Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

556 Governors at the time of 'Ali ibn Abi Tilib
1.6. Mesopotamia (al-Jazeerah)
Mesopotamia was one of the provinces that belonged to Syria
at the time of 'Uthmk ibn 'AfYan (&). After he was martyred, Syria
was under the control of Mu'iwiy& (A), while Iraq was under the
control of 'Ah(&). This made Mesopotamia an area of dispute
between the two sides, because of its geographical location with its
connection to Syria, on the one hand, and Iraq on the other.45 Hence,
it was possible to gain control of it from either side. A number of
battles took place between the troops of 'Ali and the troops of
Mu'iwiyah, as both sides attempted lo conquer the region. 'Ali
managed to gain control of it for a while.46 He appointed al-Ashtar,
the most famous of 'Ali's governors in ~eso~otamia~~, whom he
appointed to that post more than once. Al-Ashtar managed to put its
affairs in order, but in 38 AH, 'Mi(4)
was forced to transfer him to
Egypt as the governor there.48 Chaos returned to Mesopotamia once
again, and a number of battles took place there as Mu'iwiyah tried to
gain control of it after that.49
It seems that at the end of 39 AH, Mu'iwiyah managed to gain
control over Mesopotamia to some extent.5o It had been a refuge for
some of those who had stayed out of the conflict between 'Ali and
Mu'iwiyah; they did not swear allegiance. to 'Ali while the dispute
was ongoing between him and ~u'iwi~ah.~~ Its location in the
middle, between the two sides, is what prompted them to choose
Mesopotamia. According to some narrations, two of those who were
appointed as governors of Mesopotamia by 'Ali (&) were Shubayb
ibn ' hiS2 and Kameel ibn Ziyid. They played a role in resisting the
armies of Syria which attacked Mesopotamia; in fact, they managed
to attack Syria from the direction of ~eso~otamia.~~