Chapter XLIII: Revolt of Egypt

A.H. XXXVIII. A.D. 658.

[Sidenote: Aly abandons the war against Syria. End of XXXVII. April, A.D. 658.]

Having thus disposed of the fanatics at Nehrwân, and recrossed the Tigris, Aly, at the head of his army, turned his face again towards Syria. But the soldiers urged that, before setting out upon so long a campaign, their armour needed refitting. ‘Let us return for a little to our homes,’ they said, ‘to furbish up our swords and lances, and to replenish our quivers.’ Aly consenting, they marched back and pitched their camp at Nokheila. This being close to Kûfa, the soldiers dropped off in small parties thither; and so it came to pass that, in a short time, excepting commanding officers, the camp was left almost empty. Aly, finding that no man returned, became impatient, and himself re-entering Kûfa, again harangued the people on the obligation to go forth with him and make war on Syria. But exhortation and reproach fell equally on listless ears. There was no response. Aly lost heart. The Syrian expedition fell through; and no attempt was made to resume it further.

[Sidenote: Position of Aly and Muâvia.]

Thus closed the thirty-seventh year of the Hegira. The situation was unchanged. Muâvia, with now a colourable title to the Caliphate, remained undisturbed in his position virtual monarch of Syria, strong in the loyalty and affections of the province; while Aly, mortified by an indifferent and partly alienated people, was now to experience a severer trial.

We turn to Egypt. Before the Syrian war, as already stated, there was a powerful faction in that dependency of Aly’s Caliphate, especially at Kharanba, siding with those who demanded satisfaction for the blood of Othmân; and Cays, having been recalled for leaving these dissentients alone, Mohammed son of Abu Bekr had been appointed in his room. [Sidenote: Egypt revolts. A.H. XXXVIII. A.D. 658.] Casting aside the waiting policy of his wiser predecessor, Mohammed at once summoned the recusants, either to submit themselves to him, or to be gone from Egypt. They refused, but masking for the present their hostile designs, watched the issue of the struggle at Siffîn. When the armies separated from that battle-field, leaving Muâvia still master of Syria, they gained heart and began to assume the offensive. A party sent against them was defeated, and the leader slain; and a second attempt at retrieving the loss met with a like fate. The slumbering elements of revolt were everywhere aroused.

[Sidenote: Ashtar, appointed governor, is poisoned.]

Aly saw now the mistake which he had made, but too late. He would have reappointed Cays; but Cays declined again to take the post. The only other fitted for the emergency was Ashtar the regicide, whom he summoned from his command at Nisibîn, and sent off in haste to Egypt. But on the way he met with an untimely death, having been poisoned, at the instigation (it is said) of Muâvia, by a chief on the Egyptian border with whom he rested.[554] There was joy at the death of the arch-regicide throughout the land of Syria, where he had been greatly feared. Aly was equally cast down by the untoward event. His only resource was now to bid Mohammed son of Abu Bekr hold on, and do what he could to retrieve his position. [Sidenote: Mohammed killed and Egypt conquered by Amru for Muâvia. Safar, A.H. XXXVIII. July, A.D. 658.]But the faction which favoured Muâvia gained ground daily; and when, shortly after, Amru, at the head of a few thousand men, crossed the border, he was joined by an overwhelming body of insurgents. Mohammed, after a vain attempt to meet his enemy in the field, was easily put to flight. In the struggle he was killed, and his body ignominiously burned in an ass’s skin.[555] Thus Egypt was lost to Aly; and Amru, as the lieutenant of the rival Caliph, again became its governor.

[Sidenote: Mortification of Aly at the loss, and at the lukewarmness of Kûfa.]

The loss of Egypt was the harder for Aly to bear, as undoubtedly it might have been averted but for his removal of Cays; and even now it might have been retrieved if the men of Kûfa had not been heartless in his cause. Over and again he implored them to hasten to the defence of Egypt. With difficulty two thousand men were got together; but after so long a delay that they had hardly marched before news of the defeat made it necessary to recall them. Aly thereupon ascended the pulpit, and upbraided the people for their spiritless and disloyal attitude. For fifty days, he had been urging them to go forth, to avenge their fallen brethren, and to help those who were still struggling for him in the field. Like a restive wayward camel, that refused its burden, they had held back. ‘And now,’ he said, in grief and bitterness of spirit, ‘the son of Abu Bekr is fallen a martyr, and Egypt hath departed from us.’