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In time
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Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Sides
Syrians
Commanders: al-Nu'man ibn Bashir al-Ansari
ʿAli's outpost
Commanders: Malik ibn Ka'b al-Hamdani
Summary
One of Mu'awiya's raiding parties against Iraq, in 39 AH: he sent al-Nu'man ibn Bashir with a thousand men to 'Ayn al-Tamr, where Malik ibn Ka'b was holding a post for Ali. Ali had given his companions leave to go, so only a hundred remained with Malik. They fought him with fierce combat until they broke the scabbards of their swords and fought to the death. Then Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym came to his aid with his son Abd al-Rahman and fifty riders, and the people of Syria were routed by evening. The people of Kufa had been slow to come to his help, so Ali climbed the pulpit and rebuked them in a forceful sermon: "O people of Kufa! Whenever you hear of a host of the people of Syria bearing down on you, each of you hides in his house like the lizard in its hole and the hyena in its den. The one who is deceived is the one you have deceived, and whoever wins through you wins the worst arrow." 1.
Connections
- Occurred at
- Ayn al-Tamr
- Had participant
- al-Nu'man ibn Bashir al-Ansari· Malik ibn Ka'b al-Hamdani· Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym· Ali ibn Abi Talib
People and things also explored
The ruling on one who abandons prayer· The wise sayings attributed to Ali· Poetry attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib· Abu Bakr's Sortie to Naq' and Khalid's Command· Abu Sufyan's mission to Medina· The three years of the secret call· Ali appoints the sons of al-Abbas and Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governors· Ali burns people in Kufa who claimed he was God
Sources
- al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p. 724
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr's raid on ʿAyn al-Tamr (39 AH)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/ayn-al-tamr-raid-39/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.