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Hazrat `Ali - Part 5 - Hazrat `Ali as a Worldly Caliph

Part 5 - Hazrat `Ali as a Worldly Caliph

Introduction

Before dealing with the worldly caliphate of Hazrat `Ali, it is first important to have a clear idea of the concept of Khilafat from the Qur'anic point of view. According to the holy Qur'an, Divine vicegerency or Khilafat-i ilahiyyah is a permanent institution to guide humankind in their ever-emerging states and conditions.

In the Qur'an, there is no difference between Khilafat and Imamat, as can be seen clearly from the references to the position of Hazrat Adam and Hazrat Ibrahim; the former is called Khalifah (viceroy, vicegerent) in Surah 2, verse 30 (2:30) and the latter is referred to as Imam (leader) in Surah 2, verse 124 (2:124). Thus, it can be said that only Imam can be the Khalifatu'llah (vicegerent of God) and vice versa. Thus, in this sense, according to Shi`ah Islam, Hazrat `Ali is regarded as the Khalifah, succeeding the Prophet immediately after his demise. Hazrat `Ali is therefore called 'Khalifat^un bi-la fasl' (The Immediate Caliph) in order to distinguish it from his temporal or worldly Khilafat, as the fourth Caliph, as he is regarded by Sunni Islam.

The above discussion can be best understood by reference to the Memoirs of Hazrat Mawlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah, where he says:

The second point for clarification, before we deal with Hazrat `Ali's role during the caliphate of the three previous Caliphs and his own caliphate, is that this period of history has been much written about and commented upon, always from the perspective of the authors and historians. This paper, however, seeks to present mostly, Hazrat `Ali's own viewpoints and this will be done through his own quotations, as recorded in Nahju'l-balagah.

Further, it must be pointed out that Hazrat `Ali's standards and ideals were so noble that it would be futile for any of his contemporaries or any future historians to attempt to judge his actions.

The Years Following the Death of Prophet Muhammad

In 632 C.E, Prophet Muhammad passed away in Madinah, only a matter of three months after his declaration of Hazrat `Ali's succession at Gadir-i Khumm.

Hazrat `Ali, who was by his side in his final moments, was occupied with the Prophet's funeral arrangements. During this time, some of the Muslims both the muhajirun and the ansar gathered at a place called Saqifah-yi Bani Sa`idah and in the ensuing arguments and discussions about who should lead the Muslim state, Hazrat `Umar took Hazrat Abu Bakr's hand and publicly declared his bay`ah or allegiance to him, despite the protests of a number of the Prophet's companions. Hazrat Abu Bakr became the Caliph in this curious manner, which some describe as an election. Hazrat Abu Bakr's caliphate lasted only a short period, for two years later in 634 C.E, he died. He designated Hazrat `Umar as his successor before his death, in other words there was no semblance of an 'election' similar to the one which brought him to the caliphate. Hazrat `Umar's caliphate lasted for ten years, during which time the frontiers of the Islamic State expanded eastwards and westwards, overwhelming the Sassanian and Byzantine empires. In 644 C.E, Hazrat `Umar was assassinated. However, before his death he had willed that a Shura of six of the remaining Companions of the Prophet should choose his successor. The conditions which he set for the working of this Shura and the obvious relationship of `Abd Rahman bin `Awf (who had the casting vote in the event of a tie) to Hazrat `Uthman, ensured that Hazrat `Uthman was chosen as the next Caliph. This method of naming a successor was again different from his appointment by the first Caliph.

Hazrat `Uthman's caliphate was marked by rampant nepotism and its concurrent corruption and it caused much unrest amongst the general populace. As a result, his caliphate, which lasted for twelve years came to a gory end in 656 C.E., when he, too, was assassinated.

