পৃষ্ঠা 26: প্রথম অধ্যায়: দূরবর্তী আলামতসমূহ যা ইতিমধ্যে প্রকাশ পেয়ে অতিক্রান্ত হয়েছে

A Brief Mention of Its Cause

Account of the Battle of Siffin

And among them is the Battle of Siffin:

It is authentically reported: "The Hour will not be established until two immense groups fight each other, resulting in a tremendous slaughter between them, while their claim is one."

And on the authority of 'Ata' ibn al-Sa'ib, who said: More than one person related to me that one of the judges of the Levant (al-Sham) came to 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "O Commander of the Faithful! I saw in a dream as if the sun and the moon were fighting each other, and the stars were split between them in two halves." 'Umar asked: "With which of the two were you?" He replied: "With the moon against the sun." Thereupon 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) recited: {"And We have made the night and the day two signs, and We erased the sign of the night and made the sign of the day sight-giving"} [al-Isra': 12], and said: "Depart! For by Allah, you shall never hold an office for me!"

'Ata' said: "It has reached me that he was killed fighting alongside Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) on the Day of Siffin."

The cause of it in brief: When 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was martyred and allegiance was pledged to 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), 'Ali sent word to Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) calling upon him to enter into what the Muslims had entered into and to step down from his governance. Mu'awiyah had been the governor of the Levant under 'Umar and then under 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with them both), and he hoped that 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) would retain him in his post. Indeed, al-Hasan ibn 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them), and others had advised 'Ali to keep him in charge of the Levant until he secured allegiance from him, after which he could decide his matter as he pleased. But 'Ali said: "Far from it! Had I known that compromise and flattery were permissible for me in the religion of Allah, I would have done so; but Allah does not approve of flattery and compromise for the people of the Qur'an."

This reached Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), so he swore that he would never hold any office under 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him); and it came to pass...