The Battle of Nahrawan was a battle between Ali ibn Abi Talib (the fourth Sunni Caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

 and the 1st Shi'a Imam) and the Kharijites

Kharijites

Kharijites is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership...

.

After the unsatisfactory conclusion to the Battle of Siffin

Battle of Siffin

The Battle of Siffin occurred during the First Fitna, or first Muslim civil war, with the main engagement taking place from July 26 to July 28. It was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Ar-Raqqah, Syria...

, Imam

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

 Ali ibn Abi Talib 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib 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

Kufa

Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....

, 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah and said that their belief was in "La Hukma Illa Lillah", meaning, "No Rulership except by Allah

Allah

Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...

 alone."

Ali ibn Abi Talib sent Sa'sa'a ibn Sauhan and Ziyad ibn Nazr al-Harisi in the company of 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 for it and he should do the same.

Ali ibn Abi Talib 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib and awaited the decision of Amr 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

Basra

Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...

 to join the rebels.

On the other side, after hearing the verdict of Arbitration Ali ibn Abi Talib 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." Ali ibn Abi Talib 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.

Ali ibn Abi Talib 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. Ali ibn Abi Talib 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib and his men were marching towards Muawiyah, so Ali ibn Abi Talib decided to stop them. He changed his course eastward, crossed the river Tigris and approached Nahrawan.

On reaching there Ali ibn Abi Talib 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib to fight the Kharijites, because they had been their companions against Muawiyah at Siffin. Ali ibn Abi Talib 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib. Saying this he separated along with five hundred men. Similarly group after group began to separate and some of them joined Ali ibn Abi Talib. 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib 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 Ali ibn Abi Talib'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 Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muawiyah and 'Amr ibn al-'As

'Amr ibn al-'As

`Amr ibn al-`As was an Arab military commander who is most noted for leading the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640. A contemporary of Muhammad, and one of the Sahaba , who rose quickly through the Muslim hierarchy following his conversion to Islam in the year 8 AH...

. The latter two survived but Ali ibn Abi Talib was assassinated following ibn Muljim's cowardly attack in the mosque of Kufa.

Having disposed of the Kharijites at Nahrawan, Ali ibn Abi Talib resumed his march to Syria. However, the chiefs of his followers urged him to stop at Kufa to let the men rest before the long journey and to enable the army to repair their weapons and armors. Ali ibn Abi Talib agreed to this request and camped at al-Nukhaylah outside Kufa. The soldiers were allowed to leave the camp for a day.

On the next day, hardly any men returned and at length, Ali ibn Abi Talib entered Kufa and gave a stern sermon to the people. However, nobody came forward and finally, Ali ibn Abi Talib turned away from them in disappointment. The Syrian expedition was abandoned, never to be resumed.

External links

• Article on the Battle of Nahrawan Play & Learn Website