Chapter XL

THE KHAREJITES, OR THEOCRATIC FACTION, REBEL AGAINST ALY.

A.H. XXXVII. A.D. 657.

[Sidenote: The Arab faction taken in by appeal to Corân.]

The quick sagacity of Amru had never been turned to better account than when he proposed to the army of Kûfa that the Corân should be the arbiter between them. To be judged by the Book of the Lord had been their cry from the beginning. The sacred text gave no countenance to the extravagant pretensions of the Coreish, nor to their (so-called) empire of favouritism and tyranny. Its precepts were based on the brotherhood of the Faithful; and the Prophet himself had enjoined on his people the absolute equality of all.[541] No sooner, therefore, was it proclaimed than, as Amru anticipated, the Arab chiefs, caught in the snare, took up the cry, and pledged themselves thereto.

[Sidenote: Dissatisfaction of the Arab, or theocratic, faction.]

Reflection soon tarnished the prospect. They had forgotten how narrow was the issue which the Umpires had to decide. The Bedouins were fighting not for one Caliph or the other, but against the pretensions of the Coreish at large. It was this that nerved them to the sanguinary conflict. ‘If the Syrians conquer,’ cried Yezîd ibn Cays to his followers of Bussorah and Kûfa, ‘ye are undone. Again ye will be ground down by tyrants like the minions of Othmân. They will possess themselves as heretofore of the conquests of Islam, as if, forsooth, these had descended to them by inheritance, and not been won by our good swords. We shall lose our grasp both of this world and of the next.’ Such were the evils which they dreaded, for which they had slain Othmân, and from which they had now been fighting for deliverance. By the appointment of Abu Mûsa for their Umpire, what had they obtained? It was theocratic rule they had been dreaming of, and now they were drifting back to the old _régime_. The Umpires would decide simply as between Muâvia and Aly; and, whatever their verdict, the despotism of the past would be riveted more firmly than ever. Nothing of the kind they really wanted had been gained, nor was there any prospect of its being gained, by arbitration.

[Sidenote: They draw off into hostile camp near Kûfa.]

Burdened with these thoughts, a body of 12,000 men fell out from Aly’s ranks on their homeward journey; and, keeping the same direction towards Kûfa, marched side by side with the army, at some little distance off in the desert. Loud and violent in their speech, they beat about their neighbours in rude Bedouin fashion with their whips, and reproached one another for having abandoned the cause of Islam to the bands of godless arbitrators; while some few amongst them were uneasy at having betrayed the Caliph on the field of battle, and at having now separated themselves from the body of the Faithful. In this frame of mind they avoided Kûfa, but encamped in its vicinity, at the village of Harôra.[542] They chose for themselves a temporary leader. But their resolve was, that when they gained the ascendency, they would no longer have any prince or Caliph, nor any oath of allegiance but to THE LORD alone; and would vest the administration of affairs in a Council of State. This theocratic dream was not confined to the schismatics at Harôra, but had widely leavened the factious and fanatical population of Kûfa. Aly, aware of the danger, sent his cousin, Mohammed son of Abbâs, to reason with the seceding body, but to no effect. He then proceeded to their camp himself, and gained over their leader, Yezîd, by the promise of the government of Ispahan. He urged, and with good ground, that, so far from being responsible for ‘the godless compromise,’ he had been driven to accept the Arbitration against his better judgment by their own wayward and persistent obstinacy; that the Umpires were bound by the terms of the truce to deliver their decision in accordance with the sacred text, which equally with himself the theocrats held to be the final guide; and that, if the Umpires’ deliverance should after all turn out to be in disregard of it, he would without a moment’s hesitation reject the same, and again go forth at their head to fight against the enemies of the Faith.

[Sidenote: They are pacified by Aly.]

There was a strange mingling of innocence and simplicity in these Seceders, with a fanatical indifference to the distinctions of vice and virtue, and a readiness to perpetrate any crime, whether against the person or the State, so that it forwarded the cause they had at heart, namely, ‘the Rule of the Lord,’ and the setting up of that which they conceived to be His kingdom.

[Sidenote: And retire to their homes.]

For the present they were pacified by the assurances of the Caliph. They broke up their camp and returned to their homes, there to await the decision of the Umpires.