thousand—and twenty thousand of the Syrians were killed out of sixty thousand. In short, the slain included leading and famous men whose full enumeration would be lengthy; what we have cited is sufficient, and Allah, exalted is He, knows best.

[Then came the year 38 AH]

During this year Muʿāwiyah sent ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ to the lands of Egypt. He wrested it from Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr, and Muʿāwiyah installed ʿAmr as governor there, as we shall explain. ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) had earlier appointed Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah over Egypt, having taken it from Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥudhayfah—[at a time when the latter had seized control of it and had barred ʿAbd Allah (1) ibn (Saʿd) ibn Abī Sarḥ from exercising authority there while ʿUthmān was under siege; ʿUthmān had appointed Ibn Abī Sarḥ and dismissed ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, even though ʿAmr was the one who had originally conquered Egypt, as we have mentioned].

Later ʿAlī removed (2) Qays ibn Saʿd and appointed Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr; afterwards he regretted dismissing Qays, for Qays had been a match for Muʿāwiyah (3) and ʿAmr, whereas Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr did not possess comparable strength against them. When Qays was deposed he returned to ʿAlī in Iraq and remained with him.

Muʿāwiyah used to say, “By Allah, Qays ibn Saʿd at ʿAlī’s side is more hateful to me than one hundred thousand fighters in his place.” Qays fought alongside ʿAlī at Ṣiffīn (4).

When ʿAlī had finished with Ṣiffīn and learned that the people of Egypt had belittled Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr because he was a young man of about twenty-six years, he resolved to return Egypt to Qays ibn Saʿd. (5) He had already put Qays in charge of his shurṭa (elite guard), or else had assigned the post to al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī, who was his deputy over Mosul and Nisibis. After Ṣiffīn he wrote to him, summoned him, and then appointed him governor of Egypt (6). [Another report states that Qays remained with him and that al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī was made governor of Egypt] (7).

When Muʿāwiyah learned that ʿAlī had appointed al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī to Egypt in place of Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr, it weighed heavily upon him, for he had set his sights on Egypt and on wresting it from Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr. He knew that al-Ashtar would keep him at bay because of his resolve (8) and bravery. Thus, when al-Ashtar set out and reached al-Qulzum (9), he was met by al-Khānsar (10), who was the commander [on behalf of ʿAlī] over