25.1
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, who said:
25.1.1
After the Messenger of God had undertaken the Hijrah and those who had been in the land of Abyssinia had arrived in Medina, the Prophet dispatched two expeditions into Syria against the Kalb, Bal-Qayn, and Ghassān tribes, as well as the infidel Arabs who dwelled along the Syrian steppe. He appointed Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ, a member of the Fihr clan, to be commander of the first expedition, and appointed ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ as the commander of the second. Abū Bakr and ʿUmar joined Abū ʿUbaydah’s expedition.
At the time of the two expeditions’ departure, the Messenger of God called for Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ to come to see him. “Do not defy one another’s commands,” he ordered. When they had left Medina behind, Abū ʿUbaydah approached ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and said, “The Messenger of God charged us not to defy one another’s commands; either you should submit to my command, or I should submit to yours.” ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ answered, “Nay, submit to my command.”
Thus did Abū ʿUbaydah submit to the command of ʿAmr, leaving ʿAmr the chief commander of both expeditions. That exasperated ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who said to Abū ʿUbaydah, “Are you actually going to heed the commands of Ibn al-Nābighah, and recognize him not as just your commander, but as Abū Bakr’s and ours as well? What is this nonsense?”
“Listen, brother!” Abū ʿUbaydah replied. “The Messenger of God made us both swear that we would not defy one another’s commands. I fear that if I don’t submit to his command, not only will I disobey God’s Messenger but the people will involve themselves in our dispute as well. So, by God, I am determined to submit to his command until I return.”
When they had returned, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb spoke to the Messenger of God and complained to him about the matter. The Messenger of God answered, “I would never bestow authority on anyone over you without first giving you precedence.” By “you” he meant the Emigrants.
That expedition was named Dhāt al-Salāsil.249 During that expedition large numbers of Arabs were taken into bondage as captives. Then, after that expedition, the Messenger of God appointed Usāmah ibn Zayd as commander, though he was still a young man, and he charged ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām with joining Usāmah’s mission as well; but the Prophet passed away before he was able to specify the mission of those forces. Hence, it fell to Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq to accomplish the task after the Messenger of God.
25.1.2
When Abū Bakr later assumed the leadership of the community, after the death of God’s Messenger, he dispatched three commanders to Syria: he appointed Khālid ibn Saʿīd over one army, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ over another army, and Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasanah over a third army. Lastly, he dispatched Khālid ibn al-Walīd to Iraq at the head of an army.
Afterward ʿUmar spoke with Abū Bakr, continually pressing him to appoint Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah in command over Khālid ibn Saʿīd and his army. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb did that because he held a grudge against Khālid ibn Saʿīd. When Khālid had returned from Yemen after the Prophet’s death, he met with ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and protested, “O Sons of ʿAbd Manāf! Have you been forced to relinquish your leadership?”250 Abū Bakr bore him no ill will for that, but ʿUmar did and said, “And so shall you be forced to relinquish command!”251 Hence, when Abū Bakr made Khālid a general, ʿUmar reminded Abū Bakr of this and pressed him until he appointed Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān in his place.252 Yazīd replaced Khālid ibn Saʿīd as commander once he had arrived in Syria at Dhū l-Marwah.
Abū Bakr then wrote to Khālid ibn al-Walīd and ordered him to march his army toward Syria, and so he did. Thus was Syria under the authority of four different commanders until Abū Bakr passed away.
25.1.3
Once ʿUmar assumed the caliphate, he dismissed Khālid ibn al-Walīd and appointed Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ in his place as commander. Later, ʿUmar went to al-Jābiyah and dismissed Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasanah and ordered his army to be dispersed among the remaining three commanders.
“O Commander of the Faithful,” said Shuraḥbīl ibn Ḥasanah, “was I inept or disloyal?”
“You were neither inept nor disloyal,” answered ʿUmar.
Shuraḥbīl pressed him, “Why then did you remove me from command?”
“I’d be remiss,” ʿUmar replied, “were I to keep you in command after having found someone stronger than you.”
“O Commander of the Faithful,” Shuraḥbīl asked, “will you vouch for my honor?”
“I will,” answered ʿUmar, “and indeed, I would not do so if I knew it not to be true.” Thus ʿUmar stood before the people and vouched for Shuraḥbīl’s honor. Subsequently he ordered ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ to march against Egypt.
