Then ʿAlī set out from Madinah with roughly nine hundred fighting men. When he reached al-Zabdah (1) he was met by ʿAbdullāh ibn Salām (may Allah be pleased with him), who seized the reins of his mount and said, “Commander of the Believers, do not leave it! By Allah, if you depart, Muslim authority will never return to this city again.” Some people cursed Ibn Salām, but ʿAlī said, “Leave him alone—he is indeed one of the finest Companions of the Prophet ﷺ.”
While they were on the road, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī came to his father and said, “I forbade you and you disobeyed me; tomorrow you will be slain in a desolate place with no helper at your side.”
ʿAlī replied, “You never cease lamenting over me like a slave-girl. What, exactly, did you forbid me that I disobeyed?”
Al-Ḥasan answered, “Did I not tell you—before ʿUthmān was killed—to leave the city so that he would not be murdered while you were there, giving people something to say? Did I not tell you, after his death, not to accept the people’s pledge until the inhabitants of every region had first pledged to you? And did I not tell you, when that woman and those two men set out, to remain in your house until they reconciled—yet you disobeyed me in all of this?”
ʿAlī said, “As for your claim that I left (2) before ʿUthmān’s murder, we were besieged just as he was. As for pledging before the pledges of the provinces arrived, I feared that the affair would be lost. And as for remaining seated while those people proceeded as they have—do you want me (3) to be like a hyena that is surrounded, of which it is said, ‘She is not here,’ until her hamstring is cut and she is dragged out? If I do not attend to the matter that obliges and concerns me, then who will? So spare me, my son.”
When news reached him of what the people had done in Basra—of the affair we have already mentioned—he wrote to the people of Kufah, sending the letter with Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr and Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar:
“I have chosen you over the other provinces and have turned to you, alarmed by what has occurred. Be helpers and supporters of Allah’s religion; come to us, for we seek reconciliation so that (4) this community may once again be brothers.”
The two men set off. ʿAlī also sent to Madinah for whatever arms and mounts he required. Then he rose to address the people, saying:
“Allah has honored us through Islam, elevated us by it, and through it made us brothers after humiliation, scarcity, mutual hatred, and estrangement. People lived upon that as long as Allah willed: Islam was their religion, the truth stood firm among them, and the Book was their guide—until that man was struck down by the hands of those whom Satan incited (5) to sow discord within this community. Lo, this community must inevitably split as the nations before it split; we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of what is to come.”
He then spoke again, saying:
“What must be shall be. Indeed, this community will divide into seventy-three factions; the worst of them is a faction that loves me yet does not act according to my deeds. You have witnessed and seen—so hold fast to your religion, be guided by my way, for it is the guidance of your Prophet. Follow his sunnah and turn away…"