to ʿAlī. Nor did Qudāmah ibn Maẓʿūn, ʿAbd Allah ibn Salām, or al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah pledge to him.

I say: Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, al-Walīd ibn ʿUqbah, and others likewise fled to Syria.

Al-Wāqidī said (1): “The people in Madinah pledged allegiance to ʿAlī, but seven men waited and did not pledge—among them Ibn ʿUmar, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Ṣuhayb, Zayd ibn Thābit, Muḥammad ibn Abī Maslamah, Salamah ibn Salāmah ibn Waqsh, and Usāmah ibn Zayd. To our knowledge, every member of the Anṣār pledged; none of them stayed back.”

Sayf ibn ʿUmar reported (2) on the authority of several of his shaykhs: “For five days after ʿUthmān’s murder, Madinah was without a ruler except for al-Ghāfiqī ibn Ḥarb, and the people were looking for someone who would assume the burden. The Egyptians pressed ʿAlī, but he slipped away from them into garden walls; the Kufans searched for al-Zubayr but could not find him; the Basrans sought Ṭalḥah, but he would not respond. They therefore said among themselves, ‘We shall not appoint any of these three.’

“They went to Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ and said, ‘You are one of the men of the council,’ but he refused. Then they went (3) to Ibn ʿUmar, and he also declined, leaving them bewildered.

“They then said, ‘If we return to our cities with ʿUthmān slain and no leader appointed, the people will fall into discord and we shall not be safe.’ So they returned to ʿAlī, pressed him, and Mālik al-Ashtar took him by the hand and pledged allegiance to him; the people then pledged as well.

“The people of Kūfa say: the first to pledge to him was al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī, on Thursday the twenty-fourth of Dhu al-Ḥijjah, after the people had renewed their approach to him over the matter. All of them kept saying, ‘No one is fit for it except ʿAlī.’

“When Friday came and ʿAlī ascended the pulpit, those who had not pledged the previous day did so. The first to pledge was Ṭalḥah with his paralyzed hand. Someone said, ‘Verily we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return,’ after which al-Zubayr pledged.

“Al-Zubayr then said, ‘I have pledged allegiance to ʿAlī while the pressure is still round my neck. And peace.’ (4) He then set out for Mecca and stayed there four months. This pledge took place on the Friday when five (5) days of Dhu al-Ḥijjah remained.”

ʿAlī’s first sermon (6) began with praise and thanks to Allah. He then said:

“Indeed, Allah Most High has sent down a guiding Book in which He has made clear good and evil; so take hold of the good and leave the evil. Allah has declared certain sanctuaries inviolable—sanctities that are well-known and not obscure—and He has preferred the sanctity of the Muslim above all other sanctities. By sincerity and pure monotheism He has bound together the rights of the Muslims. A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims are safe, except with due right; it is not lawful for a Muslim to harm another Muslim except where justice requires it. Attend swiftly to public affairs, and let each one of you hasten—before death (8) overtakes him—for…”