Documents of the Right Word

prevent fitna and that the murderers should be arrested first. The
Khalîfa accepted their wishes. Upon this, Muslims from both sides
rejoiced and agreed to come together three days later. As the time
of their meeting became closer, the murderers heard about this
agreement. At a loss as to what to do, they assembled around their
leader, the Jew named Abdullah bin Saba’, and asked him what
they should do to prevent this meeting. “Our last resort is to
attack the Khalîfa’s army tonight and then go to the Khalîfa and
tell him that people with Âisha did not keep their promise and
raided us,” was the Jew’s plan. The plan was executed successfully
and then, as it was planned, another troop of horsemen raided the
other party. Upon this the spies who had infiltrated among them
beforehand clamoured as if they were their friends: “The Khalîfa
did not keep his promise. We have been raided.” So the war
began. This was how the event called Camel war broke out.
Qurtubî and other Sunnite historians write so, and it is true.
Enemies of the As-hâb-i-kirâm, on the other hand, falsify the facts
in order to defend the murderers. Their lies should not be
believed.
Another person who was of the opinion that the murderers
should be arrested and retaliated against, was Mu’âwiya ‘radiy-
Allâhu anh’, the governor of Damascus. Because the tumult had
not been suppressed yet and the Khalîfa was too busy with the
event of Camel to do anything else, he had to refuse his suggestion.
And Mu’âwiya, in his turn, refused to recognize him as the Khalîfa.
As it is written also in the Shiite book Nahj-ul-belâgha, the Khalîfa
stated, “We shall (have to) fight our brothers in Islam. They have
deviated from the right way.” As is seen, those who fought the
battles of Camel and Siffîn never thought of hurting hadrat Alî
‘kerrem-Allâhu wejheh’. The only feeling fostered by both parties
was obeying the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ and preventing
the fitna. Yet talons of Zionism managed bloodbaths on both
sides.
In the hundred and twenty-third page of the book Tezkire-i
Kurtubî Muhtasar›, a hadîth-i-sherîf reported by Muslim is
quoted. It reads as follows: “If Muslims fight one another, the
ones who are killed as well as their killers will go to Hell.”
According to scholars, this hadîth-i-sherîf means those who fight
for worldly advantages. It does not mean fighting for an Islamic
cause, for eliminating vices or for subduing rebels. As a matter of
fact, another hadîth-i-sherîf states, “If you fight for worldly
advantages, both the killer and the one killed will be in Hell.” This
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