Events during the caliphate of ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him):

Year 36 AH – The Battle of the Camel

When ʿUthmān was slain in cold blood, the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ were seized with shock and went on to pledge allegiance to ʿAlī. Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, the Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah, and those who followed them realised that the only way to rid themselves of the guilt they felt for having failed to defend ʿUthmān was to rise and demand justice for his blood by pursuing his killers. They therefore left Medina without consulting the Commander of the Believers, ʿAlī, and headed for Basra.

Khalīfah reports that when Talhah, al-Zubayr, and ʿĀʾishah reached Basra, ʿUthmān ibn Ḥunayf al-Anṣārī was serving there as governor on behalf of ʿAlī. Alarmed by their arrival, he withdrew from the city. ʿAlī then set out from Medina, having appointed Sahl ibn Ḥunayf—ʿUthmān’s brother—as its governor, and he dispatched his son al-Ḥasan together with ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir ahead of him to Kūfah to mobilise support. After that, he himself arrived at Basra.

Before ʿAlī reached the city, Ḥakīm ibn Jiblah al-ʿAbdī had already marched out of Basra with seven hundred men. He was one of the principal figures who had risen against ʿUthmān, as mentioned earlier. He encountered the forces of Talhah and al-Zubayr, and Allah caused Ḥakīm to be killed along with a number of his clansmen. The vanguard commander of the opposing army, Mujāshiʿ ibn Masʿūd al-Sulamī, was also slain.