Ali ibn Abi Talib

Ali appoints the sons of al-Abbas and Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governors

Ali gave the provinces to several sons of his cousin al-Abbas: Abdallah in Basra, Ubaydallah in Yemen and Bahrain, Qutham in Mecca and al-Ta'if, Tammam in Medina, and with them Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, his step-son, in Egypt. The book sets this among a list of forty-one governors and holds that Ali and Uthman both appointed kin when their competence was clear, not for kinship alone.

Ali burns people in Kufa who claimed he was God

Ali was told that people at the mosque door called him their lord; he said he was only a servant like them, gave them three days, and when they persisted he lit a fire and burned them. Al-Sallabi cites the report via al-Bukhari, Ibn Abbas's objection that the Prophet forbade punishment by fire, and Ibn Taymiyya's statement that Ali burned most of those who believed in his divinity.

Ali burns the village of Zarara where wine was sold

Ali passed a quarter of Kufa called Zarara where meat was sold and wine too, and ordered it set on fire, saying the wicked eat each other; the fire spread from its western side until it reached an orchard. Al-Sallabi takes the report from Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam's Kitab al-Amwal.

Ali's stance during the siege of Uthman

Ali enters Kufa in 36 AH

Ali's equal distribution of the fay and the treasury

Ali distributed incoming money equally among the people after setting aside what public needs required, and gave Arab and non-Arab women the same portion, saying he finds no merit for the children of Ishmael over the children of Isaac in the fay. The book also records a sum from Isfahan split into seven shares and a loaf cut into seven pieces drawn by lot, and a dispute over two jars of honey and ghee taken by Ali's daughter Umm Kulthum.

Ali's first sermon after the pledge

Ali flogs the poet al-Najashi al-Harithi for drinking wine in Ramadan

Al-Najashi al-Harithi, a poet, drank wine in Ramadan; Ali flogged him eighty lashes and jailed him, then flogged him twenty more the next day, saying the lashes were for his defiance of God and breaking the fast. The book cites the case as an example of prison as ta'zir.

Ali frees two men who each confessed to one killing and pays the diya from the treasury

Two men each confessed to the same killing before Ali. Hasan's ruling was that the one who had killed had saved a life by confessing; Ali released both and paid the diya from the treasury. The book suggests the victim's heirs may have waived retaliation.

Ali's rulings on the apostate and the zindiq, and the ways he killed them

Ali is reported to have said the apostate is asked to repent three times and then killed; the book gives two reports on the zindiq and two on women apostates. It lists the methods Ali used: the sword, beating to death, burning after killing (Mustawrid al-Ijli), and burning the Saba'iyya.

Ali's judgment on a slap over a debased dirham in Kufa

A man sold a sheep on the condition of no debased coin and gave one; the buyer returned it and was slapped by the seller. Ali, passing through the market, ruled that the slapper sit, let the slapped man choose between retaliation and pardon, then had the slapper carried on a man's back and beaten fifteen strokes, saying this was the punishment for violating the other man's sanctity.

Ali's judgment: Shurahah flogged and stoned after confessing zina

Shurahah confessed to zina while pregnant; Ali flogged her a hundred lashes on Thursday and stoned her on Friday, saying stoning is the Prophet's sunna. The book notes that combining flogging with stoning is disputed among jurists.

Ali's rounds in the market of Kufa

Ali walked the Kufan market himself, told the traders to sell without swearing oaths, forbade adulteration and the selling of floating fish, decided disputes between sellers and buyers, and urged them not to refuse small profit lest they lose the greater.

the truce between ʿAli and Muʿāwiya (40 AH)

After a long exchange of letters a truce laid down the war: Iraq to ʿAli, Syria to Muʿāwiya, neither raiding the other's country.

Ali's oversight of his governors: inspectors, complaints and discipline

Ali followed his governors through inspectors who questioned people about them, secret reports, an open door for every complaint, and written advice. When a charge against a governor was proven he jailed and whipped him with a rod, and on hearing a complaint he would say, 'O God, I did not order them to wrong Your creation or to leave Your right unpaid'.

Ali's inquiry into a missing traveller and his wealth

A young man complained that a company of travellers came back without his father and with his father's money. Ali had the police guard each suspect separately, questioned each on the journey, the lodgings, the cause of death and the burial, and found their accounts contradictory; one confessed, and they were made to pay.

