said, “The turmoil flared up while the Companions of the Messenger of Allah—Allah bless him and grant him peace—numbered in the tens of thousands, yet not a hundred of them were present, indeed not even thirty.”
Imam Aḥmad also said: “Umayyah ibn Khālid told us that Shuʿbah was informed by Abū Shaybah, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, who said: ‘Seventy men from the People of Badr attended Ṣiffīn.’
Shuʿbah replied, ‘Abū Shaybah has lied! By Allah, we discussed that matter with al-Ḥakam and we found that none of the participants at Ṣiffīn from among the veterans of Badr was other than Khuzaymah ibn Thābit.’
It has, however, been said that Sahl ibn Ḥunayf and likewise Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī were also there; so states our teacher, the eminent scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, in his work Refutation of the Rāfiḍah.”
Ibn Baṭṭah related with his chain from Bukayr (1) ibn al-Ashajj, who said, “Men from the People of Badr stayed inside their houses after the murder of ʿUthmān and did not emerge again until they were carried to their graves.”
As for ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him), once he had concluded the Battle of the Camel, entered Basra, and escorted the Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah on her way back to Mecca, he travelled from Basra to Kūfa (2).
Abū al-Kinūd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUbayd reports that ʿAlī entered the city on Monday, twelve nights having passed of Rajab in the year 36 AH. He was urged, “Stay in the White Palace,” but he replied, “No! ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb disliked lodging there, and I dislike it for the same reason.”
He therefore stayed in al-Raḥbah, prayed two rakaʿāt in the Great Mosque, then addressed the people, urging them to do good, forbidding evil, and praising the folk of Kūfa in that sermon.
He next sent for Jarīr ibn ʿAbdullāh—who had governed Hamadhān since the time of ʿUthmān—and for al-Ashʿath ibn Qays—who had been deputy governor of Azerbaijan since the time of ʿUthmān—ordering them to take the pledge of allegiance (bayʿah) for him from those under their authority and then come to him. They carried this out.
When ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) resolved to send someone to Muʿāwiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) inviting him to give the pledge, Jarīr ibn ʿAbdullāh said, “I shall go to him, O Commander of the Believers, for there is affection between us; I will obtain the pledge from him for you.” (4)
Al-Ashter objected, “Do not send him, O Commander of the Believers, for I fear his inclinations lie with Muʿāwiyah.”
ʿAlī replied, “Let him go,” and dispatched him (5), sending with him a letter to Muʿāwiyah informing him that the Emigrants and Helpers had unanimously pledged allegiance to him, recounting what had taken place at the Battle of the Camel, and inviting him to join what the people had entered into.
When Jarīr ibn ʿAbdullāh reached Muʿāwiyah and delivered the letter, Muʿāwiyah summoned ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and the leading men of Syria to consult them. They refused to give the pledge until the killers of ʿUthmān were put to death, or until those killers were handed over to them. Failing that, they said, they would fight ʿAlī and would not pledge allegiance to him until he put them to death