Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 2 of 2

112 The Battles of the Camel and Szffeen, and the issue of arbitration
(c) It was narrated that al-Hasan ibn 'Ali said: "Amir al-
Mu'mineen 'Ali wanted one thing, hut matters spun out of
control, and he could not do anything about it."383
(d) It was narrated from Sulaymh ibn Sad, from al-Hasan
ibn 'Ali, that he heard 'Ali say, when he saw the swords
that the people were wielding: "0 Hasan, would that I had
died twenty or forty years before this."384
(e) With regard to 'A'ishah, it was narrated that she used to
say, when remembering the Battle of the Camel: "Would
that I had stayed away like my co-wives. It would have
been dearer to me to give birth to many children from the
Messenger of Allah (g), all of them like 'Abdur-R&mh
ihn al-Hikith ihn ~ isGm or Abdullah ibn az-~uba~r."~~
(f) When she recited the verse in which Allah (&) says, 4And
stay in your houses,# (Qur'an 33: 33) she would weep until
her headcover became
(g) 'kishah 1%) said: "Would that I had had twenty children
from the ~essenger of Allah (g%), all of them like 'Abdur-
R&%u ibn al-Hikith ibn Hishh, and I had been bereft of
them, and that I did not do what I did on the day of the
(h) Ibn Taymiyah said: " '.&'ishah did not fight, and she did
not go out to fight; she went out with the aim of settings
things straight among the Muslims. She thought that her
going out was in the Muslims' best interests, then later on
it became clear that not going out would have been better.
When she remembered going out, she would weep until
her headcover became wet. This is how the majority of the
earliest Muslims were; they regretted the fighting in which
they had become involved. Talhah, az-Zubayr, 'Ali and