Ali empties the treasury and prays in it

Ali was told the treasury of the Muslims was full of gold and silver; he went, leaning on the informant, gave all of it away to the people of Kufa until nothing remained, had the place sprinkled, and prayed two rak'as in it. The book reads the act as detachment from worldly goods.

al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr's raid on ʿAyn al-Tamr (39 AH)

Muʿāwiya loosed his columns on Iraq: al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr struck ʿAyn al-Tamr with a thousand, where Mālik ibn Kaʿb held the outpost with a hundred. They fought until their scabbards splintered; Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym's fifty riders under his son broke the Syrians at dusk. When the Kufans had hung back from relieving Mālik, ʿAli flayed them from the minbar: «every time a Syrian muster nears, each man of you burrows into his house like the lizard into its hole — whoever wins you wins the losing arrow«.

Battle of the Camel

Ali set out for Basra after Talha and al-Zubayr had asked his leave; he camped at Dhi Qar and sent al-Hasan and Ammar ibn Yasir to Kufa to rouse the people. Then the Battle of the Camel took place, in which al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam was killed. Ali then entered upon Aisha, and the people of Basra gave him their allegiance. The index places the account of the battle in 36 AH. According to al-Suyuti, Talha and al-Zubayr went to Mecca, took Aisha with them, and went to Basra seeking vengeance for the blood of Uthman; Ali met them at Basra. The battle took place in Jumada II 36 AH; Talha and al-Zubayr were killed there, and the dead numbered thirteen thousand. Ali stayed at Basra fifteen nights and then returned to Kufa. Al-Mas'udi mentions that the dead of the Camel, from Basra and elsewhere, numbered thirteen thousand, and that Ali's side lost five thousand, though people disputed this: the one who minimized it said seven thousand and the one who maximized it said ten thousand, depending on each person's leaning toward one side or the other. Ali ordered that no wounded man be finished off, no captive killed, no fugitive pursued, no one's nakedness exposed, no corpse mutilated, and that no one approach their property except for the weapons, mounts, and male and female slaves in their camp. He went out bareheaded on the mule of the Messenger of God; al-Zubayr recalled the Prophet's words to him, 'You will fight him while you are wronging him', and turned back. Al-Zubayr was killed by Amr ibn Jurmuz while at prayer in Wadi al-Siba'. Marwan ibn al-Hakam shot Talha in the arm-vein and killed him, while Talha recited: 'The regret of al-Kasi, when I sought the pleasure of Banu Jurm, as I imagined'. Ali entered the treasury of Basra and said, 'O yellow one, deceive another than me! O white one, deceive another than me!' Then he ordered it divided among those with him, five hundred each, they being twelve thousand, and took for himself a single share like one of them. He appointed Abd Allah ibn Abbas over Basra and went to Kufa. In his analysis al-Sallabi holds that the hand of the Sabaiyya, the partisans of Ibn Saba, in fanning the fighting between the two camps is close to agreed among scholars; he quotes al-Baqillani that Uthman's killers feared exposure and plotted to open the war between the camps, and Ibn Hazm that the vicious among Uthman's killers fell on Talha's and al-Zubayr's camp by night; and that Ka'b ibn Sur, Basra's qadi, advanced bearing the mushaf and was shot down with it in his hand. In the academic account of the Encyclopaedia of Islam the battle was fought near Basra in Jumada II 36 AH, about November to December 656, between Ali and Aisha with Talha and al-Zubayr; it ended when the camel was hamstrung and Talha and al-Zubayr had withdrawn from the fighting and died. Aisha was sent back to Medina and Ali made Ibn Abbas governor of Basra.

Bay'a of Ali ibn Abi Talib

Ali was given the bay'a the day after Uthman was killed, at Medina; all the Companions present pledged — though it is said Talha and al-Zubayr pledged unwillingly before leaving for Mecca, where they took Aisha and set out for Basra seeking vengeance for Uthman's blood. Ali had at first refused: 'that is not yours to give; it belongs to the men of Badr — whoever they approve is caliph'; every remaining Badri then came to him and pledged.

