Battle of Siffin
The Battle of Siffin (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة صِفِّينَ, romanized: Maʿraka Ṣiffīn) was fought in 657 CE (37 AH) between the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib and the rebellious governor of Syria Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. The battle is named after its location Siffin on the banks of the Euphrates. The fighting stopped after the Syrians called for arbitration to escape defeat, to which Ali agreed under pressure from some of his troops. The arbitration process ended inconclusively in 658 though it strengthened the Syrians' support for Mu'awiya and weakened the position of Ali. The battle is considered part of the First Fitna and a major step towards the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Location[edit]
The battlefield was located in Siffin, a ruined Byzantine-era village at the right bank of the Euphrates in the vicinity of Raqqa in present-day Syria.[1][3] It has been identified with the modern village of Abu Hureyra in the Raqqa Governorate.[1]
Background[edit]
Opposition to Uthman[edit]
Ali frequently accused the third caliph, Uthman, of deviating from the Quran and the Sunna,[4][5][6] and was joined in his criticism by most of the senior companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, including Talha and Zubayr.[5][7] Uthman was also widely accused of nepotism,[8] corruption,[9][10] and injustice,[11] and Ali is known to have protested his conduct,[12] including his lavish gifts for his kinsmen, the Umayyads.[13][6] Ali also protected outspoken companions, such as Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and Ammar ibn Yasir,[14] from Uthman.[15] Ali appears in early sources as a restraining influence on Uthman without directly opposing him.[14] Some supporters of Ali were also part of the opposition to Uthman,[16][17] joined in their efforts by Talha[18] and Zubayr, and by Aisha, a widow of Muhammad.[19][16] The last was critical of Uthman for religious innovations and nepotism, but also objected to him for reducing her pension.[20] Among the supporters of Ali were Malik al-Ashtar (d. 657) and other religiously-learned[21] qurra (lit. 'Quran readers').[6] These wanted to see Ali as the next caliph, though there is no evidence that he communicated or coordinated with them.[22] Ali is also said to have rejected the requests to lead the rebels,[4][23] although he might have sympathized with their grievances,[24][23] and was thus considered a natural focus for the opposition,[25][26] at least morally.[4] It is also likely that some companions supported the protests with the hope of either deposing Uthman,[16] or changing his policies,[27] thus underestimating the severity of the opposition to Uthman.[27]
Mu'awiya's revolt[edit]
Removal of Mu'awiya[edit]
There are some reports of early correspondence,[4][82][83] and al-Baladhuri writes about a letter by Ali that asked Mu'awiya to report to him in Medina.[65] Alternatively, Madelung suggests that Ali contacted Mu'awiya only after arriving in Kufa, following his victory in the Battle of the Camel.[82] He might have waited this long perhaps to have the upper hand after his victory or perhaps because Mu'awiya was not a serious contender for the caliphate anyway,[82] considering that he was a taliq (those pardoned by Muhammad when Mecca fell to Muslims),[84] the son of Abu Sufyan, who had led the confederates against Muslims,[85] and Hind,[80] who was responsible for mutilating the body of Muhammad's uncle Hamza.[86] For his part, Mu'awiya had waited through the Battle of the Camel,[4][82] and was perhaps emboldened by that challenge to the authority of Ali.[87]
Once in Kufa, Ali dispatched his first emissary, Jarir ibn Abd-Allah al-Bajali,[88][89] a notable Yemenite and Uthman's governor of Hamadan,[89][90] who volunteered to represent Ali because of his personal ties with the Umayyads.[82] His was nevertheless deemed unfit for the task by some, including Malik al-Ashtar,[65] who questioned his loyalty.[84] Jarir carried with him a letter to Mu'awiya that demanded his pledge of allegiance to Ali and made it clear that he would be dismissed from his post afterward.[84] The caliph argued in his letter that his election in Medina was binding on Mu'awiya in Syria because he was elected by the same people who had pledged to his predecessors, as reported in Waq'at Siffin,[84] authored by the Shia Nasr ibn Muzahim (d. 828), one of the earliest historians of the civil war.[91] The letter added that the election of the caliph was the right of the Muhajiran and the Ansar, thus explicitly excluding Mu'awiya, as a late convert (taliq), from any shura,[84] and from the caliphate itself.[92] The letter also urged Mu'awiya to leave justice for Uthman to Ali, promising that he would deal with the issue in due course.[84][92] By this time, Mu'awiya had already publicly charged Ali in the death of Uthman.[93] Having failed to intimidate Ali's governor of Egypt to switch sides,[94] Mu'awiya had also forged a letter from the governor to himself in which the latter supported the former's right for revenge, according to Madelung.[94][95] In response to Ali's letter, Mu'awiya asked Jarir for time,[96] then addressed the congregation at the next prayer, appealed to their Syrian patriotism, and received their pledge as amir to revenge Uthman,[96][97] as detailed by Ibn Muzahim and the Shia historian Ibn A'tham al-Kufi (ninth century).[97] He soon launched a propaganda campaign across Syria, charging Ali in the death of Uthman and calling for revenge.[93][98][3]
