The two camps then reached a truce and laid down their arms. They agreed that ʿUthmān ibn Ḥunayf would remain in the governor’s residence and continue to lead the prayer, while Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr might stay wherever they wished in Basra until ʿAlī arrived.

ʿAmmār said to the people of Kūfah, “By Allah, I know that she—meaning ʿĀʾishah—is the wife of your Prophet in this world and the next; yet Allah is testing you through her to see whether you will follow him or follow her.”

Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm al-Zuhrī reported: A man from the tribe of Aslam told me, “We were four thousand Medinans with ʿAlī.”

Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said, “On the day of the Camel there were with ʿAlī eight hundred of the Anṣār (Medinan Helpers) and four hundred who had been present at the Pledge of al-Riḍwān.” This was narrated by Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīrah from Saʿīd.

Al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ziyād, on the authority of al-Suddī, said, “One hundred and thirty veterans of Badr and seven hundred other Companions of the Prophet ﷺ fought alongside ʿAlī on the day of the Camel, and thirty thousand men were killed between the two sides—no slaughter was ever greater than that.”

Al-Shaʿbī used to exaggerate, saying, “None of the Companions were present except ʿAlī, ʿAmmār, Ṭalḥah, and al-Zubayr.”

Salamah ibn Kuhayl related: “Six thousand men set out from Kūfah and joined ʿAlī at Dhī Qār; from there he advanced with roughly ten thousand troops until he reached Basra.”

Abū ʿUbaydah said: “At the Battle of the Camel, the cavalry of ʿAlī was under the command of ʿAmmār, and—”