Busr ibn Abi Artat's raid through the Hijaz and Yemen (40 AH)

Mu'awiya's terror-raid of 40: Busr ibn Abi Artat entered Medina unopposed, mounted the minbar and mocked the Ansar clans by name — 'had Mu'awiya not bound me I would leave no grown man' — forced bay'a at Mecca, then in Yemen killed the governor and butchered Ubaydallah ibn al-Abbas's two small boys over a Kinani protector who died shielding them, while their mother went mad with grief. Ali's counter-column under Jariya ibn Qudama chased Busr to Mecca and took Medina's bay'a for al-Hasan.

Death of Malik al-Ashtar on the way to Egypt

Ali chose Malik al-Ashtar to govern Egypt after Qays ibn Sa'd was replaced. He died at the edge of the Red Sea before entering Egypt. A rumour says he was poisoned in honey, and some people of the kharaj were accused; the book leans toward Mu'awiya having incited it.

The First Raid on Sicily and Abdallah ibn Qays's Plunder

In al-Baladhuri: Mu'awiya ibn Khudayj al-Kindi raided Sicily in Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan's days — the first to raid it — and it kept being raided thereafter. Al-Waqidi said: Abdallah ibn Qays ibn Mukhallad al-Dazzaqi plundered Sicily, taking gold and silver idols crowned with jewels which he sent to Mu'awiya, who forwarded them to Basra to be carried to India and sold there for their price.

al-Ḥārith ibn Murra's volunteer raid into Sind (40 AH; killed at al-Qīqān 42)

al-Ḥārith ibn Murra al-ʿAbdī raided Sind as a volunteer under ʿAli's command, taking such spoil and captives that a thousand heads were divided in a single day; he campaigned on until he and nearly all his men were killed in the land of al-Qīqān in 42.

Reported advice to Ali by Ibn Abbas and al-Mughira on keeping or removing Uthman's governors

The book sets out reports that give Ibn Abbas and al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba opposing counsel to Ali after his pledge: keep Uthman's governors until they pledge, or remove them and give Basra and Kufa to Talha and al-Zubayr. Ali refused to keep them. The book rejects these reports for weak chains and confused texts and calls them hypothetical.

Ibn ʿAbbās quits Basra for Mecca (40 AH)

Ibn ʿAbbās left Basra for Mecca — so most sīra men say, against the report that he stayed governor till ʿAli's death. Abū'l-Aswad al-Duʾalī had written to ʿAli that his cousin had consumed what was under his hand; ʿAli demanded the jizya accounts, Ibn ʿAbbās answered «send whom you like to the post, I am leaving», gathered his maternal uncles of Hilāl — all of Qays rallied — and carried off the treasury as «our pay». The Basrans overtook him at al-Ṭaff; Qays swore the money would not be touched while one of them lived; Ṣabra ibn Shaymān persuaded most back («they are worth more to you than the money»), Banū Tamīm fought on until al-Aḥnaf's rebuke fell flat, and Ibn ʿAbbās reached Mecca.

Muʿāwiya sends ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Ḥaḍramī to rally Basra (38 AH)

After ʿAmr took Egypt, Muʿāwiya sent ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥaḍramī to Basra — «most of its people share our view of ʿUthmān; lodge with Muḍar, court the Azd, beware Rabīʿa, they are all Turābiyya«. Reading Muʿāwiya's letter among Banū Tamīm — two stipends a year promised — he split the town: al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays, Ibn ʿAbbās's police chief, cried «you bring us what Ṭalḥa and al-Zubayr brought — shall we draw swords on each other that Muʿāwiya may be amir?«; ʿAbdallāh ibn Khāzim pledged support; al-Aḥnaf withdrew with «no camel of mine is in this».

the Jazīra raid — Kumayl's counterattack and Shabīb's pursuit to Baʿlabakk (39 AH)

Muʿāwiya sent ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Qubāth raiding into the Jazīra; Shabīb ibn ʿĀmir warned Kumayl ibn Ziyād, who rode out with six hundred and routed them — ordering no fleeing man pursued and no wounded man finished. Shabīb chased the Syrians across the Euphrates as far as Baʿlabakk, then swept the Raqqa country bare of stock; ʿAli wrote forbidding any property but arms and mounts: «may God have mercy on Shabīb — he pushed the raid far and made the victory swift».

Jaʿda ibn Hubayra's Khurāsān mission and Naysābūr's defiance (37 AH)

After Ṣiffīn ʿAli sent Jaʿda ibn Hubayra al-Makhzūmī to Khurāsān; Naysābūr had apostatized and shut its gates, and Jaʿda returned. ʿAli then sent Khulayd ibn Qurra al-Yarbūʿī, who besieged the town until it surrendered on terms — and Merv made peace with him likewise.