Alliance against Ali[edit]
Mu'awiya also wrote to Amr ibn al-As to join him in Damascus,[96][88] possibly to draw on his political and military expertise,[99] or perhaps he hoped that Amr would bring the neighboring Egypt under his rule,[100] having failed earlier to intimidate Ali's governor of Egypt to switch sides.[94] A Qurayshite companion of Muhammad and a military strategist,[101] Amr was believed to be an illegitimate child of Abu Sufyan.[102] He had conquered,[103][104] and then governed Egypt, but was later removed by Uthman.[105][3] After his dismissal, Amr incited rebellion against Uthman,[75] and later publicly took some credit for the assassination of Uthman by the Egyptian rebels.[106] However, he soon changed his tone and pinned the murder on Ali,[106] possibly fearing the Umayyads' wrath,[106] or perhaps realizing that he would not receive a post in Ali's government.[107] After arriving in Damascus, Amr officially swore his allegiance to Mu'awiya in 657.[75] He thus pledged to back the Umayyads against Ali in return for the life-long governorship of Egypt.[108][109] This pact turned a suspect in the assassination of Uthman into his avenger,[110] and also later gave rise to a story recorded by some historians, including al-Baladhuri and the Shia-leaning al-Ya'qubi (d. 897-8).[110][111] Amr privately confesses in this story to selling his religion for worldly gain.[112] Even though the story itself is apocryphal, Ayoub suggests that it may portray the popular perception of the conflict between the Ali and Mu'awiya,[101] which the story presents as a conflict between "the people of religion" and "the people of this world," respectively.[104] The Mu'tazilite Ibn Abi'l-Hadid (d. 1258) gives Amr the credit for successfully spreading the rumor that Ali had killed Uthman.[113]
Mu'awiya also brought into his camp the influential Syrian Shurahbil ibn Simt,[1] whom he convinced that Ali was guilty in the death of Uthman,[114][115] probably with false witnesses and reports.[114] After some hesitation, Shurahbil became an enthusiastic advocate for Mu'awiya.[115] Mu'awiya also reached out to the religious elite in Mecca and Medina,[116] asked them to hold Ali accountable for sheltering the murderers of Uthman, and proposed that the next caliph should be elected by general consultation, emphasizing that he was not interested in the caliphate himself.[117] According to Ayoub, the Medinans rejected his request and accused him of deception and treachery, citing al-Kufi.[117] Madelung similarly writes that al-Miswar ibn Makhrama refused to support Mu'awiya on behalf of the holy cities, asking him in a letter what a taliq whose father had led the confederate armies against Muslims had to do with the caliphate.[116] Mu'awiya did, however, win to his side Ubayd Allah, son of the second caliph Umar and a triple murderer, who had fled after learning that Ali intended to apply the lex talionis to him.[85] Mu'awiya also separately wrote to Abd-Allah ibn Umar and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas among the Muhajirun, and Muhammad ibn Maslama among the Ansar. These all vowed neutrality in response. The last one also accused Mu'awiya of abandoning Uthman in his life and taking advantage of his death.[118]
Proposed secession of Syria and Egypt[edit]
Mu'awiya soon privately visited Ali's emissary, Jarir, and proposed to recognize Ali as the caliph in return for Syria and Egypt and their revenues during the caliphates of Ali and his successor.[119][5] The major historical accounts are unaware of this proposal, writes Madelung, which is nevertheless mentioned in a poem by al-Walid ibn Uqba, who was close to Mu'awiya. The latter kept this proposal secret evidently because it contradicted the public statements that his goal was to revenge Uthman.[119] Jarir conveyed this proposal to Ali in a letter, who rejected it,[120] possibly perceiving the proposal as a stratagem for Mu'awiya to take over the caliphate step by step.[121] Alternatively, had Ali accepted Mu'awiya's proposal, the Islamic territory might have been irreversibly divided into two parts, suggests McHugo.[122]
Declaration of war by Mu'awiya[edit]
Mu'awiya now sent Jarir back to Kufa with a formal declaration of war, which charged Ali with the murder of Uthman and vowed that the Syrians would fight Ali until he surrendered Uthman's murderers. Then there would be a Syrian council (shura) to elect the next caliph, the declaration continued.[123] Ali replied to this letter that he was innocent and that the accusations of Mu'awiya lacked any evidence. He also challenged Mu'awiya to name any Syrian who would qualify to vote in a shura. As for handing Uthman's killers to Mu'awiya, Ali asked the latter to pledge allegiance and then present his case before Ali's court.[124] Ali viewed this as a rebellion against the legitimate Muslim caliph, that is, a challenge to "God's authority."[115]
