobeir and Talha reached Mecca, they found sedition well in the ascendant. The numerous members of the Omeyyad family, who had fled on the Caliph’s death from Medîna, and the adherents of that powerful House still residing at Mecca, as well as the factious and discontented population at large, listened eagerly to the tale of their distinguished visitors. ‘They had left the men of Medîna,’ they said, ‘plunged in perplexity. Right and wrong had been so confounded that the people knew not which way to go. It was therefore for the citizens of Mecca now to lead, and to punish the traitors who had slain their Caliph.’ The standard of rebellion was raised, and many flocked to join it. Bussorah was chosen as the first object of attack. It was a city which had always favoured the claims of Talha; and Ibn Aámir, the late governor, had an influential following there. The treasure which he had brought away with him, as well as that carried off by Alâ from Yemen, was now expended in equipping the force, and providing carriage for the more needy followers. Ayesha, spurning the restraints of her sex, prepared to join the campaign and to stir up the people of Bussorah, as she had stirred up those of Mecca. Haphsa, daughter of Omar, another of ‘the Mothers of the Faithful,’ was with difficulty restrained by her brother (who had just fled from Medîna, and held aloof from either side) from accompanying her sister-widow. At length, some four months after Othmân’s death, the rebel army set out 3,000 strong, of whom a thousand were men of Mecca and Medîna. Ayesha travelled in her litter on a camel, which was destined to give its name to the first engagement in the civil war.[503] The other widows of Mahomet residing at Mecca accompanied her a little way, and then returned. As they parted, the whole company, men and women, gave vent to their feelings, and wept bitterly at the louring fortunes of Islam; ‘there was no such weeping, before or after, as then; so that it was called The Day of Tears.’[504]
Ambition mingled with cry for revenge.
Questions even now began to arise as to which of the two, Talha or Zobeir, would in event of victory be the Caliph; but Ayesha, staying the strife, as premature, desired that Abdallah son of Zobeir should lead the prayers; and it was given out that, if success should crown their efforts, the choice of the future Caliph would be left, as heretofore, in the hands of the men of Medîna.[505] Saîd, with a body of the rebel troops, distrusting the motives of the leaders, turned aside at the last moment, and went back to Mecca. As the cavalcade swept by him, shouting that they were on their way to destroy the murderers of Othmân root and branch, Saîd cried out to Merwân: ‘Whither away? the proper objects of your vengeance are on the humps of their camels before your eyes.[506] Slay these, and return to your homes!’ It is not improbable that with many of the party, and notably with Talha and Zobeir, ambition, the ruling motive, was mistaken for the desire of a just revenge. In the whirl of passion and intrigue, party-cry too often takes the place of reason; and we need not doubt that both leaders and followers had wrought themselves up into the belief that punishment of the high treason enacted at Medîna was their real object.
Ayesha’s qualms of conscience.
Yet, notwithstanding all this parade of justice, the conscience of Ayesha was ill at ease. As they journeyed through the desert, her camel-driver beguiled the tedium of the long autumn nights by calling out the names of the hills and vales along which they passed. Approaching a Bedouin settlement the dogs as usual began to howl;—‘The Valley of Hawâb!’ cried the guide. Ayesha started and screamed. Something dreadful which Mahomet had spoken, about those at whom the dogs of Hawâb should bark, flashed across her memory or imagination. ‘Carry me back,’ she cried; and, making her camel kneel, she hastily alighted from her litter. ‘Alas and alas!’ she continued, ‘for I heard the Prophet say, reproaching us, as he sat surrounded by his wives one day: “O that I knew which amongst you it is at whom the dogs of Hawâb will bark!” It is me! I am the wretched Woman of Hawâb. I declare that I will not take another step on this ill-omened expedition.’ They sought to persuade her that the guide had mistaken the name; but she refused to stir, and the army halted for her a whole day. In despair, they bethought them of a stratagem. The following night, they raised the cry that Aly was upon them. The greater terror prevailing, Ayesha hastened to her camel, and the march was resumed.
Aly fails to intercept the rebels.
The alarm, feigned for the purpose, was not, however, altogether groundless. When rumours of the defection first reached Medîna, Aly declared that he would not move against malcontents at Mecca, so long as no overt act of rebellion threatened the unity of Islam. But shortly after, a message arrived from the widow of Abbâs[507] at Mecca, with news of the design against Bussorah. At the first, Aly was disposed to congratulate himself that the conspirators had not made Kûfa, with its greater Bedouin population, their object. The son of Abbâs, however, pointed out that Bussorah was really the more dangerous of the two, because fewer of the leading chiefs were there, able as at Kûfa, if they chose, to curb the people and repress rebellion. Aly admitted the truth of this; and, now thoroughly alarmed, gave orders that the Syrian column should march instead to Nejd, hoping thereby to intercept the rebels on their way to Bussorah. But the people still hung back. Finding that Abdallah son of Omar had disappeared, Aly, in alarm lest he too should have gone to join the rebels, sent scouts in all directions after him. Meanwhile his own daughter, Omm Kolthûm, widow of Omar, sent to assure her father that Abdallah had really gone on pilgrimage to Mecca, and was altogether neutral; whereupon Aly, ashamed of his apprehensions, recalled the scouts.[508] At last a column of 900 men was got together, at the head of which Aly himself marched to Nejd.[509] But, although they used all expedition on the road, they found on reaching Rabadza that the insurgents had already passed. Not being equipped for further advance, Aly halted at Dzu Câr. Messengers were sent to Kûfa, Egypt, and elsewhere, demanding reinforcements; and for these the Caliph waited, in his camp, before he ventured forwards.
The rebels attack Bussorah.