The Battle of Islam
at Nahrawan
After the unsatisfactory conclusion to
the
Battle of Siffin, Imam Ali (A.S.)
returned with his army back to Kufa on the 13th of Safar 37 A.H. During
the march, a group of 12,000 men kept themselves at a distance from the
main part of the army.
The group was furious at the way things
had ended at Siffin. These were the Kharjites (Kharjite means one who
rebels against religion). They were the same people who had put down
their weapons on the battlefield. Now they said that Imam Ali (A.S.) had
betrayed Islam by agreeing to the truce and should have referred
judgment to the Holy Qur'an alone or continued to fight. They demanded
that he repent for this great sin.
When the army neared Kufa, the
Kharjites camped at a village named Harura. They started saying that all
Muslims were equal and nobody could rule over the other. In this way,
they denounced both Imam Ali (A.S.) and Muawiya and said that their
belief was in "La Hukma Illa Lillah", meaning, "No Ruler ship except by
Allah alone."
Imam Ali (A.S.) sent Sasaa Bin Sauhan
and Ziad Bin Nazr Harisi in the company of Ibne Abbas towards them and
afterwards himself went to the place of their stay and tried to explain
to them that they were misunderstanding the words "La Hukma Illa
Lillah", and that in accepting the arbitration (peace talks) at
Siffin, he had not gone against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an.
He pointed out that they themselves
were at fault, because they should never have laid down their arms and
forced him to call back Malike Ashtar, who was at the point of securing
victory. He reminded them that they had pressed for the arbitration and
had forced him to appoint Abu Musa Ash'ari as their representative. He
told them that he found their present behavior very strange, considering
their involvement in Siffin. To this they admitted that they had sinned
but now they had repented for it and he should do the same.
Imam Ali (A.S.) replied that he was a
true believer and did not have to repent because he had not committed
any sin and dispersed them after discussion.
The Kharjites refused to accept the
words of Imam Ali (A.S.) and awaited the decision of Amr al-Aas and Abu
Musa Ash'ari. When they learnt of the decision they decided to revolt,
and they set up their headquarters at Nahrawan, twelve miles from
Baghdad. Some people came from Basra to join the rebels.
On the other side, after hearing the
verdict of Arbitration Imam Ali (A.S.) rose for fighting the army of
Syria and wrote to the Kharijites that the verdict passed by the two
arbitrators in pursuance of their heart's wishes instead of the Qur'an
and sunnah was not acceptable to him, that he had therefore decided to
fight with them and they should support him for crushing the enemy. But
the Kharijites gave him this reply, "When you had agreed to Arbitration
in our view you had turned heretic. Now if you admit your heresy and
offer repentance we will think over this matter and decide what we
should do." Imam Ali (A.S.) understood from their reply that their
disobedience and misguidance had become very serious. To entertain any
kind of hope from them now was futile. Consequently, ignoring them he
encamped in the valley of an-Nukhaylah with a view to marching towards
Syria to fight against Muawiya.
Imam Ali (A.S.) had already started
towards Muawiya when he received the news that they had butchered the
governor of Nahrawan namely Abdullah Ibn Khabbab Ibn al-Aratt and his
slave maid with the child in her womb, and have killed three women of
Banu Tayyi and Umm Sinan as-Saydawiyyah. Imam Ali (A.S.) sent al-Harith
Ibn Murrah al-Abdi for investigation but he too was killed by them. When
their rebellion reached this stage it was necessary to deal with them.
There was a danger that the Kharjites might attack Kufa while Imam Ali
(A.S.) and his men were marching towards Muawiya, so Imam Ali (A.S.)
decided to stop them. He changed his course eastward, crossed the river
Tigris and approached Nahrawan.
On reaching there Imam Ali (A.S.) sent
a messenger to the Kharjites demanding that those people who had
murdered innocent Muslims around their camp should be surrendered. The
Kharjites replied that they were all equally responsible for killing
these sinners.
There was some reluctance in the army
of Imam Ali (A.S.) to fight the Kharjites, because they had been their
companions against Muawiya at Siffin. Imam Ali (A.S.) himself did not
desire the bloodshed of these misguided fanatics, so he sent Abu Ayyub
al-Ansari with a message of peace. So he spoke to them aloud, "Whoever
comes under this banner or separates from that party and goes to Kufah
or al-Mada'in would get amnesty and he would not be questioned. As a
result of this Farwah Ibn Nawfal al-Ashja'i said that he did not know
why they were at war with Imam Ali (A.S.). Saying this he separated
along with five hundred men. Similarly group after group began to
separate and some of them joined Imam Ali (A.S.). In the end, only cores
of 1,800 die-hards were left under the command of Abdallah bin Wahab.
These Kharjites swore that they would fight Imam Ali (A.S.) at any cost.
Nahjul Balagha - Sermon 36/Warning
the people of Nahrawan of their fate:
"I am warning you that you will be
killed on the bend of this canal and on the level of this low area while
you will have no clear excuse before Allah nor any open authority with
you. You have come out of your houses and then divine decree entangled
you. I had advised you against this arbitration but you rejected my
advice like adversaries and opponents till I turned my ideas in the
direction of your wishes. You are a group whose heads are devoid of wit
and intelligence. May you have no father! (Allah's woe be to you!) I
have not put you in any calamity nor wished you harm."
The Kharjites attacked Imam Ali's
(A.S.) army with desperate courage. However, they did not stand a chance
against the superior army that faced them and they were all killed
except nine men. These nine managed to flee to Basra and elsewhere,
where they spread the fire of their hatred and recruited more followers.
From Imam Ali's (A.S.) army only eight persons fell as martyrs. The
battle took place on the 9th Safar, 38 A.H. Two years later, in 40 A.H.,
it was the Kharjites who sent out three assassins to kill Imam Ali
(A.S.), Muawiya and Amr al-Aas. The latter two survived but Imam Ali
(A.S.) was martyred following Ibne Muljam's cowardly attack in the
mosque of Kufa.
Having disposed of the Kharjites at
Nahrawan, Imam Ali (A.S.) resumed his march to Syria. However, the
chiefs of his followers urged him to stop at Kufa to let the men rest
before the long journey and to enable the army to repair their weapons
and armours. Imam Ali (A.S.) agreed to this request and camped at
Nukhayla outside Kufa. The soldiers were allowed to leave the camp for a
day.
On the next day, hardly any men
returned and at length, Imam Ali (A.S.) entered Kufa and gave a stern
sermon to the people. However, nobody came forward and finally, Imam Ali
(A.S.) turned away from them in disappointment. The Syrian expedition
was abandoned, never to be resumed. |