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The Death of Malik al-Ashtar and the Loss of Egypt
ALI'S GOVERNOR IN EGYPT WAS MUHAMMAD IBN ABU BAKR.
In 658 (38 A.H.) Muawiya sent Amr bin Aas with an army of 6000 warriors to conquer Egypt
for him. Muhammad requested Ali to send him aid to defend Egypt. Ali realized that the
only man who could save Egypt from the clutches of Muawiya and Amr bin Aas, was Malik ibn
Ashter. He, therefore, sent him (Malik) as the new governor of Egypt, and recalled
Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr to Kufa. But neither Malik nor Muhammad ever reached their
destinations. Malik left Kufa to take charge of Egypt. But Muawiya's agents, disguised as
inn-keepers, were waiting to "greet" him at the frontier. They administered
poison to him in his drink, and he died from its effect (Abul Fida). Malik was Muawiya's nemesis. The agent who had administered poison to Malik,
immediately reported his "exploit" to Muawiya, and he (Muawiya) couldn't believe
his own good fortune. In an ecstasy of delight, he exclaimed: "Today Ali has lost his
second arm." By killing Ammar ibn Yasir, in the battle of Siffin, Muawiya had cut
Ali's one arm; and now by killing Malik, he had cut his (Ali's) other arm also. After the
death of Malik, Ali had lost both arms. Muawiya had "cut" Ali's arm with the aid
of his secret but powerful weapon – poison! Poison "dissolved" Muawiya's nemesis, and
freed him from fear for all time. Francesco Gabrieli In those years Amr bin al-Aas reconquered Egypt for
the Omayyads, eliminating through poison, Malik al-Ashter whom Ali had dispatched there as
governor. (The Arabs, A Compact History, p. 69, 1963) To Ali, the death of Malik, was a staggering blow.
If ever there was a man in Arabia who was a one-man army, it was Malik. His presence
inspired confidence in his own army, and his name struck terror in the hearts of his
enemies. The Arabs never produced a more formidable swordsman than him. By dint of grit
and ability, he propelled himself to the top of the tree. It is one of the tragedies of
the history of the Muslims that his career was cut short in the prime of life. He was
brave, resolute, intelligent, chivalrous and faithful. There were many men who, until the
death of Ammar ibn Yasir, were undecided if they should or should not fight on Ali's side.
It was only after the fulfillment of the prediction of the Apostle of God that Ammar would
be killed by the people of iniquity, that they were convinced that justice and truth were
on Ali's side. But Malik never had such hang-ups. He knew that Ali and Truth were
inseparable, and he was most consistent in his devotion and support to him. Some historians have insinuated that Malik was one
of those men who were implicated in Uthman's death. It is true that Malik came from Kufa
to Medina with a delegation but he did not come to kill Uthman. He came only to request
Uthman to remove a foul and a corrupt governor. He was the most gallant man in Arabia, and
one thing he could not do was to kill an old man of 84. Malik, in fact, did not even enter
Uthman's palace at any time. If he had, Naila (Uthman's wife) would have volunteered this
information when Ali was interrogating witnesses of the crime; and Marwan would have
broadcast the news of the intrusion to the whole world. But he never did. The allegation that Malik was one of the murderers
of Uthman, was cooked up by Muawiya. He was churning out new ideas at all times. In the
battle of Siffin, when he saw Malik charging at his bodyguards, he screamed in terror and
panic: "O save me from Malik; he is the one who killed Uthman." Muawiya knew
that Malik had not killed Uthman but he also knew that the Syrians loved him (Uthman) and
would fall like demons upon his (Uthman's) murderer if they could find him. In calling
Malik the murderer of Uthman, he hoped to rouse the Syrians to make a superhuman effort to
check his (Malik's) advance, and thus to save his own (Muawiya's) life. The court
historians of Damascus took up the cry from Muawiya, and since then, the falsehood has
been passing from generation to generation. It is one of the ironies of the history of the
Muslims that though Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr openly instigated the people to kill Uthman,
they have never been impeached in its tribunal. And what was there to prevent Muawiya
himself from going to Medina to save his (Uthman's) life? Nothing! But he never did. He
withheld his aid on purpose, and let Uthman die. But after his death, he made an alliance,
in exchange for Egypt, with Amr bin Aas, to "seek vengeance for Uthman's
murder." As noted before, Amr was one of the most implacable enemies of Uthman, and
probably was his real murderer. The scenario changed after the death of Uthman.
First Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr, and then Muawiya and Amr bin Aas rose as his (Uthman's)
protagonists to seek vengeance for his blood. Whatever the various and often murky
impulses of those men and women who rallied round the corpse of Uthman, it is clear that
his safety was not the least of their concerns. This is a fact that cannot be controverted
but it's also a fact that Sunni historians do not wish to rake up. It is much more
comforting and easier for them to allege that Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr or Malik ibn Ashter
were involved in the assassination of Uthman than to admit that Ayesha, Talha, Zubayr,
Muawiya and Amr bin Aas, all played a role in the grisly tragedy of the old khalifa's
death. Malik ibn Ashter died at a time when Ali needed him
most, and there was no one who could take his place. The shock to Ali, of the death of friends like Ammar
ibn Yasir and Malik ibn Ashter, was devastating but he was sustained by his Faith. He
considered each new shock, each new sorrow, and each new misfortune, a new test of his
faith, and it remained unshaken. His faith in the mercy of his Creator was greater than
anything that could ever befall him, and he never surrendered to despair. Malik was truly extraordinary. He was the consummate
military professional, dedicated, dignified, and supremely competent and self-confident.