Al-Khirit ibn Rashid's revolt (38–39 AH)

The Najid Khariji who walked out on Ali after Nahrawan — 'your man's imamate and your conduct alike displease me; I side with those who call for shura'. His night-battle with Ziyad ibn Khasafa bent swords and hamstrung horses; he drew the Banu Najiya and Ahwazi tax-resisters around him until Ma'qil ibn Qays's four-thousand-man expedition demanded 'ten for every one of them'.

al-Khirrīt ibn Rāshid and Banū Nājiya's break with ʿAli (38 AH)

al-Khirrīt ibn Rāshid al-Nājī — with three hundred of Banū Nājiya who had fought beside ʿAli at the Camel and Ṣiffīn — declared: «by God I will not obey your command nor pray behind you, and tomorrow I leave you«. ʿAli offered to debate him through Book and Sunna; the Khirrit answered «you set men to arbitrate and grew weak from the truth, siding with the wrongdoers», and rode out that night. ʿAli said «away with them as Thamūd was cast away«, and they killed a Muslim dihqān before Ziyād was ordered in pursuit.

The Killing of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr in Egypt

In al-Baladhuri: when Uthman was killed and Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa seized Egypt — he had made it hostile to Uthman — Ali gave Qays ibn Sa'd ibn Ubada al-Ansari Egypt, dismissed him, employed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq over it, dismissed him, gave it to Malik al-Ashtar who sickened at al-Qulzum, then gave Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr it a second time and sent him back to it — whereupon Mu'awiya ibn Khudayj killed him and burned him inside a donkey's belly.

Muawiya's demand that the killers of Uthman be surrendered

Muslim ibn ʿUqba at Dūmat al-Jandal — the town that would give bayʿa to neither (39 AH)

Dūmat al-Jandal refused both bayʿas. Muʿāwiya sent Muslim ibn ʿUqba al-Murrī to call them to his side; they refused, and ʿAli sent Mālik ibn Kaʿb al-Hamdānī, who fought Muslim a day and drove him off — but when Mālik called the town to ʿAli's bayʿa they answered «we will not swear until the people unite upon one imam», and he left them as they were.

Qays ibn Sa'd's governorship of Egypt and Ali's letter to him

Ali sent Qays ibn Sa'd to govern Egypt after Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa's death. Qays organised the province and did not force those who held back from the pledge. Abu Mikhnaf's narrations of letters between Qays and Mu'awiya and of his removal are largely rejected by the book, which prefers a version in which Ali asked him to come to Kufa.

Shurayh's judgment on Ali's coat of mail

After Siffin Ali missed a coat of mail and found it with a Jew in Kufa — 'the armor is mine; I neither sold nor gave it'. They pleaded before the judge Shurayh, where Ali sat beside him saying 'were my opponent not a Jew I would have sat equal with him'. Shurayh asked for proof; Ali offered Qanbar and al-Hasan, but Shurayh ruled a son's testimony inadmissible for his father and found for the Jew — who exclaimed that the Commander of the Faithful had brought him before his own judge and been judged against, bore witness that this was the truth, acknowledged the armor, and embraced Islam.

Siege of Uthman

Draft card for the siege of Uthman's house in 35/656, the rebels' blockade of the caliph that ended in his killing; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Muʿāwiya's columns to Taymāʾ and lower Wāqisa (39 AH)

Muʿāwiya sent ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿada al-Fazārī against Taymāʾ and al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays along the lower Wāqisa with orders to raid every Iraqi outside Muʿāwiya's allegiance; Muʿāwiya himself marched to the Tigris bank, then turned back.

Yazīd ibn Shajara sent to seize the Ḥajj and Mecca's bayʿa for Muʿāwiya (39 AH)

Muʿāwiya commissioned Yazīd ibn Shajara al-Rahāwī: «I mean to send you to Mecca to conduct the people's Ḥajj, take the bayʿa for me there, and expel ʿAli's governor from it».

ʿAli appoints Ziyād over Kirmān and Fārs (40 AH)

In this year ʿAli gave Ziyād ibn Abīhi the governorship of Kirmān and Fārs.