Two commanders retained their authority over Syria: Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ and Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān. Soon thereafter Abū ʿUbaydah passed away, leaving Khālid and his paternal cousin, ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm, as his successors. ʿUmar confirmed ʿIyāḍ as commander, but someone complained to him, “How is it that you have confirmed ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm, when he’s an openhanded man who gives away whatever is asked of him, but you have dismissed Khālid ibn al-Walīd because he gave without your permission?”253 ʿUmar replied, “That’s just the way ʿIyāḍ treats his wealth whenever he happens upon it. Even so, far be it from me to alter a command issued by Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ!”
When Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān passed away, ʿUmar appointed his brother Muʿāwiyah in his place. ʿUmar brought news of his death to Abū Sufyān, saying, “Abū Sufyān, God has taken Yazīd.”254
“May God grant him mercy,” he answered. “Whom have you appointed in his place?”
“Muʿāwiyah,” said ʿUmar.
“May the bonds of kinship keep you,” he replied.255
Then ʿIyāḍ ibn Ghanm passed away, so ʿUmar appointed ʿUmayr ibn Saʿd the Ally in his place as commander. Thus were ʿUmayr and Muʿāwiyah in command of Syria until ʿUmar was murdered.
25.1.4
ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān then assumed the caliphate and removed ʿUmayr, leaving Syria to Muʿāwiyah. He dismissed al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah from Kūfah and appointed Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ as commander in his place. He dismissed ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ from Egypt and appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ as commander in his place. He dismissed Abū Mūsā l-Ashʿarī and appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kurayz as commander. Later on he also dismissed Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ from Kūfah and appointed al-Walīd ibn ʿUqbah as commander in his place, but when charges of misconduct were brought against al-Walīd, ʿUthmān had him scourged and dismissed him,256 appointing Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ in his place as commander.
In the events to follow, the people began to grumble and soon plunged headlong into the Civil War. Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ left for hajj, but when later he returned from his hajj, he encountered a band of cavalry from Iraq that forced him to return from al-ʿUdhayb. The settlers in Egypt257 also exiled ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ, but the settlers in Basra remained loyal to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kurayz.
Thus began the Civil War, and eventually ʿUthmān, God grant him mercy, was murdered. The people pledged their allegiance to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and he sent a letter to Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr: “If you two wish, pledge me your allegiance; but if you prefer, I shall pledge my allegiance to one of you.” “Nay,” they replied, “rather we shall pledge allegiance to you.” Soon thereafter, the two fled to hide in Mecca. There in Mecca, ʿĀʾishah, the Prophet’s wife, made common cause with al-Zubayr and Ṭalḥah and aided them in their scheme. A great number of the Quraysh heeded them and set off for Basra, calling for vengeance for the spilling of ʿUthmān’s blood. Those who set off with them were, among others from the Quraysh, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAttāb ibn Asīd, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām,258 ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam. They addressed the settlers in Basra and informed them that ʿUthmān had been murdered without just cause and that they had come as penitents, repentant of all excesses they had committed during ʿUthmān’s reign. Most of Basra’s settlers heeded them, but al-Aḥnaf withdrew along with his supporters from the Tamīm tribe. The ʿAbd al-Qays tribe went out to join ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib with all those people who would heed them.
ʿĀʾishah rode atop a camel of hers named ʿAskar, and she sat inside a howdah covered by dufūf—meaning cowskin. She called out, “My only wish is that my presence will restrain the people.” She later said, “Little did I know that hostilities would break out between them. Had I known that, I would have never have put myself in that position.” ʿĀʾishah continued, “The people did not heed my words and paid me no mind.”
Thus the battle ensued. Seventy Quraysh were killed that day, and each of them grabbed onto the halter of ʿĀʾishah’s camel until he had been slain in battle. Then they carried the howdah away and placed it inside one of the encampments nearby. Marwān was severely wounded, Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh was slain during the battle,259 and al-Zubayr was murdered after the battle in Wādi l-Sibāʿ.260 ʿĀʾishah and Marwān made the return journey along with the remaining Quraysh, and when they had approached Medina, ʿĀʾishah left them behind and headed toward Mecca. Marwān and al-Aswad ibn Abī l-Bakhtarī then seized authority over Medina and its inhabitants and dominated its affairs.