The first controversy rages around the fact that Hazrat `Ali did not take up arms to fight for his inheritance, immediately after the event of Saqifah-yi Bani Sa`idah or at any time during the reign of the first three Caliphs. In Nahju'l-balagah, Hazrat `Ali says: "But by God! So and so⁴⁰ attired himself in it (khilafat), while indeed he knows that my position with regard to it is as the position of a pivot to a grinding mill; the flood (of excellence in knowledge) flows down from me and no bird can fly up to me (i.e., nobody can reach the height of my knowledge). I let a veil hang over it and I turned away from it".⁴¹

In another khutbah or sermon, Hazrat `Ali says:

"If I speak (about Khilafat) they say: He covets power. And if I keep silent, they say: He is afraid of death. Alas! By God! After the great and small adversities, the son of Abu Talib is more familiar with death than a suckling baby with its mother's breast. Rather, I am silent due to a hidden knowledge, which if I divulge, then certainly you will tremble like the ropes tremble in a deep well".⁴²

It is crystal clear from Hazrat `Ali's own words that, although he was fully aware that his rights had been usurped, he was in every way more qualified to be the Caliph and thirdly that he was not afraid to fight for his rights, yet he did not press his inheritance, because as he says he had 'hidden knowledge'.

Some insight can be gained into Hazrat `Ali's lofty ideals, by considering one particular historical event which occurred after the episode of Saqifah-yi Bani Sa`idah and Hazrat `Ali's response to it. Immediately after Hazrat `Umar gave his bay`ah to Hazrat Abu Bakr, Abu Sufyan and `Abbas (Hazrat `Ali's uncle) approached Hazrat `Ali and not only offered their bay`ah to him but Abu Sufyan pledged armed support for Hazrat `Ali if he wanted to claim his rights. Hazrat `Ali's reply below shows that his purpose and aim were not those of an ordinary man. He said to Abu Sufyan, `Abbas and others:

"O people! Cross the billows of temptation on the ships of salvation and turn away from the path of discord (mutual aversion). And throw away the crowns of vainglory".⁴³

Hazrat Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah explained succinctly, the stance taken by Hazrat `Ali, as follows: "The political and worldly Khilafat was accepted by Hazrat `Ali in favour of the three first khalifs voluntarily and with goodwill for the protection of the interests of the Muslims throughout the world".⁴⁴

Hazrat `Ali is elected Caliph

The death of Hazrat `Uthman was followed by several days of anarchy and general unrest. At the end of this period, the mass of the people of Madinah, forced Hazrat `Ali to accept the Caliphate.

It should be noted that unlike his three predecessors, Hazrat `Ali's was the only true election as a Caliph, since the general masses urged him to accept their leadership. Hazrat `Ali vividly records the episode as: "Nothing surprised me except (the coming of) the people like the hair on the neck of the hyena, flocking towards me from all sides, until Hasan and Husayn were trampled and my cloak was torn from both sides (by the crowds of people) gathering around me like a flock of sheep".⁴⁵

Hazrat `Ali gave in to the insistence of the masses and accepted the Caliphate, as he explains: "But, by the One who has split the seed and created the soul! Had there not been the presence of the present (i.e., those who had gathered to give bay`ah) and establishment of proof (of rights) by the existence of the helpers and that God has taken a covenant from the `ulama' that they should put a check on the gorging by the oppressor and the starvation of the oppressed, I would have given it free rein and I would have made the last of it to drink with the cup of the first of it (i.e., I would have left the Caliphate as I did in the beginning) and you would have found that for me this world of yours is less that the sneeze of a goat".⁴⁶

On another occasion, when `Abdu'llah ibn `Abbas went to see Imam `Ali in Dhu Qar, he found Hazrat `Ali mending his sandals. He asked `Abdu'llah what the pair of sandals was worth. The answer was: 'Nothing'. Hazrat `Ali said: "By God, they are dearer to me than the leadership of you all, except that I establish truth and repel falsehood".⁴⁷

It is evident from the above quotations that Hazrat `Ali accepted the caliphate for one reason only, namely to 'establish the truth and repel falsehood'.

