of the Camel, “Hasan, would that your father had died twenty years ago.”
Hasan replied, “Father, I kept telling you not to do this.”
ʿAlī said, “My son, I never thought the affair would reach this point.”

Ibn Saʿd reported: Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah stepped forward and took hold of the camel’s halter. A man charged at him. Muḥammad cried, “I remind you of Ḥa Mīm!” The man thrust his spear and killed him, then recited about Muḥammad:

A tousled worshipper, upright with his Lord’s verses,
Harmless to sight—a Muslim, evident to all.
I tore the collar of his shirt with my spear,
So he fell, slain—face and hands on the ground.
He reminded me of ‘Ḥa Mīm’ while the spearheads clashed;
Why did he not recite ‘Ḥa Mīm’ before he advanced?
For nothing save that he would not follow ʿAlī;
Whoever shuns the truth will end in regret.

That night ʿAlī walked among the dead, torches in hand. Passing Muḥammad ibn Ṭalḥah lying slain, he said, “Hasan, this is Muḥammad the devout—by the Lord of the Kaʿbah!” Then he added, “His father cast him into this death; had he not been dutiful to his father, he would never have come out.” Hasan said, “You had no need to say that!” ʿAlī replied, “What concern is that of yours, Hasan?”

Shurayk, quoting al-Aswad ibn Qays, related: A man who saw al-Zubayr on the Day of the Camel told me that ʿAlī called out to him, “Abū ʿAbd Allah!” Al-Zubayr came forward until their mounts’ necks touched. ʿAlī said, “I implore you by Allah: do you remember the day I was confiding in you and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came upon us and said, ‘Are you confiding in him? By Allah, he will fight you, and you will be the one in the wrong’?” The moment al-Zubayr heard this report he struck the face of his mount and withdrew.

Hilāl ibn Khabbāb—transmitted by Abū Shihāb al-Ḥannāṭ and others—from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, said that on the Day of the Camel he addressed al-Zubayr: “Son of Ṣafiyyah, …”