25.1.6
War then broke out between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiyah. Their expeditionary forces had reached Medina at the same time as both approached Mecca for the hajj. Whichever of the two arrived first would provide the leader for the people to undertake the rites of the hajj season. Umm Ḥabībah, the Prophet’s wife, sent a message to Umm Salamah, and each said to the other, “Come now, let’s write to Muʿāwiyah and ʿAlī to convince them to stop terrifying the people with these armies until the community has reached a consensus on which of them shall lead.” “I will handle my brother, Muʿāwiya,” said Umm Ḥabībah. “And I will handle ʿAlī,” replied Umm Salamah. Each wrote to the man she had chosen and sent a delegation of Quraysh and the Allies. As for Muʿāwiyah, he paid heed to Umm Ḥabībah, but as for ʿAlī, he was on the verge of heeding Umm Salamah, but al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī dissuaded him from doing so. Thus did their expeditions and their leaders continue to head for Medina and Mecca until ʿAlī, God Almighty grant him mercy, was murdered. It was then that the people reached a consensus on Muʿāwiyah, with Marwān and Ibn al-Bakhtarī dominating the inhabitants of Medina throughout the Civil War.
25.1.7
Egypt had been under the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and over it he had appointed Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah the Ally as commander. He had been the bearer of the banner of the Allies alongside the Messenger of God at the Battle of Badr and at other battles as well. The sage counsel of Qays was greatly esteemed by the people, except when he became embroiled in the Civil War. Muʿāwiyah and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ were struggling to eject Qays from Egypt and thus overrun the country, but Qays successfully repelled them with wile and guile. The two were unable to conquer Egypt until Muʿāwiyah hatched a plot against Qays ibn Saʿd to thwart ʿAlī.
Once when Muʿāwiyah was conversing with a Qurashī man known for his sage counsel, he said, “Never did I conceive of a gambit more daring than the one I used to ensare Qays ibn Saʿd in order to thwart ʿAlī. ʿAlī was in Iraq, and at the time Qays prevented me from taking Egypt. So I said to the Syrians, ‘Don’t provoke Qays, and don’t call on me to undertake a raid against him. Qays has now joined our partisans. Several of his letters have come to us containing his counsel. See now how he treats your brethren who are with him at Kharbatā, how he continues to hand out their salaries and rations, and how he ensures the safety of their passage throughout his territory. He treats kindly any who wish to approach him, and he begrudges no one any counsel he has to offer.’”
Muʿāwiyah also said, “I took to writing this to my partisans among the Iraqis, and ʿAlī’s spies who had infiltrated the Iraqis on my side soon heard of this.”
When word reached ʿAlī—and it was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar and Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq who brought it to his attention—he made accusations against Qays ibn Saʿd and wrote to him ordering him to attack those who had settled in Kharbatā. At the time, the fighting men settled in Kharbatā numbered ten thousand. Qays refused to engage them in battle and wrote to ʿAlī,
They are the leaders of the warriors settled in Egypt and their nobles are known for their dastardly cunning. They are content with me as long as I ensure the safety of their passage and continue to distribute their salaries and rations. Indeed, I know their sympathies lie with Muʿāwiyah, but I cannot conceive of any strategy easier for you or me than that we continue to deal with them as we do now. Were I to call them to engage me in battle, they would become united, and these are the lions of the Arabs, such as Busr ibn Arṭaʾah, Maslamah ibn Mukhallad, and Muʿāwiyah ibn Ḥudayj al-Khawlānī. So let me deal with them as I see fit, for I know best because of my acquaintance with them.
But ʿAlī insisted that he engage them in battle. Qays refused to engage them in battle and wrote again to ʿAlī, saying, “If you harbor doubts against me, then remove me from my post and send someone else in my place.”
Thus ʿAlī sent al-Ashtar as his commander over Egypt. Eventually al-Ashtar reached al-Qulzum, and there he drank a draft made from honey that bore within it his demise. When the news reached Muʿāwiyah and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, ʿAmr exclaimed, “God’s armies can even be found in honey!” But when news of al-Ashtar’s death reached ʿAlī, he dispatched Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr to be the commander over Egypt.
When Qays ibn Saʿd was informed that Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr was approaching to take command, he went out to meet him in a secluded place so he could confide in him. Qays said, “You’ve just come from the company of a man with no knack for conducting war. Now, just because you’re removing me from office doesn’t prevent me from offering you sound advice. I have quite a bit of insight into your present situation, so I’ll let you in on the strategy I’ve been using to get the better of Muʿāwiyah, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and those settled in Kharbatā. Use this strategy against them, because you will surely perish if you seek to dupe them by other means.” Qays proceeded to describe to him the stratagem by which he had duped them, but Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr thought him dishonest and did the opposite of everything that Qays said he should do. So when Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr arrived in Egypt, Qays set off in the direction of Medina. However, Marwān and al-Aswad ibn Abī l-Bakhtarī made him fear for his safety until he even feared that he would be arrested or killed. Qays then took his mount and headed up to ʿAlī.
