ʿAmr, Siʿr (1) ibn Mālik, Hind ibn ʿAmr, al-Haytham ibn Shihāb, Zayd ibn Suḥān, al-Ashtar, ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim, al-Musayyab ibn Najabah, Yazīd ibn Qays, Ḥujr ibn ʿAdī, and others of their standing.
The tribe of ʿAbd al-Qays in its entirety, thousands strong, had positioned itself between ʿAlī and Basra, waiting for him. ʿAlī therefore dispatched al-Qaʿqāʿ as an envoy to Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr in Basra, inviting them to harmony and solidarity and warning them of the gravity of schism and discord.
Al-Qaʿqāʿ entered Basra and first visited ʿĀʾishah, Mother of the Believers. He said, “Dear mother, what has brought you to this city?”
She replied, “My son, I have come to reconcile the people.”
He asked her to summon Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr to her presence, and when they arrived he said, “I asked the Mother of the Believers what had brought her here, and she answered that she had come only for reconciliation (2) among the Muslims.”
They said, “That is our aim as well.”
He continued, “Then tell me what form this reconciliation is to take and on what basis it will rest. By Allah, if we recognize it we shall make peace, but if we find it objectionable we shall not.”
They answered, “The killers of ʿUthmān. Leaving them unpunished (3) would be abandoning the Qur’an.”
Al-Qaʿqāʿ responded, “You have already killed his killers (4) from among the people of Basra; before you slew them you were nearer to the right path than you are today. You killed six hundred men, and six thousand were angered on their behalf, withdrew from you, and left your midst. You then sought Ḥarqūṣ ibn Zuhayr, but six thousand men shielded him. If you now leave them be, you fall into the very thing you decry; and if you fight them and they defeat you, the mischief you feared and for which you broke away will be greater than what I see you striving to avert and amass.”
(He meant that while avenging ʿUthmān’s murderers is a legitimate interest, it entails a harm surpassing that benefit.) “Just as you were unable to exact vengeance on Ḥarqūṣ ibn Zuhayr because six thousand men protected him, so ʿAlī is even more justified in postponing action against ʿUthmān’s killers for the moment. He has merely deferred it until he can gain mastery over them, for opinions throughout all the provinces are divided (5). Moreover, he has learned that a host from Rabīʿah and Muḍar has gathered (6) to wage war against you on account of what has occurred.”
ʿĀʾishah, Mother of the Believers, then asked him, “And what do you advise?”
He said, “I maintain that the cure for what has befallen is calm. Once matters settle, the guilty will stand out. If you pledge allegiance to us, it will be a sign of good, a harbinger of mercy, and the means to obtain retribution. But if you stubbornly persist and draw this affair to yourselves, it will presage evil and the loss of dominion. Therefore choose well-being and you shall be granted it. Be keys to good, as you were at first; do not expose us to trial, lest you yourselves be exposed to it and Allah strike down us and you together. By Allah, I speak these words and summon you to them while fearing that they will not come to pass until Allah takes His due from this community, whose resources have dwindled and upon which misfortune has descended—for this affair…"