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Battle of Siffin
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The Battle of Siffin (May-July 657 CE) occurred during the First Fitna, or First Muslim civil war, with the main engagement taking place from July 26 to July 28. It was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Syria. Following the controversial murder of Usman, Ali had become Caliph but struggled to be accepted as such throughout the Muslim Empire. Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, denounced Ali, and the two fought at Siffin, and the right to lead the growing Muslim empire. However, the battle was indecisive, and the two parties agreed to an arbitration, whose result was equally indecisive and controversial. The battle and arbitration served to weaken Ali's position, but did not resolve the tensions that were plaguing the empire.
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The Battle of Siffin (May-July 657 CE) occurred during the First Fitna, or First Muslim civil war, with the main engagement taking place from July 26 to July 28. It was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Syria. Following the controversial murder of Usman, Ali had become Caliph but struggled to be accepted as such throughout the Muslim Empire. Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, denounced Ali, and the two fought at Siffin, and the right to lead the growing Muslim empire. However, the battle was indecisive, and the two parties agreed to an arbitration, whose result was equally indecisive and controversial. The battle and arbitration served to weaken Ali's position, but did not resolve the tensions that were plaguing the empire. To the Shia, Ali ibn Abi Talib was the first Imam. To Sunni, Ali ibn Abi Talib was the fourth Rashidun Caliph, and Muawiyah the first Caliph of the Ummayyad dynasty. The events surrounding the battle are highly controversial between Sunni and Shia, and serve as part of the split between the two groups.
Start of hostilitiesAfter the Battle of the Camel was over, Ali returned from Basra to Kufa in Rajab of 36 (January 657). He decided to transfer the capital of his government to Kufa from Medina because it was more centrally placed in the Muslim Empire, and he could halt Muawiyah’s progress into Iraq. It was vitally important for Ali that he subdue the province of Syria, and thereby legitimise his position as ruler of the Muslim empire.
At first, Ali ibn Abi Talib tried to settle matters peacefully by sending an envoy to Syria. He chose Jarir, who was the chief of Banu Bajila and governor of Hamdan. Jarir was known to be a friend of Muawiyah, and so Ali hoped that he would be acceptable as a mediator between the two sides. However, Jarir did not return for three months, and when he did he brought only the message that Muawiyah would submit to Ali just as soon as the murderers of Usman were brought to justice. This was of course not practicable by Ali. Ali's general, Malik al-Ashtar, accused Jarir of having wasted time with Muawiyah, and said that Muawiyah had purposely kept Jarir in Syria long enough to mature his plans of hostilities. Under attack from al-Ashtar, Jarir was forced to leave Kufa, so he joined Muawiyah in Syria.
Usman's blood-stained shirt was still hanging in the Damascus mosque, and Muawiyah's army had pledged an oath that they would not wash or sleep a night at home, until the murderers of Usman were brought to justice. Moreover, they also swore to bring to justice all those who sheltered the murderers - by which they meant Ali ibn Abi Talib and his followers. So, seeing that war was inevitable, Ali gathered his forces, and, after at first planning to invade Syria from the North, he attacked directly, marching through the Mesopotamian desert. Arriving at Riqqa, on the banks of the Euphrates, the Syrian vanguard was sighted, but it withdrew without engagement. The people of Riqqa were hostile to Ali, and his army had great difficulty crossing the river. Eventually, Malik al-Ashtar threatened the townspeople with death, which forced their co-operation. So, finally, the army managed to cross the river, by means of a bridge of boats. Ali's army then marched along the right bank of the Euphrates, until they came across the Syrian outpost of Sur al-Rum, where there was a brief skirmish, but Ali's advance was not slowed. So in Dhu al-Hijjah 36 (May 657), the army of Ali ibn Abi Talib came into sight of Muawiyah’s main forces, which were encamped on the river plain at Siffin.
The fight for the riverMuawiyah had stationed his general, Amr ibn al-Aas, with 10,000 men on the river to stop Ali ibn Abi Talib's army having access to the water. Ali ibn Abi Talib sent Sasaa ibn Sauhan al-Abdi to persuade Muawiyah that he should allow Ali's army access, as they, like Muawiyah's army, were Muslims. Ali further claimed that if the situation had been reversed, the river would have been open to both armies. However, Muawiyah sent back a message that the murderers of Usman had not allowed him any water when they had laid siege to his house, and Muawiyah was avenging that action. Whether or not the participants were truthful in their claims, this situation meant that Muawiyah had the strategic upper hand, as Ali's army could not long stay in the area without access to water. Ali had no choice but to attack.
