William Muir

“ The Al-Kufa ranks were urged on by the regicides, who felt that unless 'Ali conquered, they were all doomed men. The fierceness and obstinacy of the battle can be only thus accounted for. One of the combatants tells us that "when the opposing sides came together breast to breast, with a furious shock, the noise was like that of washermen at the riverside."1 The attitude of the leaders was in marked contrast with the bitter struggle of the ranks. Az-Zubeir, half-hearted since his interview with 'Ali, left the battlefield according to his promise, and was killed in an adjoining valley. ”

“ The cry of Talha and Az-Zubeir was for vengeance against the murderers of 'Othman; and against these, 'Ali as yet did not deny that justice should be dealt. But he was obliged to temporise. He had in his army great numbers of the very men who had risen against 'Othman; and he felt that to inflict punishment on them, as his adversaries required, would for the present be impossible. Holding these views, he halted, still some little way from Al-Basra, and sent forward Al-Ka'ka' (who with other leaders of renown had joined him from Al-Kufa) to expostulate with Talha and Az-Zubeir. ”

“ FINDING that the insurgent troops, with 'Aisha, Az-Zubeir, and Talha had already passed, 'Ali, as we have seen, halted for a while on the road to Al-Basra, with the view of Basra, strengthening his army; for, although joined on his march by certain loyal tribes, he still felt too weak for immediate action. To Al-Kufa he addressed a special summons, inhabited as it was by many veterans on whose loyalty he might reasonably depend; and he added force to the call by promising that Al-Kufa should be his seat of government. ”