THE BATTLE OF SIFFEEN
Leading an army of ninety thousand soldiers, the Commander of the Faithful headed for Syria towards the end of Shawaal, 36 AH ‘ Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, had no choice but to battle with Mu’ awiyah, having again asked for his pledge of allegiance and having again been turned down. Mu’awiyah, on the other hand, set out for Iraq at the helm of an eighty five thousand soldier army to encounter Ali’s troops. The two parties met at Siffeen by the Euphrates. They did not immediately plunge into fighting. Instead, messengers and delegates kept going back and forth between ‘Ali and Mu’awiyah. However, all attempts at hammering out a reconciliation sadly failed. Tension escalated resulting in having both parties standing at sword points. Some sporadic skirmishes took place, but did not amount to an all-out warfare. At the outset of the month of Muharram, 37 AH, these skirmishes came to a stop. Hope for effecting peace between the two antagonistic sides was renewed afresh, yet to no avail. The situation only aggravated and conditions took a turn for the worse. On Safar 1M , 37 AH, war flared.
For six days on end, grim-visaged warfare held sway, with each side striving to be victorious. Yet, none managed to bring the other to their knees. Despite the fact that the caliph personally took part in the battle and although his troops were confident that they had every reason to fight a rebel against the Commander of the Faithful, the relentless perseverance and amazing intrepidity of the people of Syria caused them to fight people of Iraq tooth and nail. On the seventh day, fighting grew even tenser as Muslims fought with unprecedented vehemence. What made the situation even worse was the killing of ‘ Ammaar Ibn Yasir, the righteous companion whom the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had foretold the fact that he would be killed at the hands of the transgressing party.
The death of ‘Ammaar Ibn Yasir enkindled enthusiasm in the hearts of Ali’s soldiers as it was a solid proof of their being right. His death endorsed the stand of the Commander of the Faithful whom they fought in support. They therefore grew more confident that their opponents were the transgressing party that either had to be brought back to its senses or killed. Inside the opposite camp, news of ‘Amaar’s death was indeed significant. Those who knew of the Prophet’s prediction were struck by the fact that they were the transgressing party. Hence, they immediately stopped fighting. Placed in a tight corner, Mu’awiyah stepped out to address those soldiers among his ranks who would not fight anymore, saying: “Why are you pulling away? ‘ Ammaar was killed by those who sent him to us. We were only defending ourselves.”
Al-Ashtar, one of Ali’s best and most intrepid soldiers in the battle of Siffeen, launched a fierce campaign against Mu’awiyah’s army. He managed to approach the camp of Mu’awiyah, who almost fled the battlefield, had it not been for his sense of shame. Mu’awiyah was perceptive enough to realize that his opponent was not far from waving the banners of triumph. At that point, he called on his friend, Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas to handle the deteriorating situation.
‘Amr suggested holding up books of the Glorious Qur’an at sword points and asking to resort to the Holy Book for arbitration. ‘ Amr’s idea succeeded in bringing fighting to a halt. That was indeed a subtle maneuver on the part of ‘ Amr Ibn Al-‘As whereby he was able to deceive ‘ Ali’s soldiers. The caliph tried hard to explain to his troops how they were taken in at a time when they almost attained victory. Nonetheless, his soldiers refused to listen to him. Instead, they outspokenly demanded: “Resort to Allah’s Holy Book, ‘ Ali.” ‘Ali therefore was forced to order fighting to stop and to reluctantly accept arbitration. The plan was that each side was to choose a representative. ‘ Ali initially chose ‘ Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbaas for the job. However, he was pressured into accepting Abu Musa Al-Ash’aryy instead. On the other hand, Mu’awiyah’s side opted for ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘ As. The arbitration contract was then written down stipulating that the verdict was to be pronounced at Doowmat Al-Jandal, in Ramadan, 37 AH
This pulls down the curtain on the battle of Siffeen which exacted a heavy toll on Muslims, with casualties totaling to seventy thousand Muslims, including hundreds of the Prophet’s companions, along with reciters of the Qur’an and many scholars. The whole episode was a bullet aimed at Islam. Similar to the battle of Al-Jandal, Muslims committed a grievous mistake by fighting one another and shedding each other’s blood.
Though the battle of Siffeen_came to an end when fighting between both sides stopped, the conditions Mu’awiyah was in were totally different from those ‘Ali was in. People of Syria grew more attached to Mu’awiyah. They therefore were divided into two groups; Mi’s Shia (i.e. supporters) whose loyalty to him remained unshaken, and the Kharijites who refused the idea of arbitration, and who asked the Commander of the Faithful not to go through with it and to continue to Fight Mu’awiyah instead. When Ali refused to listen to them, they rose against him and would not go back to Al-Kufah. The Kharijites were thus against both ‘ Ali and Mu’awiyah. What matters most is that they were a thorn in ‘ Ali’s side. They were a constant distraction preventing ‘ Ali from focusing on his opponent, Mu’ awiyah, who, in turn, made an excellent use of the truce organizing his ranks and preparing for a future encounter.
(Source: Biographies of the Rightly Guided Caliphs )
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