Mu'awiya's motives[edit]
Modern authors often suggest that Mu'awiya defied Ali after he deposed him as the governor of Syria,[125][126] or conditioned his pledge to Ali on the revenge for Uthman,[81][127][128] knowing that Ali would dismiss him after giving his oath.[75][84] At the time, Mu'awiya was repeatedly accused of abandoning Uthman during the deadly siege of his residence, and Ayoub thus views Mu'awiya's claim of revenge as a pretext.[129] Other modern authors similarly tend to consider Mu'awiya's call for revenge as a guise,[130][131][132][133][81][122] intended initially to maintain his rule over Syria,[133][28] or to seize the caliphate altogether later.[17][134][135] For McHugo, this view is corroborated by Mu'awiya's secret offer to recognize the caliphate of Ali in return for Syria and Egypt.[122] An exception is Kennedy, who believes that Mu'awiya was sincerely seeking justice for Uthman.[81] Some authors instead regard the call for revenge as a pious cloak for broader issues: Hinds and Poonawala trace back Mu'awiya's revolt to his demands to rule over an autonomous Syria,[136][28] which was kept free (unlike Iraq) from uncontrolled immigration to check the Byzantine threats.[137] In contrast, after the Byzantines' defeats,[137] Ali might have expected all provinces to equally share the burden of immigration.[28] Shaban has a similar view.[131] Verse 17:33 of the Quran was cited by Mu'awiya to justify revenge,[4][32] "If anyone is killed wrongfully, We give his next-of-kin authority, but let him not be extravagant in killing, surely he is being helped," although Madelung suggests that the clause about a commensurate response was later ignored in the "frenzy of patriotic self-righteousness" created by Mu'awiya.[96] Mu'awiya's other justification for revolting against Ali was that he had not participated in the election of Ali,[28] or that the rebels were involved in the election.[75]
Regarding the emphasis on a Syrian shura after Ali, Mu'awiya's justification was that the people of Hejaz had abandoned the truth and it was now the Syrians who had to uphold the justice, as explained in a letter attributed to him shortly before the Battle of Siffin.[138] In reality, however, this emphasis was likely to ensure his own caliphate.[139][122] Madelung comments here that Mu'awiya later designated his son Yazid as his successor without any shura.[139] As for whether and when Mu'awiya first aspired to the caliphate,[140] it is the conclusion of Ayoub that he might have had two scenarios in mind: The first one was keeping the rule of Syria and annexing Egypt, as he indeed proposed to Ali's envoy, Jarir. Another clause of this same proposal was that Mu'awiya would not recognize the successor of Ali in case of his death, which suggests that Mu'awiya might have considered himself the future caliph after Ali.[141] The second scenario was that Mu'awiya would succeed in removing Ali from office. This is evident in some speeches and letters attributed to Mu'awiya before the Battle of Siffin, in which his case for the caliphate and seizing it by force is defended.[141] Gaining political power by force soon became the common practice for Muslim rulers and was also legitimized by some (Sunni) jurists.[138]
Ali and retribution for Uthman[edit]
Ali was openly critical of the conduct of Uthman, though he generally neither justified his violent death nor condemned his killers.[142][143][65] While he did not condone the assassination,[144] Ali probably held Uthman responsible through his injustice for the protests that led to his death,[142][145] a view for which Poonawala cites Waq'at Siffin.[28] From this same source, Ayoub cites the account of the negotiations before the Battle of Siffin, in which Ali is quoted as saying that Uthman was killed by those indignant about his transgressions. Even when pressed by Mu'awiya's envoys, the report adds that Ali refused to say that Uthman was killed wrongfully.[146] Madelung sides with this judgment of Ali from a judicial point of view, saying that Uthman probably did not sanction the murder of Niyar ibn Iyad Aslami, which triggered the deadly raid on his residence, but he obstructed justice by preventing an investigation into the murder, fearing that his aide Marwan was behind it.[147] Still, in his letters to Mu'awiya and elsewhere,[148][92][149] Ali insisted that he would bring the murderers to justice in due course,[150][149][144] probably after establishing his authority.[151] Quoting al-Ya'qubi and al-Kufi, Ayoub suggests that a mob from various tribes murdered Uthman and that Ali could have not punished them without risking widespread tribal conflict, even if he could identify them.[152] Here, the Islamicists Farhad Daftary and John Kelsay say that the actual murderers soon fled (Medina) after the assassination,[17][153] a view for which Jafri cites al-Tabari.