Battles of Jamal, Siffin and Nahrawan

Hazrat `Ali was elected caliph in 656 C.E. The three battles which took place during Hazrat `Ali's short caliphate of five years, namely, the Battles of Jamal, Siffin and Nahrawan, are described in great detail in all history books. In this paper, however, these battles will be described briefly, in order to show how Hazrat `Ali's lofty ideals were also manifested in his conduct of them.

It should have been quite clear from the earlier sections on Hazrat `Ali's knowledge as well as his role as Khalifah or Imam, that he never considered his temporal power of prime importance. As Imam or divinely appointed guide or hadi, there has never been any doubt that he attached greater importance to 'establishing the truth and repelling falsehood' or, in the words of Hazrat Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah: "Hazrat `Ali's miraculous powers lay in his ability to help people to arrive at the Haqiqat".⁴⁸

This insight, however, is confined to those who accept the principle of Imamat and the role of the Imam. For those who are outside of this belief, it has been beyond their comprehension that Hazrat `Ali acted in the way he did. The best known example to quote to demonstrate this point is an episode from the Battle of Siffin. Hazrat `Ali faced the superior (in numbers) army of Mu`awiyah on the banks of the Euphrates river. Mu`awiyah's army had control of the river supplies and they denied access to Hazrat `Ali's army with the intention of hastening their defeat through thirst.

Hazrat `Ali, in his usual way, tried through letters and personal envoys to get Mu`awiyah to behave in a fair way, but to no avail. Only then did Hazrat `Ali resort to arms and having defeated Mu`awiyah's soldiers, secured the water supply for his men. Now the roles were reversed and Hazrat `Ali's army was in control of the water supplies, his commanders advised him to give Mu`awiyah and his army the same treatment as had been meted out to them earlier. But Hazrat `Ali refused – even in war against his archenemy, his conduct was scrupulously fair. Mu`awiyah's men were given access to the water supply.

Only Hazrat `Ali could do what he did! Any other leader would have taken the utmost advantage of the situation to gain the upper hand, especially since they would have had the excuse that Mu`awiyah had set them the precedent.

To return to a general description of these battles, Hazrat `Ali was forced to undertake them, because no sooner had he accepted the oath of allegiance (bay`ah) of the masses, when, in his words: "When I assumed power, a group broke the oath, the other renounced (the true faith) and the others transgressed".⁴⁹ The holy Prophet Muhammad had told Hazrat `Ali: "Indeed you will fight with the nakithin (the breakers of bay`ah), the qasitin (the oppressors or the unjust ones) and the mariqin (those who renounce the true faith)".⁵⁰

The three groups mentioned above by Prophet Muhammad were: Talhah, Zubayr and their main supporter Hazrat `A'ishah, who broke the oath. Therefore, Hazrat `Ali had to fight the battle of Jamal against them.

The Kharijites (literally 'those who left') renounced the true faith and after the Battle of Siffin, they created havoc and terrorised some areas of Iraq with their violence. Hazrat `Ali therefore took up arms against them in the Battle of Nahrawan and defeated them soundly.

The third group, who transgressed, refers to Mu`awiyah, who was from the Umayyad family, the son of Abu Sufyan (who was compelled to accept Islam after the conquest of Makkah) and Hind (who is infamous in history for having mutilated the body of Hazrat Hamzah at the Battle of Uhud). Hazrat `Ali fought the Battle of Siffin against him.

In all the three battles, Hazrat `Ali first used his conciliatory powers to avoid the military confrontations. He was loathe to see Muslims shed Muslim blood therefore, he sent letter after letter and personal representatives, one after another, to persuade his enemies not to fight. Only when all these attempts failed, was he forced to enter the battlefield.

When the opposing armies faced each other, Hazrat `Ali held his men back. He issued strict orders that the battle should not be initiated by his soldiers. During the actual fighting, Hazrat `Ali's soldiers were instructed to fight within a stringent code of chivalry – no dismemberment of bodies or dead enemies, no pursuing of fleeing enemies, no ill-treatment of captives, no looting, no harm to women, children and old people – was allowed.