Muʿāwiyah wrote to Marwān and al-Aswad ibn Abī l-Bakhtarī in a fury, saying, “So you two are now aiding ʿAlī by sending him Qays ibn Saʿd, along with his counsel and strategic skill? By God, if you had sent a thousand warriors to his aid, that would have infuriated me less than exiling Qays ibn Saʿd to ʿAlī!”
Qays ibn Saʿd approached ʿAlī, and when he explained what had happened and when news of the murder of Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr had arrived, ʿAlī realized that Qays had all along seen through the formidable guile of the gambit, which ʿAlī and all of those who advised him to dismiss Qays had failed to perceive. ʿAlī then heeded Qays’s counsel for the rest of the war and placed him over the vanguard of the army of Iraq and those in Azerbaijan and its hinterlands. ʿAlī also made him the leader of his elite vanguard,261 who had pledged to die in battle. Thus did the four thousand men who pledged to die for ʿAlī also pledge allegiance to him. Qays ibn Saʿd’s strategies continued to secure the frontier until ʿAlī was murdered.
25.1.8
The Iraqis then chose al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī to be ʿAlī’s successor as caliph. Al-Ḥasan was averse to war, but wished, rather, to gain for himself whatever wealth he could procure from Muʿāwiyah and only then to join the community in solidarity and pledge his allegiance. Because al-Ḥasan knew that Qays ibn Saʿd would not agree to this, he removed him from command and appointed ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās as commander in his stead. Once ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās discovered what al-Ḥasan wanted to take for himself, ʿUbayd Allāh wrote to Muʿāwiyah seeking a guarantee of safety and stipulating that he should be able to keep for himself whatever wealth and property he had gained as spoils. Muʿāwiyah accepted his stipulations and dispatched Ibn ʿĀmir against him in command of a mighty host of cavalry. ʿUbayd Allāh went out to meet them at night, eventually joining their ranks and leaving his own forces without a commander. Qays ibn Saʿd was in their midst, and the elite vanguard chose Qays as their commander. They swore a convenant with one another to wage war against Muʿāwiyah and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ until Muʿāwiyah agreed to guarantee to ʿAlī’s partisans and all who followed them their wealth, their lives, and all that they had gained as spoils in the course of the strife. When Muʿāwiyah had finished with ʿUbayd Allāh and al-Ḥasan, he devoted his full attention to besting a man whose cunning he regarded as without equal. Muʿāwiyah had four thousand men at his command. He, ʿAmr, and the settlers of Syria made camp with them for forty nights, while Muʿāwiyah wrote to Qays urging him to remember God and saying, “By whose command do you seek to make war against me?” Muʿāwiyah also said, “The one under whose authority you fight has pledged me his allegiance!” But Qays refused to recognize him until Muʿāwiyah sent him a scroll with his seal placed at the bottom. “Write whatever you wish in this scroll,” said Muʿāwiyah, “for I’ve written nothing in it. That’s for you to do.”
ʿAmr said to Muʿāwiyah, “Don’t give him the scroll! Fight him instead!” But Muʿāwiyah, who was the better of the two men, replied, “Easy now, Abū ʿAbd Allāh! We’re not going to waste our time fighting these men until just as many Syrians as they are slain. What good would it do to go on living then? By God, I will not fight them unless I find no other alternative.” When Muʿāwiyah sent him that scroll, Qays ibn Saʿd stipulated his own conditions and demanded immunity for ʿAlī’s partians from reprisal for the blood they had spilled and the property they had seized. Qays asked for no additional wealth in that scroll, and Muʿāwiyah granted all the conditions he stipulated. Thus did Qays and those with him join the community in solidarity.
25.1.9
Until the First Civil War had broken out, five men were famed among the Arabs as men esteemed for their sage counsel and cunning. Numbered among the Quraysh were Muʿāwiyah and ʿAmr; among the Allies was Qays ibn Saʿd; among the Emigrants was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Budayl ibn Warqāʾ al-Khuzāʿī; and among the Thaqīf tribe was al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah. Two of these men sided with ʿAlī: Qays ibn Saʿd and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Budayl. Al-Mughīrah, however, withdrew to Taif and its environs.
