Battle of Nahrawan

وقعة النهروان

38 AH

Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him)'s fighting against the Kharijites, who rebelled against him after the arbitration. Al-Tabari's index to volume five places “the account of the day of the river” among the events of the years 37 to 38 AH ¹, and there it is stated that the Kharijites were struck at the river ². In al-Suyuti's account, the Kharijites came out after the arbitration, saying 'judgement belongs to God alone', and encamped at Harura. Ali sent Ibn Abbas to them; he debated with them and persuaded many of them to return, while others held firm and marched to Nahrawan, where they blocked the road. Ali marched against them and killed them, including Dhu al-Thudayya; this was in 38 AH ³. In al-Mas'udi's account, the Kharijites gathered four thousand men and pledged allegiance to Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi at al-Mada'in; they slaughtered Abd Allah ibn Khabbab and ripped open the belly of his wife. Ali marched against them in 38 AH with thirty-five thousand men, including ten thousand from Basra, among them al-Ahnaf. A man from the Jews of al-Sawad told him that they had crossed the river of Tabaristan; Ali swore that they had not crossed it and that their dead lay at al-Rumayla, short of it, and said, 'Not one of them will escape except ten, and not one of you will be killed except ten'; so it was ⁴.