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→The Caliphate of Ali
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Aisha raised an army of 30,000,<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 121}}.</ref> which Talha and Al-Zubayr warned her was still not enough to tackle the rebels in Medina.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 41, 43}}.</ref> Instead they marched out to Syria, where they defeated the Governor of Basra and took over the city.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 76}}; Muir (1924), pp. 243-244.</ref> They put to death everyone who was implicated in the assassination of Uthman and shaved off the beard of the deposed Governor.<ref>Muir (1924), p. 244.</ref> But they were not powerful enough to do anything more towards either their ostensible goal of avenging Uthman (since the majority of the rebels were still in Medina) or their real goal of deposing Ali. After gathering reinforcements<ref>Muir (1924), pp. 246-247.</ref> Ali entered Basra with a professional army of 20,000.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 121}}.</ref> At first each side held up copies of the Qur’an, urging the other not to fight.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 129, 130, 152}}.</ref> Aisha’s side cursed Uthman’s killers, and Ali’s side started cursing them too.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 132}}.</ref> If the conflict really had been about avenging Uthman, negotiations might well have averted the battle. But on 7 December 656 Aisha’s warriors killed a messenger from Ali, and Ali responded, “Now we are justified in fighting!” Razwy (1996), p. 463, CITING TABARI.<ref></ref> So battle commenced. | Aisha raised an army of 30,000,<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 121}}.</ref> which Talha and Al-Zubayr warned her was still not enough to tackle the rebels in Medina.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 41, 43}}.</ref> Instead they marched out to Syria, where they defeated the Governor of Basra and took over the city.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 76}}; Muir (1924), pp. 243-244.</ref> They put to death everyone who was implicated in the assassination of Uthman and shaved off the beard of the deposed Governor.<ref>Muir (1924), p. 244.</ref> But they were not powerful enough to do anything more towards either their ostensible goal of avenging Uthman (since the majority of the rebels were still in Medina) or their real goal of deposing Ali. After gathering reinforcements<ref>Muir (1924), pp. 246-247.</ref> Ali entered Basra with a professional army of 20,000.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 121}}.</ref> At first each side held up copies of the Qur’an, urging the other not to fight.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 129, 130, 152}}.</ref> Aisha’s side cursed Uthman’s killers, and Ali’s side started cursing them too.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 132}}.</ref> If the conflict really had been about avenging Uthman, negotiations might well have averted the battle. But on 7 December 656 Aisha’s warriors killed a messenger from Ali, and Ali responded, “Now we are justified in fighting!” Razwy (1996), p. 463, CITING TABARI.<ref></ref> So battle commenced. | ||
Aisha directed her troops from an armour-plated red ''howdah'' on a red camel<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 124, 156}}.</ref> named Al-Askar (“soldier”).<ref></ref> Talha was one of the first to be killed, by an arrow to his knee.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 111, 126, 127, 150}}.</ref> However, since most of the warriors were wearing armour, arrows killed inefficiently, so both sides concentrated on sword-work and cutting off one another’s limbs.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 135}}.</ref> “Never did I see a day when more men hastened to fight with only a left hand because they had lost their right.”<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 171}}.</ref> Al-Zubayr | Aisha directed her troops from an armour-plated red ''howdah'' on a red camel<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 124, 156}}.</ref> named Al-Askar (“soldier”).<ref></ref> Talha was one of the first to be killed, by an arrow to his knee.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 111, 126, 127, 150}}.</ref> However, since most of the warriors were wearing armour, arrows killed inefficiently, so both sides concentrated on sword-work and cutting off one another’s limbs.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 135}}.</ref> “Never did I see a day when more men hastened to fight with only a left hand because they had lost their right.”<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 171}}.</ref> Al-Zubayr lost the desire to fight and left the battle, but he was followed and killed while at his prayers.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 112, 126, 159}}. He said that Ali had talked him out of it on the grounds that they were cousins, but his son accused him of fearing Ali’s army. It is difficult to know his real reason as there were no unbiased witnesses.</ref> The battle was long and bloody, and 13,000 were slain.<ref>Jarrett/Suyuti p. 177. {{Tabari|16|pp. 164}} says it was only 10,000.</ref> After losing both Talha and Al-Zubayr, Aisha’s men felt obliged to protect the Mother of the Faithful by keeping close to her camel. One by one, forty men (some say seventy) took turns to hold its nose-rope,<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 138-139, 153}}.</ref> chanting, “''Fear not, O Aisha our Mother! All your sons are heroes brave; none is fearful or cautious. We will not flee until our skulls tumble, until boiling red blood pours from them! Fear not, O Aisha, wife of the Blessed!''”<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 138, 149}}.</ref> until each was cut down by Ali’s forces.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 136}}.</ref> Al-Askar held steady amid the battle until both camel and ''howdah'' “looked like a giant hedgehog” because they were so stuck with arrows.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 156}}.</ref> Finally someone managed to cut one of its legs right off, whereupon “it threw itself down on its side and growled,” and the ''howdah'' fell to the ground. With all their leaders defeated, “those soldiers of ‘A’ishah behind that position fled.”<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 149-150}}.</ref> Aisha, at Ali’s command, was extracted from her ''howdah'' by her own brother Muhammad and brought to Ali.<ref>Muir (1924) p. 251. Muhammad was Ali’s stepson; he had been very young when Abu Bakr died and his mother, Asma bint Umays, remarried to Ali (Bewley/Saad 8:197-198).</ref> | ||
It would have been foolish to subject a Mother of the Faithful to judicial execution, so Ali staged a public show of reconciliation. He addressed Aisha as “Mother,” and they each asked the other’s forgiveness.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 158}}.</ref> Then he arranged for her brother to escort her to Mecca, where she remained for several months until the next ''Hajj'', as if to demonstrate that she was free to go where she wished.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 167}}.</ref> But then she was taken back to Medina, where Ali kept her under house-arrest in the mosque complex for as long as he lived. She was to play no further part in public affairs.<ref>Muir (1924) p. 251.</ref> | It would have been foolish to subject a Mother of the Faithful to judicial execution, so Ali staged a public show of reconciliation. He addressed Aisha as “Mother,” and they each asked the other’s forgiveness.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 158}}.</ref> Then he arranged for her brother to escort her to Mecca, where she remained for several months until the next ''Hajj'', as if to demonstrate that she was free to go where she wished.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 167}}.</ref> But then she was taken back to Medina, where Ali kept her under house-arrest in the mosque complex for as long as he lived. She was to play no further part in public affairs.<ref>Muir (1924) p. 251.</ref> | ||