التحكيم بعد صفين

التحكيم بعد صفين

37 ھ

After the copies of the Qur'an were raised, the document of arbitration was written between Ali and Mu'awiya: Abdallah ibn Qays and Amr ibn al-As were to judge between the community, and the decision would run until Ramadan ¹. A man from one side of the mosque cried: «No judgement but God's»; then men came forward one after another calling for arbitration, and Ali replied to them that judgement belongs to God ². The volume's index points to the meeting of the two arbiters at Dumat al-Jandal ³. The people of Syria chose Amr ibn al-As, while al-Ash'ath and those with him insisted on Abu Musa despite Ali's objection that he was not trustworthy. The document stipulated that the two arbiters should give life to what the Qur'an gives life to and cause to die what it causes to die, and not follow their desires; the term was set until Ramadan. It was concluded a few days before the end of Safar in the year thirty-seven. Urwa ibn Udhayna was the first to utter «No judgement but God's». The death toll was disputed: Yahya ibn Ma'in reported one hundred and ten thousand from both sides, over one hundred and ten days; al-Haytham ibn Adi, al-Sharqi ibn al-Qatami and Abu Mikhnaf reported seventy thousand, among them twenty-five men of Badr; al-Mas'udi favoured a higher figure still ⁴