and over the infantry was Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq; the right wing was commanded by ʿAlbāʾ ibn al-Haytham al-Sadūsī—some said it was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar, others said al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī—while the left wing was under al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī. The vanguard was led by ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, and ʿAlī handed the banner to his son Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah.

The banner of Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr was carried by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām. Ṭalḥah himself commanded the cavalry, the infantry was under ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, the right wing under ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kurayz, and the left under Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam.

The battle took place on a Friday outside Basra, near the palace of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād. According to al-Layth ibn Saʿd and others, it occurred in the month of Jumādā al-Ūlā.

Abū al-Yaqẓān related that on that day Kaʿb ibn Sūr al-Azdī came out with a Qurʾān hung from his neck and a shield in his hand. He seized the halter of ʿĀʾishah’s camel, whereupon a stray arrow struck him and killed him.

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd added: Kaʿb had previously sealed himself inside his house, plastering up the doorway and leaving only a small aperture through which his food and drink were passed, seeking to withdraw from the turmoil. People told ʿĀʾishah, “If he marches with you, not a single man of the Azd will remain behind.” She rode to his dwelling, called him, and spoke to him, but he did not answer. She said, “Am I not your mother, and do I not have a right over you?” So he replied. She said, “I only wish to reconcile the people.” At that he emerged, opened the Qurʾān, and walked between the two lines, summoning them to what it contained, and a stray arrow struck him and killed him.

Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said: Kaʿb ibn Sūr stood between the two camps holding aloft a Qurʾān, imploring them by Allah and by Islam not to shed one another’s blood, and he continued in that state until he was killed.