25.1.10
When the two Arbiters were appointed, they met at Adhruḥ.262 Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah journeyed to visit them both, and the two Arbiters also sent for ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr to come. Many other men from the Quraysh came as well. Muʿāwiyah journeyed there along with the settlers from Syria. Abū Mūsā l-Ashʿarī and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, who were the two Arbiters, also journeyed there, but ʿAlī and the settlers from Iraq refused to make the journey. Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah asked several Qurashī men of sage judgment, “Do you reckon that it’s possible to know whether or not these two arbiters will reach an agreement?” “No one knows for sure,” they replied, so he said, “Then, by God, I suppose I’ll find it out myself once I have the chance to speak to them and interrogate them one-on-one.”
Al-Mughīrah went to see ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and took the matter up with him. He began by saying, “Abū ʿAbd Allāh, answer my questions: How do you regard those of us who have remained neutral? Indeed, we have had our doubts about this whole affair, even though it has seemed crystal clear to the rest of you throughout the fighting. Our view is that we should wait and remain resolute until the community agrees on a single man, and then join in solidarity with the community.”
“I regard your pack of neutrals as being beneath the pious,” ʿAmr answered, “and even beneath that insolent throng of ʿAlī’s!”263
Al-Mughīrah departed, having asked ʿAmr nothing else, and went to see Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī. When he was alone with him, he asked the same question he had asked ʿAmr.
“I consider your judgment the most reliable,” Abū Mūsā said, “and I believe the rest of the Muslims are with you.” Al-Mughīrah then departed, having asked him no further questions.
Al-Mughīrah met again with his sage companions from the Quraysh with whom he had spoken before and declared, “I swear before you all, these two will never arrive at a consensus, and that’s even if one were to call the other to his own opinion!”
When the two Arbiters met together and had begun to negotiate on their own, ʿAmr said, “Abū Mūsā, don’t you think that before we determine the truth of any other matter we should first determine who is loyal and thus deserves loyalty and who is treacherous and thus deserves to be betrayed?”
“And who would that be?” Abū Mūsā retorted.
ʿAmr continued, “Do you not realize that Muʿāwiyah and the Syrians have journeyed to the location that we had specified for them?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“Write this down then,” said ʿAmr, and Abū Mūsā wrote it down. ʿAmr continued, “Are we not also determined to name a man who will rule over the Community? So, Abū Mūsā, name your man. I’m willing to agree with you if you are willing to agree with me.”
“I nominate ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb,” declared Abū Mūsā, and indeed Ibn ʿUmar was one of those who had remained neutral.
But ʿAmr said, “I nominate to you Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān!”
The two of them met for a long time until, completely at odds, they began to hurl insults at one another. Then they went out to address the people. Abū Mūsā declared, “Listen everyone! I’ve found ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ to be the like of which the Almighty and Glorious God said:
«Tell them the story of the man to whom We gave Our messages: he sloughed them off, so Satan took him as a follower and he went astray—if it had been Our will, We could have used these signs to raise him high, but instead he clung to the earth and followed his own desires—he was like a dog that pants with a lolling tongue whether you drive it away or leave it alone. Such is the image of those who reject Our signs. Tell them the story so that they may reflect.»”264
ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ declared, “Listen everyone! I’ve found Abū Mūsā to be the like of which the Almighty and Glorious God said:
«Those who have been charged to obey the Torah, but do not do so, are like asses carrying books: how base such people are who disobey God’s revelations! God does not guide people who do wrong.»”265
Then each of the two Arbiters wrote a message conveying the same description of his fellow Arbiter to the garrison cities.
Al-Zuhrī said on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar;
Maʿmar said: Ibn Ṭāwūs related to me on the authority of ʿIkrimah ibn Khālid, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said:
One evening Muʿāwiyah rose to speak and, praising God as is His due, said, “Whoever has a claim over the rule of this community, let him show his face. I swear by God, no one who shows his face will have a more rightful claim to it than I, be it he or his father!” Thus did Muʿāwiyah provoke ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar.266
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar said, “I threw off my outer cloak, ready to stand against him and say, ‘You speak of men who vanquished you and your father for the sake of Islam!’ But then I was afraid to say anything, lest I risk threatening the unity of community and cause blood to be shed because I acted against my better judgment. Almighty God’s promise of Paradise was far dearer to me than all else. After I had returned to my encampment, Ḥabīb ibn Maslamah came to me and said, ‘What prevented you from speaking up when you heard that man speak thus?’ ‘Indeed I wanted to,’ I told him, ‘but I feared I would say something that would risk threatening the unity of the community and cause bloodshed and lead me to act against my better judgment. Almighty God’s promise of Paradise was far dearer to me than all else.’ Ḥabīb ibn Maslamah then said to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, ‘My father and mother’s life for yours! God has protected you from sin and preserved you from the ruin you feared.’”