Thereafter each of the two armies marched out intent on the other. They met at Ṣiffīn on the twenty-third of Muḥarram, and the fighting first flared at the beginning of Ṣafar; they battled for several days.
Ibn Abī Sabrah related to me, from ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn Suhayl, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—put me in charge of the pilgrimage, so I led the people in ḥajj. When I returned, he had been killed and allegiance had been given to ʿAlī—may Allah ennoble his face. ʿAlī said to me, ‘Travel to Syria, for I have appointed you over it.’ I replied, ‘That is not sound counsel. Muʿāwiyah is ʿUthmān’s cousin and his governor in Syria. I cannot be sure he will not strike off my head over ʿUthmān; at the very least he will imprison me.’ ʿAlī asked, ‘Why?’ I answered, ‘Because of my kinship to you, and because whoever bears hostility toward you will bear it toward me as well. Instead, write to Muʿāwiyah—treat with him and give him hope.’ ʿAlī refused, saying, ‘No, by Allah, that shall never be.’
Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām transmitted—from a man who told him—from Abū Sinān al-ʿIjlī, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said to ʿAlī, ‘Send me to Muʿāwiyah, for by Allah I shall weave for him a rope whose middle will never snap.’ ʿAlī replied, ‘I want nothing of your stratagems or anyone else’s. I will offer him nothing but the sword until truth overcomes falsehood.’ Ibn ʿAbbās said, ‘Would you consider something other than that?’ ʿAlī asked, ‘What is it?’ He answered, ‘Because he is obeyed and not opposed, whereas before long you will be opposed and not obeyed.’ When later the people of Iraq began to desert ʿAlī, he said, ‘All praise is due to Allah for Ibn ʿAbbās! He could see the unseen through a thin veil.’
Mujālid narrated from al-Shaʿbī: When ʿUthmān was killed, Umm Ḥabībah bint Abī Sufyān sent to the family of ʿUthmān, saying, ‘Send me the clothes in which ʿUthmān was slain.’ They sent her his shirt, drenched in blood, together with a lock of hair that had been plucked from his beard. She then summoned al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr and dispatched him to Muʿāwiyah with those items and with her letter. When he arrived, Muʿāwiyah ascended the pulpit, gathered the people, spread the blood-stained shirt before them, recounted what had been done to ʿUthmān, and called upon them to seek retaliation for his blood. The Syrians rose and said, ‘He was your cousin and you are his guardian; we will demand his blood with you,’ and they pledged allegiance to him.