To return to Ayesha. The insurgent army, having resumed its march, reached Bussorah, and encamped close by. Messages were exchanged, and immediately on Ibn Honeif, the governor, becoming aware that the cry of vengeance on the regicides covered designs against his Master, he called together an assembly to try the temper of the people. Finding from the uproar that the strangers had a strong party in the city, he put on his armour, and, followed by the larger portion of the citizens, went forth to meet Ayesha, who, on her side, was joined from the town by the insurgent faction. A parley ensued. Talha, the favourite at Bussorah, Zobeir, and even Ayesha, with her shrill and powerful voice, declaimed against the murderers of Othmân, and demanded justice. The other side were equally loud in their protestations against the expedition. It was a shame, they said, and a slight on the memory of the Prophet, for Ayesha to forego the sanctity of the Veil, and the proprieties of ‘the Motherhood of the Faithful.’ Aly had been duly elected, and saluted Caliph; and now Talha and Zobeir were treacherously violating the allegiance which they had been the first to swear. These both protested that the oath had been forced upon them. On this point the controversy turned; and from words they fell to blows. Night interposed; but fighting was resumed the following day, and with so serious a loss to the loyalists that a truce was called, and an agreement come to, on the understanding that the facts should be ascertained from Medîna. Reference to Medîna on question of compulsion.If it were shown that force had been put upon the two leaders to take the oath, then Ibn Honeif would retire leave the city in their hands. An envoy accredited by either side was accordingly deputed to Medîna. He arrived while Aly was absent in his camp, and forthwith proclaimed the commission he was charged with, before the assembled city. The people at first were silent. At last Osâma ibn Zeid, a Companion of the highest rank,[510] declared that both Talha and Zobeir had done homage under compulsion, whereupon a great tumult arose; and the envoy, having seen and heard enough to prove diversity of opinion on the subject, took his leave.
Fighting at Bussorah. City occupied by Zobeir and Talha.
When tidings of these things reached Aly, who was with his army in Nejd, he addressed a letter to Ibn Honeif: ‘There was no compulsion,’ he wrote; ‘neither of these my adversaries was constrained otherwise than by the will of the majority. By the Lord! if their object be to make me abdicate, hey are without excuse; if it be any other thing, I am ready to consider it.’ So when the envoy returned, and upon his report the insurgents called on Ibn Honeif to evacuate the city according to agreement, he produced the Caliph’s letter, and refused. But the rebels had already obtained the footing they desired within the city. Arming themselves, they repaired to the Mosque for evening service, and, the night being dark and stormy, were not perceived until they had overpowered the body-guard, entered the adjoining palace, and made Ibn Honeif a prisoner. On the following day, a severe conflict raged throughout the city, which ended in the complete discomfiture with heavy loss of Aly’s party, and so the government passed into the hands of Talha and Zobeir. True to their ostensible object, these now made proclamation that every citizen who had engaged in the attack on Othmân should be brought forth and executed. The order was carried rigorously out, and great numbers were put to death.[511] The life of Ibn Honeif was, after some hesitation, spared. He was set at liberty, his head and beard shaven, and his eyelashes and moustaches clipped; and in this sorry plight the ousted governor made the best of his way to Aly.
Ayesha’s messages to Kûfa, &c.
The insurgents communicated tidings of their success to Syria. And Ayesha wrote letters to Kûfa, Medîna, and Yemen, seeking to detach the people from their allegiance to Aly, and stir them up to avenge the death of Othmân.
Apathy of Bussorah towards Talha and Zobeir.
Meanwhile the citizens of Bussorah swore allegiance to Talha and Zobeir conjointly. To avoid all appearance of rivalry, the public prayers were conducted alternately by a son of each. Little active sympathy was evoked by the usurpers. Talha proclaimed an expedition to proceed against Aly. But no one responded to the call, and his spirit fell. Thus some weeks passed uneasily, till the city was aroused by the announcement that Aly with a great army was in full march upon it.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BATTLE OF THE CAMEL.
Jumad II., A.H. XXXVI. December, A.D. 656.
Aly, strengthened by contingent from Kûfa, advances on Bussorah, Jumâd II. A.H. XXXVI. Nov. A.D. 656.
Finding that the insurgent troops, with Ayesha, Zobeir, and Talha, had already passed, Aly, as we have seen, halted for a while at Dzu Câr in Nejd, with the view of strengthening his army; for, although joined on his march by the Beni Tay and some other loyal tribes, he still felt too weak for an offensive step. To Kûfa he addressed a special summons, inhabited as it was by many veteran Companions on whose loyalty to the Caliphate he might reasonably depend; and he added force to the call by holding out the prospect that their city should be the seat of his government. ‘See,’ he wrote to them, ‘have I not chosen Kûfa before all the cities for mine own? Unto you do I look, in these hard times, for succour, if haply peace and unity again prevail as it behoveth among brethren in the Faith.’ But the summons was at the first unheeded. The overgrown city was made up of many factions; and from some of these the message of Ayesha, demanding revenge for Othmân’s blood, had already found response. Abu Mûsa was altogether unequal to the emergency. Loyal to the memory of the murdered Caliph, he yet sought to allay the ferment by a neutral course, and urged the citizens to join neither party, but remain at home. A second deputation meeting with no better success, the Caliph bethought him of sending his eldest son, in company with Ammâr, the former Governor of Kûfa, to urge his cause. The personal appeal of Hasan, the grandson of the Prophet (albeit a spiritless creature devoted only to his harem), had the desired effect.[512] The chord of loyalty in the fickle city’s heart was touched; a tumult arose, and Abu Mûsa, unable to maintain his weak neutrality, was deposed. The Arab tribes rallied, and for the moment heartily, around such noted leaders as Cacâa, and Adî the son of Hâtim. And soon ten thousand men, partly by land, partly embarking on the river, set out to join the Caliph, who, advancing slowly from Dzu Câr, awaited their arrival. Thus reinforced, Aly was able to take the field effectively, and to march on the rebellious city with an imposing force.