Hazrat Ali and his caliphate

Past paper question

Q1a. Muwayia was opposed to Hazrat Ali ‘s  caliphate . Give reasons for his opposition and write an account of the Battle of Siffin which resulted from this opposition ./10

b. In your opinion what was the most serious consequence of the outcome of this battle? Give reasons for your answer .

Ans )Firstly , Muawiya claimed that he should have been rightful caliph after Hazrat Usman  ( RA)  as he was his nephew and hence he regarded  Hazrat Ali’s election as unfair since it had been done under the pressure of rebels . Secondly, Hazrat Muawiya was the governor of Syria placed by Hazrat  Umar (R A ) However,  Hazrat Ali immediately after gaining the position of caliph,  changed the governors   to avoid further issues that sprang regarding governors in Hazrat  Usman’s time. This caused uproar in the mind of Hazrat  Ameer Muawiya who was reluctant to leave his power . Moreover, Ameer Muawiyah thought that Hazrat Ali was delaying the punishment of the murderers of Hazrat  Usman deliberately although Hazrat Ali  (R A ) several times explained that the assassins of Hazrat Usman ( R A ) were not a few and could be caught just after peace is restored in the muslim world.

Failing to understand Hazrat Ameer Muawiyah  particularly after the battle of camel where Hazrat Ayesha’s side  was defeated and supported them and began to invite muslims against Hazrat Ali (R A) He hung the blood stained clothes of Hazrat Usman and the cut fingers of his wife Naila at a mosque in Damascus . He accused Hazrat Ali ( R A ) of ill treating Hazrat Ayesha and also displayed Hazrat Talha  and Hazrat Zubair who were martyred at the battle of camel as warriors fighting to revenge the blood of Hazrat Usman . He was soon able to gain a huge number of of supporters from Iraq, Iran and Syria and raised an army of 80,000men, when the call of punishment of Hazrat Usman’s assassins was rejected by Hazrat Ali . Hazrat Ali soon raised an army of 90,000to control Muawiyah’s forces . This was the largest muslim armies in history. Hazrat Ali still wanted peaceful negotiations but Ameer Muawiyah  said to hand him the assasins of Usman and then negotiate . This made battle inevitable A hot contest followed by Hazrat  Ameer Muawiyah ‘s force were about to loose when he ordered them to put the Quran on their lances. Hazrat Ali oordered his forces not to fall in  the trap and continue however many did not fight and people later known as kharijities forced him to withdrew. Hence the battle was left undecided and the matter went in the hands of arbitrratiors.  Abu Musa Ashari (R A) was the arbitrator  of Hazrat Ali while Amr bin  Aas was the arbitrator of Muawiyah . The matter was to be decided on the basis of Quran and Sunnah . Hazrat Ali was deeply nerved by this all that remained was at the hands of the arbitrators.

1. In my opinion , the most serious consequence of the outcome of this battle was the emergence of kharijities who separated from Hazrat Ali ‘s army .  It gave an example to future generation of sectarian divisions, misconception and  hatred in the muslim community destroying overall peace of the Islamic state and finally dividing them into hashmites and Ummayads. It also weakened the position of Hazrat Ali leaving him to rule only a small part and this division finally ended with Hazrat Ali's martyrdom