The Battle of Nahrwan
Location : Nahrawan located 12 miles from Basra, Iraq
When the battle was fought :
9th of Safar 37 A.H., January 657 AD for about 2 weeks.
Army of Imam Ali(a.s.): 65,000 men
Kharjites : 1,800 men
Casualties:
12 from the army of Imam Ali(a.s.) and
almost all apart from a few men of the Kharjites
Background and Reason
This was a battle between Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) and the Kharijites.
After the unsatisfactory conclusion to the Battle of Siffin, Imam Ali ibn Abi
Talib(a.s.) returned with his army back to Kufa on the 13th of Safar 37 A.H.
(~30 July 657 C.E.) During the march, a group of 12,000 men kept themselves at
a distance from the main part of the army.
The group was furious at the way things had ended at Siffin. These were the
Kharijites. They were the same people who had put down their weapons on the
battlefield. Now they said that Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) had betrayed Islam
by agreeing to the truce and should have referred judgment to the Quran alone
or continued to fight. They demanded that he repent for this great sin.
When the army neared Kufa, the Kharijites camped at a village named Harura.
They started saying that all Muslims were equal and nobody could rule over the
other. In this way, they denounced both Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) and
Muawiyah and said that their belief was in "La Hukma Illa Lillah", meaning, "No
Rulership except by Allah alone."
Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) sent Sa'sa'a ibn Sauhan and Ziyad ibn Nazr
al-Harisi in the company of Abdullah ibn Abbas towards them and afterwards
himself went to the place of their stay and tried to explain to them that they
were misunderstanding the words "La Hukma Illa Lillah", and that in accepting
the arbitration (peace talks) at Siffin, he had not gone against the teachings
of the Quran.
He pointed out that they themselves were at fault, because they should never
have laid down their arms and forced him to call back Malik al-Ashtar, who was
at the point of securing victory. He reminded them that they had pressed for
the arbitration and had forced him to appoint Abu Musa al-Ash'ari as their
representative. He told them that he found their present behavior very strange,
considering their involvement in Siffin. To this they admitted that they had
sinned but now they had repented and he should do the same. Imam Ali ibn Abi
Talib(a.s.) replied that he was a true believer and did not have to repent
because he had not committed any sin and dispersed them after discussion.
The Kharijites refused to accept the words of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) and
awaited the decision of Amr bin al-Aas and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari. When they
learnt of the decision they decided to revolt, and they set up their
headquarters at Nahrawan, twelve miles from Baghdad. Some people came from
Basra to join the rebels.
On the other side, after hearing the verdict of Arbitration Imam Ali ibn Abi
Talib(a.s.) rose for fighting the army of Syria and wrote to the Kharijites
that the verdict passed by the two arbitrators in pursuance of their heart's
wishes instead of the Quran and Sunnah was not acceptable to him, that he had
therefore decided to fight with them and they should support him for crushing
the enemy. But the Kharijites gave him this reply, "When you had agreed to
Arbitration in our view you had turned heretic. Now if you admit your heresy
and offer repentance we will think over this matter and decide what we should
do." Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) understood from their reply that their
disobedience and misguidance had become very serious. To entertain any kind of
hope from them now was futile. Consequently, ignoring them he encamped in the
valley of al-Nukhaylah with a view to marching towards Syria to fight against
Muawiyah.
Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) had already started towards Muawiyah when he
received the news that they had butchered the governor of Nahrawan namely
Abdullah ibn Khabbab ibn al-Aratt and his slave maid with the child in her
womb, and have killed three women of Banu Tayyi and Umm Sinan as-Saydawiyyah.
Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) sent al-Harith ibn Murrah al-Abdi for
investigation but he too was killed by them. When their rebellion reached this
stage it was necessary to deal with them. There was a danger that the
Kharijites might attack Kufa while Imam Ali(a.s.) and his men were marching
towards Muawiyah, so Imam Ali(a.s.) decided to stop them. He changed his course
eastward, crossed the river Tigris and approached Nahrawan.
On reaching there Imam Ali(a.s.) sent a messenger to the Kharijites demanding
that those people who had murdered innocent Muslims around their camp should be
surrendered. The Kharijites replied that they were all equally responsible for
killing these sinners.
There was some reluctance in the army of Imam Ali(a.s.) to fight the
Kharijites, because they had been their companions against Muawiyah at Siffin.
Imam Ali(a.s.) himself did not desire the bloodshed of these misguided
fanatics, so he sent Abu Ayyub al-Ansari with a message of peace. So he spoke
to them aloud, "Whoever comes under this banner or separates from that party
and goes to Kufa or al-Mada'in would get amnesty and he would not be
questioned. As a result of this Farwah ibn Nawfal al-Ashja'i said that he did
not know why they were at war with Imam Ali(a.s.). Saying this he separated
along with five hundred men. Similarly group after group began to separate and
some of them joined Imam Ali(a.s.). In the end, only cores of 1,800 die-hards
were left under the command of Abdullah ibn Wahab. These Kharijites swore that
they would fight Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib(a.s.) at any cost.
Nahjul Balagha - Sermon 36/Warning the people of Nahrawan of their fate:
"I am warning you that you will be killed on the bend of this canal and on the
level of this low area while you will have no clear excuse before Allah nor any
open authority with you. You have come out of your houses and then divine
decree entangled you. I had advised you against this arbitration but you
rejected my advice like adversaries and opponents till I turned my ideas in the
direction of your wishes. You are a group whose heads are devoid of wit and
intelligence. May you have no father! (Allah's woe be to you!) I have not put
you in any calamity nor wished you harm."
The Kharijites attacked Imam Ali(a.s.) army with desperate courage. However,
they did not stand a chance against the superior army that faced them and they
were all killed except nine men. These nine managed to flee to Basra and
elsewhere, where they spread the fire of their hatred and recruited more
followers. From Imam Ali(a.s.)'s army suffered only eight casualties, people
whom Ali's followers regard as 'martyrs'. The battle took place on the 9th
Safar, 38 A.H. Two years later, in 40 A.H., it was the Kharijites who sent out
three assassins to kill Imam Ali(a.s.), Muawiyah and Amr al-Aas. The latter two
survived but Imam Ali(a.s.) was assassinated following ibn Muljim's cowardly
attack in the mosque of Kufa.
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