Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 2 of 2

330 'Ali's attitude towards the Kharijites and Shia
This meeting was public and included all the Shia.
Approximately seventeen thousand rallied behind Sulaym&, but he
was not happy with their small numbers. He sent Hakeem ibn
Munqidh to give the call in Kufah, and the people came out to join
them until their number reached nearly twenty thousand.254 Dnring
this time, al-MukhGr ibn Abi 'Ubayd ath-Thaqafi came to Kufah and
found that the Shia had rallied behind Sulaymiu ihn Surad; they were
showing him a great deal of respect and were preparing for war.
When al-Mukh6r settled among them in Kufah, he called for the
imamate of al-Mahdi Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Tilib, namely
Muhammad ibn al-Hanatiyyah; he called him al-Mahdi, and many of
the Shia followed him in that, leaving Sulaymk ibn Surad.
Thus the Shia split into two groups. The majority of them were
with Sulaymk, wanting to go out to fight people so that they could
avenge the murder of al-Husayn. Another group was with al-
Mukhtk, wanting to proclaim the imamate of Muhammad ibn al-
Hanafiyyah, albeit without any instruction from Ibn al-Hanafiyyah
himself; they attributed that to him in order to deceive the people and
achieve their corrupt ulterior motives.255 This is how the Shia began
to come together,
Then the historians tell us that Sulaymk ibn Surad set out for
Syria with those Shia who were still with him. They met the Syrians
at a spring called 'Ayn al-Wardah, where a great battle took place that
lasted for three days. Ibn Katheer said: "No one, old or young, had
ever seen anything like that day, when nothing intempted the
fighting except the times for prayer, until night The fighting
between them ended with the killing of Sulaymh ibn Surad (may
Allah have mercy on him) and many of his companions; they were
defeated, and those of his companions who were left returned to
~ufah.~~~