A contingent from Kufa also set out, roughly equal in number to the Egyptians. Among them were Zayd ibn Suḥān al-ʿAbdī, al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī, Ziyād ibn al-Naḍr al-Ḥārithī, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Aṣamm; their commander was ʿAmr ibn al-Aṣamm.

Another force marched from Basra, including Ḥakīm ibn Jabalah, Dhurayḥ ibn ʿAbbād—both from the ʿAbd tribe—Bishr ibn Sharīḥ al-Qaysī, and Ibn Muḥrash al-Ḥanafī, under the leadership of Ḥarqūṣ ibn Zuhayr al-Saʿdī.

The Egyptians were intent on placing their hopes in ʿAlī; the Basrans looked to Ṭalḥah; the Kufans favored al-Zubayr. Each faction left home convinced that its own design would prevail before the others. When they had come to within three days’ march of Medina, a group of Basrans pressed on and camped at Dhū Khushub. Some Kufans advanced and halted at al-Aʿwaṣ, while a party from Egypt arrived and the main body encamped at Dhī al-Marwah.

Ziyād ibn al-Naḍr and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Aṣamm then moved between the Basran and Egyptian camps to sound out the situation in Medina. They entered the city and met the Mothers of the Believers, along with Ṭalḥah, al-Zubayr, and ʿAlī. They said, “Our only aim is to visit this Sacred House and to seek relief from some of our governors.” They asked leave for their people to enter, but every one of those present refused and forbade it, so the two men withdrew.

After that, a group from Egypt went to ʿAlī, a group from Basra to Ṭalḥah, and a group from Kufa to al-Zubayr. Each party declared, “If our man does not accept our pledge, we will undermine them, scatter their company, and then return until we catch them unawares.”

The Egyptians came to ʿAlī while he was encamped near Aḥjār al-Zayt, and he had already dispatched