Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/270

 656] the factious and servile mass at large, listened eagerly to their tale. "They had left the men of Medīna," said Ṭalḥa and Az-Zubeir, "plunged in perplexity. Right had been confounded so with wrong that people knew not which way to turn. It was for Mecca now to lead, and punish traitors who had slain their Caliph." The standard of rebellion thus raised, many flocked around it. Al-Baṣra was to be the first object of attack, a city favouring the claims of Ṭalḥa; while Ibn ʿĀmir, the late governor and friend of ʿOthmān, had still an influential following there. The treasure he had brought away, as well as that carried off by Al-ʿAlā from the Yemen, was now expended in equipping the force and providing it with carriage. ʿĀisha, spurning the restraints of sex, prepared to join the campaign and stir up the men of Al-Baṣra, as she had stirred up those of Mecca. Ḥafṣa was with difficulty restrained by her brother ʿAbdallah son of ʿOmar (who had just fled from Medina, and held aloof from either side) from following her sister- widow. At length, some four months after ʿOthmān's death, the rebel army set out 3000 strong, of whom 1000 were men of Mecca and Medīna, ʿĀisha travelled in her litter on a camel, destined to give its name to the first engagement in the civil war. The other widows of Moḥammad residing at Mecca accompanied her a little way, and then returned. As they parted, the company gave vent to their feelings and wept bitterly at the louring outlook;—"there was no such weeping, before or after, as then; so that day was called The Day of Tears."

Questions began to arise whether Ṭalḥa or Az-Zubeir would in event of victory be the Caliph; but ʿĀisha, staying the strife, as premature, desired that ʿAbdallah son of Az-Zubeir should lead the prayers; and it was given out that the choice of the future Caliph would be left, as heretofore, to the men of Medīna. Saʿīd, ex-governor of Al-Kūfa, distrusting the motives of the leaders, turned aside at the last moment, and with his company went back to Mecca. As the remaining cavalcade swept by him, shouting that they were on their way to destroy the murderers of ʿOthmān, Saʿīd cried out, "Whither away? the objects of your vengeance (meaning Ṭalḥa and Az-Zubeir) are on their camels' humps before your eyes. Slay them both, and