Ali ibn Abi Talib gave command of his army to the general Malik al-Ashtar, who led the attack. After heavy fighting, Amr's forces were dislodged from the river banks. Now having control of the water supply, Ali ibn Abi Talib kept to his word and allowed access to the water for Muawiyah’s side. Moreover, Ali did not immediately press forwards with his attack. Instead, he sent out Bashir ibn Amr, Sa'id ibn Qais and Shabus ibn Rabi as ambassadors to negotiate peace. However, Muawiyah was unwilling to meet with this delegation, and so a new delegation was sent, under Adi ibn Hatim, Yazid ibn Qais, Ziyad ibn Hufza and Shabis ibn Rad. However, negotiations once again proved fruitless. Muawiyah repeated his demands that the murderers of Usman be brought to justice, but Ali's ambassadors alleged that Muawiyah had no interest in justice and was simply intent on taking the Caliphate for himself. This enraged Muawiyah. "Begone, ye lying scoundrels!" he is supposed to have cried; "the sword shall decide between us." Despite this, Ali continued to send deputations to negotiate peace, and the two armies remained encamped facing each other for 110 days.
However, even as the peace negotiations were taking place, there were at least 90 skirmishes between tribal columns in the two armies. There was no general battle between the two armies, however, but rather hostilities did not go beyond this sporadic fighting. Nevertheless, many lives were lost on both sides, and the peace negotiations remained deadlocked. Ali's army was mostly made up of Bedouin tribesmen, most of whom were sympathetic to the deposition of Usman. It seems that under their influence, Ali's position began to harden.
The main engagementAli made one final demand for Muawiyah's army to submit to him as Caliph, but they refused. As a result, on 8th Safar 36 Ali gave the order for a full attack, and the major part of the Battle of Siffin began. The battle lasted all day, and into the night. The fighting lulled a little in the darkness, but started again even more fiercely the following day. Despite his age (he was now 58) Ali attacked personally with his Medinan troops in the centre, with his troops from Basra and Kufa on the flanks. Muawiyah watched the battle from a pavilion on the field, surrounded by his Personal Guard. Amr ibn al-Aas led Muawiyah's cavalry against the Kufa flank with great success, and almost broke through to kill Ali. However, Ali's personal bravery inspired his troops, and the attack was stalled. At the head of the Basra troops was al-Ashtar and 300 qari (reciters), who led the assault on Muawiyah's forces. The attack was quite successful.
The fighting continued fiercely onto a third day, and casualties mounted, including Hashim ibn Utba and Ammar ibn Yasir, both Companions of the Prophet. Both sides had by now ran out of ammunition for their quivers and so the battle was fought hand-to-hand. Although Muawiyah's forces were numerically superior, Ali's forces were greatly inspired by al-Ashtar, and gave no ground. In the surviving accounts of the battle, each writer praises his own tribe and condemns the others; but all agree on the bravery of al-Ashtar. Both Ali and Muawiyah were unhappy at the heavy losses both sides were taking, but Muawiyah was particularly dejected, believing that the battle would eventually be lost. So Amr al-Aas suggested that single combat between the two leaders could resolve the battle without further bloodshed, but Muawiyah was unwilling to do this. Both men were old but Ali was still vigorous and almost certain to win such a duel against Muawiyah, who was unfit and overweight. But Muawiyah did take Amr's second suggestion - he told his bodyguards to put pages from the Qu'ran on their lances, and shout "The law of the Lord! That shall decide between us!" By this it was meant that the two sides should cease fighting and settle matters by peaceful arbitration under Islamic law. Muawiyah and Amr did not necessarily think that all of Ali's army would accept an arbitration, but they were sure that some of them would favour this, and so at the least it would cause dissension in Ali's army.
