—so severe, in fact, that ʿAlī dispatched al-Ashʿath ibn Qays al-Kindī with a detachment to reach the water, but the Syrians barred their way, shouting, “Die of thirst, just as you denied ʿUthmān water!” The two sides loosed arrows at one another for a time, then engaged with spears for another spell, and finally fought with swords; each side kept sending reinforcements to its fighters⦗1⦘. Al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī then arrived from the Iraqi ranks and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ from the Syrian ranks, and the battle became fiercer than ever. During the clash a man of Iraq—ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAwf ibn al-Aḥmar al-Azdī—cried out⦗2⦘:

[rajaz]
Leave us the running water of the Euphrates,
or stand your ground before a vast array!
For every stalwart warrior, eager to lay down his life⦗3⦘,
thrusting with his spear, returning to the charge,
a valiant hero, cleaving the foemen’s heads!

The Iraqis continued to drive the Syrians away from the water until they forced them back and secured access for themselves. Thereafter the two camps agreed to share the watering-place, so they crowded together at the ford, no one speaking ill to another and no man harming⦗4⦘ his fellow.

According to one version, when Muʿāwiyah ordered Abū al-Aʿwar to guard the ford, he stationed men before it with leveled spears, drawn swords, notched arrows, and taut bows⦗5⦘. ʿAlī’s men came to him and complained, so he sent Ṣaʿṣaʿah ibn Ṣūḥān to Muʿāwiyah with the message:

“We have refrained from fighting you in order to establish the proof against you, yet your vanguard attacked us before we began hostilities; now, in addition, they have denied us⦗6⦘ water.”

When Muʿāwiyah received the message he asked those around him, “What do you think?⦗7⦘” ʿAmr⦗8⦘ replied, “Let them have it; it is not just that we be well-watered while they are parched.” Al-Walīd ibn ʿUqbah said, “Let them taste⦗9⦘ the thirst they made the Commander of the Believers ʿUthmān taste when they besieged him in his house and denied him good water and food for forty days⦗10⦘.” ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ added, “Keep them from the water until nightfall; perhaps they will then return to their lands.”

Muʿāwiyah kept silent. Ṣaʿṣaʿah ibn Ṣūḥān asked him, “What is your answer?” He said, “A decision will come to you after this.” When Ṣaʿṣaʿah returned and reported what had happened, the horsemen and foot soldiers mounted up⦗11⦘ and continued to