Malik al-Ashtar al-Nakha'i

Malik ibn al-Harith al-Ashtar al-Nakha'i, one of the companions and commanders of Ali. ¹

In al-Baladhuri's account of the first crossing of the road, Abu Ubayda sent Maysara ibn Masruq al-Absi, who struck the Romans and those with them from the Arabized Ghassan, Tanukh and Iyad. Then Malik al-Ashtar came to join him as reinforcement from Abu Ubayda while he was at Antioch. The source says that the reports differ on this. ² See the first crossing of Darb Baghras.

Al-Mas'udi says that he is Malik ibn al-Harith al-Nakha'i, who set out from Kufa with two hundred men as part of the army of the rebels against Uthman. ¹

Malik ibn al-Harith al-Nakha'i, called al-Ashtar, "the man with inverted eyelids", from a wound received at the battle of Yarmuk (15/636), was a warrior and political agitator in the time of the Caliph Uthman, and later a supporter of Ali. He distinguished himself in the campaign against the Byzantines and even ventured beyond Darb into enemy territory. ³

He was one of the most persistent agitators against Uthman and the ruling class of the time, and defended the claims of the warriors to the fay' (booty consisting of landed property). After a violent scene before Uthman's governor at Kufa, Sa'id ibn al-As (33/653-4), he was banished with ten other agitators to Syria. Mu'awiya sent him back to Iraq, but Sa'id sent him on to Homs; he soon returned to Kufa and stirred up the masses again. He led the seditious group that prevented Sa'id's return and obtained the appointment of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari as governor (34/654-5). At the revolt in Medina that ended with Uthman's murder (35/656) he brought two hundred men from Kufa and joined the siege of the house; some sources name him among the murderers. ³

Under Ali he threatened recalcitrants until they swore the oath of allegiance, and he was sent to Kufa with other notables to win its people to Ali's side during the campaign against Aisha, Talha and al-Zubayr. He fought at the battle of the Camel (36/656), where a duel with Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr is recorded. At the head of Ali's vanguard against Mu'awiya he made the people of Raqqa build a bridge of boats over the Euphrates, and at Siffin he commanded the right wing. ³

When arbitration was proposed, Ali wished to name him as arbiter, but his supporters refused, knowing that this would prolong the war. When a truce was agreed, he wanted to fight on and tried to avoid signing it. Ali then appointed him governor of Mawsil and other towns, where he met opposition from al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, whom Mu'awiya had appointed, and withdrew to Mawsil; then he was named governor of Egypt. He never reached Egypt: at al-Kulzum, in 37 AH (658) or perhaps 38, he was poisoned, by the local logistarius according to the sources. Mu'awiya has been suspected of instigating the poisoning; he regarded al-Ashtar, with Ammar ibn Yasir (may God be pleased with him), as one of the "arms" of Ali. Physically al-Ashtar was a giant, and his sword bore the name al-Ludidi, "the sheen of running water". ³