However, the plan worked better than Muawiyah and Amr had hoped, because Ali's entire army quickly began chanting along with Muawiyah's men. Ali urged his army to fight on, saying that Muawiyah was simply using a trick and was on the point of defeat, but the soldiers did not listen. In fact, many of Ali's best soldiers were the keenest to make an arbitration. Ali and al-Ashtar spent a long time arguing against their men, but they could not change their minds. In fact the soldiers became impatient and attacked al-Ashtar with whips, calling him a warmonger. They even threatened to send Ali to Muawiyah as a prisoner if he did not accept the arbitration. With his army in mutiny against him, Ali had no choice but to accept the arbitration. So not only had Muawiyah managed to gain an arbitration, he had greatly weakened Ali's position with his own supporters.
Date of ArbitrationA notable fact was that the date of arbitration decided by Muawiyah's and Ali's army was eight months after the battle. Again, this decision was not in Ali's favour, for if the arbitration was held immediately after the battle then in case of failure of the same, the battle could have resumed. Muawiyah could not have afforded to restart the battle immediately because the short term break would be insufficient to regroup his army and raise their morale.
ConclusionAli ibn Abi Talib wanted his kinsman Abdullah ibn Abbas or Malik al-Ashtar to represent him in the arbitration, but the army rejected these candidates. Al-Ashtar was a regicide, and so was implacably opposed to Muawiyah, who would have had him executed. And Abdullah was Ali's close relation and so tied very closely to his cause. As a result, the soldiers feared that these men would advance Ali's claims too strongly and be unwilling to compromise - and so the war would continue. So Ali's men insisted that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari be chosen as the representative. Like most of the soldiers, Abu Musa was a Bedouin, and thought to be truly committed to peace. However, he was of questionable loyalty to Ali and had deserted him previously. Meanwhile, Muawiyah appointed his general Amr al-Aas to represent him. As a result, Muawiyah's position in arbitration was much stronger from the beginning. This was a great personal humiliation for Ali, not only in that his men denied him the choice of his own representative, but because the peace treaty that Ali signed did not recognise him as Caliph, but merely placed Ali and Muawiyah as equal combatants in a war. Ali retired to Kufa, Muawiyah to Damascus.
Although Ali got the better of the actual fighting, and the end result of the battle was inconclusive, it was in fact Muawiyah who emerged from the battle in much the stronger position. Ali had failed to subdue Syria, and his supporters were now divided. Many of Ali's closest followers were disgusted by the peace treaty, including the loyal al-Ashtar, who is supposed to have stated "I shall never acknowledge that this is my right hand, if it should touch such a document as this [peace treaty]." Meanwhile the army had been able to mutiny and dictate policy. Ali ibn Abi Talib had conducted himself with great dignity, but he had not been able to keep his own followers united, let alone unite all Muslims under his leadership - which had been his goal in invading Syria.
AftermathOn the march back to Kufa, Ali's army became sharply divided. Now that the battle was over, many of the soldiers - particularly the Bedouin - regretted agreeing to the arbitration, because they did not see it as proper under Islam. They said that the leadership of the Muslim world was not Ali's personal property to bargain over with Muawiyah, as rival (secular) kings might - rather, their aim in overthrowing Usman had been to establish a truly religious government. A group of 12,000 soldiers broke away from the main army, and instead went to the nearby village of Harura. After great efforts, Ali managed to pacify these soldiers and persuade them to rejoin his army, but it proved only temporary.
For the next six months, Muawiyah ruled over Syria, Ali over the rest of the Muslim Empire. In Ramadan 37 (February 658), the umpires arrived at Dumat-al-Jondel, along with a huge number of interested spectators. The two umpires met alone in a specially elected pavilion. The preserved account is brief and uncertain, but it seems that Amr began by pressing Abu Musa to admit that Usman was foully murdered, and that hence Muawiyah should succeed as his kinsman. Abu Musa rejected this, saying that succession to the Caliphate is not a matter of lineage but the vote of the Companions of the Prophet.
However, Ali remained recognised as Caliph and Muawiyah did not claim the title - but now Ali's position was weakened even more. It further estranged him from his supporters, and the 12,000 soldiers who had broken away became the nucleus of a new religious sect, the Kharijites (dissenters) who rejected all Caliphs, and constantly rebelled against Ali, enabling Muawiyah to take Egypt. Muawiyah and Ali continued to be hostile to one another, making their followers curse each other during prayers, but never again did they fight a major battle. For the rest of Ali's life, the Muslim Empire was divided between the two men, with Muawiyah ruling Syria and his close allied, Amr, was ruling over Egypt, and Ali increasingly struggling to rule the rest.
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