[154] Closely associated with Ali was Malik al-Ashtar, a leader of the qurra,[6][155] who had led the Kufan delegation against Uthman,[81] even though they had heeded Ali's call for nonviolence,[31] and did not participate in the deadly siege.[31] A leading Egyptian rebel with links to Ali was his stepson, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, who was allegedly among those who killed Uthman.[151] Other authors have rejected this accusation,[156][157] though most sources seem to agree that Muhammad visited Uthman shortly before his death and rebuked him for his conduct.[156] These two men and some other supporters of Ali were implicated by Mu'awiya in the assassination of Uthman.[158][17] In this light, some authors suggest that Ali was unwilling or unable to punish these individuals.[17][159][160] In any case, the revenge for Uthman soon became the pretext for two revolts against Ali.[161][162]
Role of Mu'awiya in the assassination[edit]
Other authors have instead implicated Mu'awiya or his close associates in the assassination of Uthman. Madelung writes that Amr ibn al-As, a close ally of Mu'awiya, had earlier publicly taken credit for the assassination.[106] At the time, Mu'awiya was also repeatedly accused of abandoning Uthman during the deadly siege of his residence,[129] and this view is echoed by the Islamic author Hassan Abbas and by the Shia scholar Muhammad H. Tabatabai (d. 1981).[163][134] Similarly, a letter ascribed to the besieged Uthman by al-Tabari and al-Ya'qubi alleges that Mu'awiya deliberately withheld the requested reinforcements to benefit politically from the caliph's death.[164] It is also commonly believed that Marwan, the secretary of Uthman, was responsible for the intercepted instructions to punish the rebels that set off the final siege. However, Lesley Hazleton, an author on religion and politics, further suggests that Marwan may have done so at the instigation of Mu'awiya.[165] Abbas shares this view.[163] Tabatabai writes that, during his own caliphate, Mu'awiya no longer pursued vengeance for Uthman,[166] which was the basis for his claim to the caliphate.[91]
Skirmishes[edit]
After leaving Kufa, Ali's army took the route through al-Mada'in.[65] They reached Siffin early in the summer of 36/657, a location west of the Euphrates.[183] There, the forces of Mu'awiya were already waiting for them,[183] and prevented them from accessing the watering place.[183] A messenger of Ali now told Mu'awiya that they did not wish to fight the Syrians without proper warning,[183] to which Mu'awiya responded by fortifying the forces who were guarding the water.[184] Their justification for depriving Iraqis of water was their claim that their enemies were the murderers of Uthman. This is indeed what al-Imama wa al-siyasa quotes from al-Walid ibn Uqba, an advisor to Mu'awiya.[183][185] In the opinion of Madelung, however, Mu'awiya and the Syrians were perhaps carried away by their own propaganda against Ali.[184] In a related account, al-Ya'qubi quotes Mu'awiya as saying, "May God not allow me and [my father] Abu Sufyan drink from the spring (hawd) of the messenger of God if they [the enemies] ever drink from this water."[186] Soon, however, the Iraqis drove off the Syrians and seized control of the watering place, though Ali permitted the enemies to freely access the water source.[184][187][188] For Ayoub, this episode is an example of how Mu'awiya used religious language for military and political gain, while Ali held religious imperatives above all.[186] The two sides at Siffin engaged in skirmishes and negotiations.[64][1] This continued for some three months,[28][103][158] certainly through the month of Muharram,[186][65] in which fighting is prohibited in Islam.[186] The long idle period reflects the troops' reluctance for battle,[158][122] possibly because they were averse to shedding other Muslims' blood,[1][3] or because most tribes were represented on both sides.[1] Donner believes that neither of the two leaders enjoyed strong support among their armies.[100] At any rate, the negotiations failed,[32][100] possibly on 18 July 657, and the two sides readied for battle.[189] Per Arab customs, prominent figures fought with small retinues prior to the main battle, which took place a week later.[122]
Aftermath[edit]
After the conclusion of the arbitration, Syrians pledged their allegiance to Mu'awiya as the next caliph in 659,[282][32][80] or by the end of April-May 658, according to Bahramian.[65] Upon learning that Mu'awiya had declared himself caliph, Ali broke off all communications with him and introduced a curse on him in his congregational prayers, following the precedent of Muhammad.[170] Mu'awiya soon reciprocated by introducing a curse on Ali, his sons, and his top general.[292] With the news of their violence against civilians, Ali had to postpone his new Syria campaign to subdue the Kharijites in the Battle of Nahrawan in 658.[293][177][256] Just before embarking on his second campaign to Syria in 661,[207] Ali was assassinated by a Kharijite during the morning prayers at the Mosque of Kufa.[294][295][177] In the long term, it is the opinion of Ayoub that the Battle of Siffin crystalized the emerging divide in the Muslim community and changed its course.[296]