In defeat, the enemies, both dead and alive were treated with honour and respect. At the Battle of Jamal or Camel, so named because of the camel on which Hazrat `A'ishah rode, Hazrat `Ali personally supervised the burial of all the dead, both his own soldiers as well as his opponents, in mass graves and then he prayed over them. Further, `A'ishah who had used her influential position as Ummu'lmu'minin (mother of the believers) to incite and rally opposition against Hazrat `Ali, was treated with deference even in abject defeat. Hazrat `Ali ensured that she was escorted safely back to Madinah.

Of these three battles, Siffin has aroused the most controversy. It lasted for a hundred and ten days, during which there were sporadic skirmishes. Hazrat `Ali, in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, challenged Mu`awiyah in the traditional manner, to single combat. Mu`awiyah, who was well aware that no person had ever come out alive of a single combat encounter with Hazrat `Ali, bribed `Amr ibn al-`As to fight in his stead.

In the final days of the battle, Hazrat `Ali's forces, though numerically smaller, were winning. Therefore, Mu`awiyah and `Amr ibn al-`As devised a scheme, which would bring the battle to a halt and save them from a resounding defeat. Pages of the Qur'an were tied to the tops of the lances by Mu`awiyah's men, who shouted that the Book of God should decide between the two armies. The effect on Hazrat `Ali's army was more than what Mu`awiyah could have wished for. Most of Hazrat `Ali's soldiers lay down their arms. Hazrat `Ali's advice to them to disregard this devious stratagem fell on deaf ears, as did the entreaties of such generals as Malik Ashtar. Mu`awiyah had prepared his ground well. Throughout the long weeks and months of the battle, his men had planted propaganda in the ranks of Hazrat `Ali's armies and had bribed several key figures to betray Hazrat `Ali at the crucial moment. Hazrat `Ali was forced to accept arbitration and to acquiesce to the dubious choice of Abu Musa al-Ash`ari as the arbiter from his side.

Some historians have been unable to come to terms with certain aspects of the Battle of Siffin. Firstly, they question how Hazrat `Ali's winning side could lose its advantage and secondly, many fail to understand why Hazrat `Ali did not use the same sort of underhand tactics (which sometimes are inappropriately described as diplomacy) as Mu`awiyah. Thirdly, Hazrat `Ali's own views on the arbitration are not generally known or understood. For the answers to these three important and contentious points, we will look to Hazrat `Ali's own sayings. With regard to the first question of how the winning side could give up its advantage so easily, Hazrat `Ali once said to his men:

"Indeed you have filled my heart with pus and my chest with exasperation. And you made me to swallow the draught of sorrow breath by breath and you undermined my opinion by disobeying and deserting me, to the extent that the Quraysh said: The son of Abu Talib is a brave man, but has no knowledge of warfare. How excellent is he! And is there anyone among them stronger and more experienced (than me) for it and more intrepid and long experienced in it than me. Indeed, I entered the battlefield when I was not yet twenty and I am now over sixty. But the one who is not obeyed has no opinion (i.e., there cannot be success if the leader is not obeyed)".⁵¹

On another occasion, when news reached Hazrat `Ali about Mu`awiyah's hordes raiding border towns and looting and pillaging them, he delivered the following khutbah:

"I have been informed that Busr has reached Yaman. And by God! I indeed think that, they will rule it instead of you due to their unity in falsehood and your disunity in truth and due to your disobedience of your leader (leader in truth) and their obedience of their leader in falsehood and due to their fulfilling of the trust of their master and your treachery to yours and due to their being orderly in their country and your being disorderly".⁵²

The second point about why Hazrat `Ali did not use Mu`awiyah's brand of political manoeuvring, propaganda and bribery too, is best answered by Hazrat `Ali's own words:

"O People! Indeed faithfulness is the twin of truthfulness. And I do not know a shield more protective than it. He who knows how the return (to God) is, he does not betray (i.e., one who keeps the Day of Judgement before him can never be faithless). And indeed, we are in a time in which most of the people have taken deception to be intelligence and the ignorant people consider it a good trick. What has happened to them! Indeed the experienced one knows the way of the trick, but between it and him, there is the command of God and His prohibition (which prevent him from using the trick), and so he leaves it, though he sees it and has power over it. But the one who is not wary of committing sin in religion, seizes its opportunity".⁵³