He was a king among men. A more remarkable man than him in his bold and
salient individuality, and sharply marked light and shadow, is nowhere to be seen in
Arabian history. Propaganda has made the names of some other men more well-known than his
but he remains incomparable. He was the Phoenix of Islam. Perhaps it is impossible to pay Malik ibn Ashter a
tribute greater than the one paid to him by his own master, Ali ibn Abi Talib. In the
battle of Layla-tul-Harir, Ali placed his hands on the shoulders of Malik, and said: "You have served me with the same distinction
and devotion with which I served my master, Muhammad, the blessed Apostle of God." The Loss of Egypt Amr bin Aas entered Egypt without any opposition,
and when he encountered Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, he easily defeated him. Muhammad had no
army, and he tried to fight with a handful of soldiers. The Syrians captured him, and
tortured him to death. Amr occupied Egypt, and it became a part of Muawiya's
dominions. Ali loved Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr as his own son. His
death was another terrible shock he had to endure. He prayed for him, and invoked God's
blessings and mercy upon his noble soul. In 659 Muawiya stepped up his war of nerves against
Ali, and sent several contingents into Jazirah and Hijaz to terrify people, and to destroy
their morale. His policy at first was to strike a spark of terror and then to let the fire
do the rest but his captains soon changed it into a phantasmagoria of violence and death.
In Jazirah, Ne'man bin Bashir attacked Ain-at-Tamar with 2000 men; Sufyan bin Auf attacked
Anbar and Madaen with 6000 soldiers; Abdullah bin Masadah Fizari attacked Tima with a
force of 1700 freebooters; and Zahhak bin Qays and his followers laid waste the township
of Waqsa. They killed all those men, women and children whom they suspected to be friendly
to Ali, and they plundered the public treasury wherever they found one. Dr. Hamid-ud-Din The acquisition of Egypt immeasurably strengthened
Muawiya's hands. He then sent units of his army into Hijaz, Jazirah and Iraq. They went
around plundering, spreading terror and killing. Muawiya attacked the banks of the Tigris
in person, and seized the public treasury in Jazirah. (History of Islam, Lahore, Pakistan,
p. 204, 1971) Muawiya and his generals had adopted a policy of
waging irregular warfare against the successor of the Prophet of Islam and the sovereign
of all Muslims. To them irregular warfare meant unconventional warfare; limited
conventional military actions, and unlimited terrorism. They plunged the Dar-ul-Islam into
a trauma from which it has never recovered. In 660, Muawiya sent Bisr bin Artat with 3000
soldiers to Hijaz and Yemen on a rampage of pillaging, destroying, burning and killing. In
Yemen, Bisr killed with his own hands, the infant twins of Obaidullah ibn Abbas who was
the governor of that province. When he returned to Syria, gorged on innocent blood, tens
of thousands of Muslims had been killed. One of the governors of Ali in a frontier district,
was Kumayl ibn Ziyad. He sought his master's permission to raid Syria. Such raids into
Syria, he said, would compel Muawiya to halt his own raids into Hijaz and Iraq. But his
application drew forth a characteristic reply from Ali who wrote to him: "I hardly expected you to suggest that we raid
the towns and villages in Syria. It is true that the Syrians are our enemies but they are
also human beings, and what's more, they are Muslims. If we send raiding parties into
Syria, it is most probable that the victims of our punitive action will not be the Syrian
marauders who violate our borders but the Syrian civil population - the non-combatant
folks. Is it therefore right and fair to plunder and to kill them for the crimes they did
not commit? No. They will not pay the penalty for the crimes of their leaders. The best
thing for us to do, therefore, is to strengthen our own defenses against the enemy, and to
rout him before he can do any harm to our people." The dominant logic of "mirror image" of
matching terror with terror did not appeal to Ali; he considered is basically fallacious. Though Ali drove the intruders out of his dominions,
law and order had broken down. The Syrians began to violate the frontier with growing
frequency. Bisr bin Artat defeated the small garrison defending the strategic town of
Anbar and occupied it. He then put the whole population to the sword as was customary with
him. Ali called upon the Iraqis to stand up in defense of
their homes against the Syrians but found them unresponsive. In winter they said that it
was too cold to go on a campaign, and in summer they said that it was too hot. Many Iraqi
leaders were still working for Muwaiya in return for his gifts and promises, and they
spread disaffection in the country. Muawiya also worked hard to undermine the allegiance
to Ali of the Iraqi army. For him, conflict was not limited to the operation of armies,
but was carried on behind the front by his agents and partisans, by subversion and
sabotage, and by propaganda and indoctrination. Since there was no punitive action against them, the
Syrian marauders were emboldened to penetrate deeper and deeper into Iraq. Ali made many attempts to shake the Iraqis out of
their lethargy and supineness but they acted as if the Syrian raids were not hurting them.
Their head-in-the-sand attitude so exasperated him that he told them that if they did not
obey his orders, and take up arms to defend their borders, he would abandon them in Kufa,
and with the handful of loyal followers he still had with him, would go and try to stop
the enemy, regardless of the consequences. This threat appears to have worked. The Iraqis
suddenly realized that if Ali abandoned them, they would be left leaderless. They,
therefore, assured him that they would obey him - in peace and in war. Ali immediately set to work to reorganize the army,
and to mobilize fresh troops. He summoned Abdullah ibn Abbas from Basra, and he ordered
other leaders and their troops to assemble in the camp at Nukhayla near Kufa. Ali had plunged into work to make up for time
already lost through the earlier tardiness of the Iraqis in obeying his orders. But this
new spurt of energy alarmed his enemies, and they plunged into intrigue to forestall him. Ali had completed his preparations for an invasion
of Syria but just when he was giving finishing touches to his logistical plans, he was
assassinated in the Great Mosque of Kufa at the dawn of Ramadan 19 of 40 A.H. (January 27,
661).
