Chapter XXXVI: Rebellion at Bussorah

A.H. XXXVI. A.D. 656.

[Sidenote: Work nearer home.]

But, before crossing arms with Muâvia, heavy work was still in store for Aly.

[Sidenote: Ayesha retires to Mecca.]

On her way back from the pilgrimage at Mecca, Ayesha was met by the tidings of Othmân’s murder and of Aly’s accession to the Caliphate. ‘Carry me back,’ forthwith cried the incensed and impetuous lady; ‘carry me back to Mecca. They have murdered the Caliph. I will avenge his blood.’

[Sidenote: And propagates sedition there.]

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]

[Sidenote: 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]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: The rebels attack Bussorah.]

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. [Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.