William Muir

“ Keis retired in anger to Medina, where, as on neutral ground, adherents of either side were unmolested; but finding no peace there from the taunts of Merwan and others, he at last resolved to cast himself on 'Ali's clemency; and 'Ali on the calumnies being cleared away, took him back at once into his confidence, and thenceforward kept him as his chief adviser. Mu'awiya upbraided Merwan with having driven Keis from Medina;—"If thou hadst aided 'Ali," he said, "with a hundred thousand men, it had been a lesser evil than is the gain to him of such a counselor." ”

“ But the disintegration of the Caliphate was an idea which had as yet hardly entered into the minds of the Faithful. The unity of Islam, established by the precedent of the quarter of a century, was still, and long continued to be, the ruling sentiment of the nation. ”

“ This coalition, and the false step of 'Ali in recalling Keis from Egypt, materially strengthened Mu'awiya's hands. The success of 'Ali at Al-Basra had also this advantage for Mu'awiya, that it removed Talha and Az-Zubeir, his only other competitors, from the field. The position of 'Ali, again, as one of concession to the Arab faction, was fraught with peril. While refusing ostensibly to identify himself with the murderers of 'Othman, it was virtually their cause that he had fought; and therefore equally the cause of the Arab tribes against Koreish and the aristocracy of Islam. ”