On the third point about Hazrat `Ali's views on the arbitration, he says:

"Indeed we did not choose the people as arbitrator and indeed we chose the Qur'an. And this Qur'an is a writing hidden between two covers. It does not speak with a tongue and therefore, inevitably, it has to have an interpreter. And it is the people who speak of it. And when the community (al-qawm) invited us to choose the Qur'an as arbitrator between us, we were not the entrusted party of the Book of God, may He be exalted. And indeed God, may He be glorified, has said: 'And if you have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to God and the Messenger' (4:59). Thus, referring to God means that we should judge according to His Book and referring to the Messenger means that we should follow his sunnat. When it is truthfully judged in the Book of God, then we are the most deserving of people (according) to it and if it is judged according to the sunnat of the Prophet, may God's blessings be on him and his progeny, then we are the most worthy of them (according) to it".⁵⁴

The so-called arbitration, which was supposed to resolve the cause of the Battle of Siffin, managed only to maintain the status quo, despite all of Mu`awiyah and `Amr ibn al-`As scheming and deviousness. Mu`awiyah continued as the Governor of Syria, amassing power and money by oppressive and foul means.

Hazrat `Ali was the Caliph until 661 C.E, when the Kharijite, Ibn Muljam, struck him with a poisoned sword whilst he was in prostration in the mosque of Kufah. Thus, Mawlana `Ali is the only person in history who was born in the Ka`bah and martyred in a mosque!

The unsatisfactory conclusion of the Battle of Siffin may be regarded by many as a defeat for Hazrat `Ali and in zahiri terms, it was indeed a set-back. However, it is interesting to draw some comparisons between Mu`awiyah and Hazrat `Ali. Mu`awiyah and his successors are remembered and cursed for the way they oppressed and persecuted the people in their single-minded pursuit of worldly power and pleasures. Further, history books record their sorry end at the hands of the `Abbasids in great and gory detail.

Hazrat `Ali, on the other hand, lives on in the memories of generation after generation of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, as the Caliph who did not sacrifice his ideals and his righteousness, piety and fear of God, for the sake of a temporary physical kingdom. In this sense too, Hazrat `Ali is the ideal 'fata' of Islam.

As `Abdullah, son of Malik ibn Hanmbal (one of the four imams of the Sunnis) said that the caliphate did not bring any honour or glory to Hazrat `Ali, but was itself honoured and glorified by Hazrat `Ali.⁵⁵

• ³⁹'The Memoirs of the Aga Khan', Cassell and Co. Ltd., London, 1954, p. 178.
• ⁴⁰Hazrat `Ali does not use any names in his khutbah. The Arabic word for 'so and so' is fulan.
• <sup>41</sup>'Nahju'l-Balagah' ed. Muhammad `Abduh, Misr, pp. 25-26, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁴²Ibid., pp. 36, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁴³Ibid., pp. 35-36, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁴⁴A speech made by Mawlana Sultan Muhammad Shah on the 'Final Reconciliation between Sunni and Shi`ah Doctrines'.
• <sup>45</sup>'Nahju'l-Balagah' ed. Muhammad `Abduh, Misr, pp. 115, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁴⁶Ibid., pp. 31-32, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁴⁷Ibid., pp. 76-78, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁴⁸See note .
• ⁴⁹'Nahju'l-Balaghah' ed. Muhammad `Abduh, Misr, pp. 31-32, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• <sup>50</sup>al-Qazi al-Nu`man, Sharhu'l-akhbar, I, 337-339.
• ⁵¹'Nahju'l-Balagah' ed. Muhammad `Abduh, Misr, pp. 63, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁵²Ibid., pp. 63, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁵³Ibid., pp. 88, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁵⁴Ibid., part II, pg 8, trans. F.M Hunzai.
• ⁵⁵Intro to 'Nahju'l-Balagah', trans. M. A. Jafery.