Episode 14: The first fitna

Following the caliph’s victory over the Meccan faction at Basra, Ali bin Abi Talib turned his attention towards Syria. The Umayyad Mu’awiya bin Abu Sufyan had governed its lands for nearly two decades and insisted that he would not submit until his kin’s murderers and their unnamed instigators had been punished. This irresolvable dispute culminated to the battle of Siffin, the umma’s bloodiest civil war.

Glossary

• Fitna: The best English translation for the term fitna is “civil strife”, but the word itself retains multiple connotations which come alive depending on the context. Surveying its use in just the Qur’an we find over 60 mentions of its various forms. In its negative deployments the word is tinged with sin, temptation, enthrallment, and feelings of compulsion to act in base or unenlightened ways. In its positive mentions it conveys charm or a blessing of beauty. In any case, it is the word’s social and political meaning that we are interested in, and to that end not every act of rebellion against authority qualifies as a fitna, the label is typically retrospectively applied to any issue which divided the community and left behind an enduring schism. For example, nobody calls Ali’s initial reluctance to accept Abu Bakr as caliph or even the Meccan faction’s revolt a fitna. While they did divide the umma for a while, and maybe someone was going around screaming bloody fitna when they were taking place or whatever, the return of the wayward into the fold after all was said and done meant no permanent harm came to the umma. The term fitna will come up repeatedly over the course of this podcast.
• Adnani/Qahtani: A part of me worries that I’ve introduced this split a little too early, but I suppose I can always discuss this topic once again after it becomes super important, probably in 5 episodes or so. The Northern Arabs known as Adnani or Qaysi Arabs considered themselves of purer nomadic stock, while the Southern Arabs known as Qahtani or sometimes Yemeni Arabs were viewed as more compromised by settled life. At this stage these two coalitions were little more than unspoken or unformalized ties between various tribal leaders. 
• Mu’awiya bin Abi Sufian: The Umayyad governor of Syria has been looming in the background of our narrative for a while now. If he seems to villainy in my retelling then you should keep in mind that as one of the most controversial figures in this period of muslim history, there are all sorts of narrations about him. Anyhow we’ll get plenty more opportunities to bring him out more fully going forward. 
• ‘Amr ibn il ‘As: The dahiya truly shines in this episode, although I admit I bring him out as deeply cynical and manipulative while the sources prefer to marvel at his eloquent sophistry. It’s not that they give him a moral pass either, the narrations supporting and flaunting (and most probably exaggerating) his cleverness are fully convinced of the justice of avenging the murdered caliph, and they consider all actions in service of that end valid and defensible. Hostile sources delight in underlining the considerable hypocrisy of his positions as both detractor and avenger of Othman.
• Qays bin ‘Ubada: Following his replacement as governor of Egypt, Qays returned to Medina, hurt by the caliph’s decision to remove him and distrustful of those around him who’d suggested it. But when he heard that Ali was mobilizing to meet Mu’awiya in battle, he decided to join him in Kufa as the caliph had originally requested.
  Mohammad bin Abi Bakr: The son of the first caliph and stepson of the current one may have seemed like the right choice to replace its governor due to the considerable sway he held in the canton of Fustat. The young man was an implacable proponent of Ali’s right to rule the umma, and in the sources narrations about him brim with the zeal of youthful idealism.
• Malik il Ashtar: In our sources Malik almost comes out of thin air during the early unrest in Kufa, but he quickly becomes a major force in the politics of his day. The energy he brought to the scene dominates this episode, and it is difficult to find someone who contributed more to Ali’s cause than Malik, with the possible exception of Ammar bin Yassir.
• Abdullah ibn il Abbas: This cousin to both Ali and the prophet was a close confidant of the caliph, and he was often off completing necessary tribal negotiations or religious rituals for him. There does seem to have been a brief spat between the two, but since it is largely inconsequential I felt it better to skip the complication. Basically some Basran complained Abdallah was misbehaving with his finances, and Ali made a show of holding him to account, which led to some animosity for a year until Ali was convinced the whole thing was a sham. Anyway I just wanted to note that Abdallah was often away from Basra on some task or another.
• Ammar bin Yassir: One of Mohammad’s earliest converts, his parents were slaves owned by Umayyads in Mecca, and they were attracted to the strong sense of justice in the prophet’s message of Islam. The two were tortured to death by their owners in a vain effort to extract renunciations of faith, and Ammar’s mother is considered the religion’s first martyr. Ammar was afterwards known as a stalwart ally of the prophet, and he went on to become one of Ali’s most fervent and influential backers after Mohammad’s death. His championing of the Hashemite made him a lightning rod for Qurayshi criticism: it was his assertion that he would pledge allegiance to Ali as soon as the second caliph passed away that first led Omar to worry about his own succession, he had clashed with Othman towards the end of the third caliph’s reign, and later Aisha insisted that Ammar had the caliph’s blood on his hands, claims which Mu’awiya and ‘Amr were happy to echo to their Syrian supporters. 
• Al Ash’ath bin Qays: There isn’t all that much on this noble lord of one of the oldest Yemeni tribes in our sources. The story of his conversion to Islam leans heavily on how highly he thought of himself, with him insisting to the prophet that he ought to be allowed to wear silk because of his noble descent. His tribe was one of those which left the umma after the death of the prophet, but rejoined peaceably. Abu Bakr therefore did not rely on his tribe during his short reign, but al Ash’ath and his men fought the empires under Omar and found a place in the canton city of Kufa afterwards. He married a daughter of Othman’s during the third caliph’s time, and his daughter was married to Ali’s eldest son al Hasan, which gives us the impression that this particular tribal lord was still quite tribal-minded in his conduct.