inhabitants to a meeting and addressed them: "The Amir al-Muminin,
Umar, has sent me to you to teach you the Book of your Lord and the
Sunnah of His Prophet and to clean your streets for you."
People were taken aback when they heard these words. They could easily
understand that oneof the responsibilities of a Muslim ruler was to
instruct people in their religion. However, that one of his duties
should be to clean streets was something new and surprising to them.
Who was this governor of whomthe Prophet's grandson, al-Hasan, may God
be pleased with him said: "There was no rider who came to Basrah who
was better for its people than he."
His real name was Abdullah ibn Qays but he was and continues to be
known as Abu Musa al-Ashari. He left his native land, the Yemen, for
Makkah immediately after hearing that aProphet had appeared there who
was a man of rare insight, who called people to the worship of One God
and who insisted on the highest standards of morality.
At Makkah, he stayed in the company of the Prophet and gained
knowledge and guidance. He returned to his country to propagate the
word of God and spread the mission of the noble Prophet, peace be on
him. We have no further news of him for more than a decade. Then just
after the end of the Khaybar expedition he came to the Prophet in
Madinah.His arrival there coincided with that of Jaffar ibn Abi Talib
and other Muslims from Abyssinia and the Prophet welcomed them all
with joy and happiness.
This time Abu Musa did not come alone. He came with more than fifty
persons from the Yemen all of whom had accepted Islam. Among them were
his two brothers, Abu Ruhm and Abu Burdah. The Prophet referred to the
whole group as the "Asharis". In fact he sometimes referred to all
Yemenis as Asharis after Abu Musa al-Ashari. He often praised the
group for their soft and tender-hearted nature and held them up to the
rest of his companions as a high example of good behavior. He once
said of them:
"If the Asharis go on an expedition or if they only have a little food
among them, they would gather all they have on one cloth and divide it
equally among themselves. They are thus from me and I am from them."
Abu Musa soon became highly esteemed in the Muslim community. He had
many great qualities. He was a faqih endowed with intelligence and
sound judgement and was ranked as one of the leading judges in the
early Muslim community. People used to say:"The judges in this ummah
are four: Umar, Ali, Abu Musa and Zayd ibn Thabit."
Abu Musa had a natural, uncomplicated disposition. He was by nature a
trusting person and expected people to deal with him on the basis of
trust and sincerity.
In the field of jihad, he was a warrior of great courage
and endurance and skill. The Prophet said of him: "The master of
horsemen is Abu Musa."
"Abu Musa's insight and the soundness of his judgment did not allow
him to be deceived by an enemy in battle. In battle conditions he saw
situations with complete clarity and executed his actions with a firm
resolve.
Abu Musa was in command of the Muslim army traversing the lands of the
Sasanian Empire. At Isfahan, the people came to him and offered to pay
the jizyah (in return for military protection) tomake peace and avoid
fighting. However, they were not sincere in their offer and merely
wantedan opportunity to mount a treacherous attack on the Muslims. Abu
Musa however sawthrough their real intentions and he remained on the
alert. Thus when the Isfahanis launched their attack, the Muslim
leader was not caught off-guard, He engaged them in battle and before
midday of the following day, he had won a decisive victory.
In the major campaigns against the powerful Sasanian Empire Abu Musa's
role was outstanding. In the great Battle of Tustar itself, he
distinguished himself as a military commander.
The Persian commander, Hormuzan, had withdrawn his numerous forces to
the strongly fortified city of Tustar. The CaliphUmar did not
underestimate the strength of the enemy and he mobilized powerful and
numerous force to confront Hormuzan. Among the Muslim forces were
dedicated veterans like Ammar ibn Yasir, al-Baraa ibn Malik and his
brother Anas, Majra'a al-Bakri and Salamah ibn Rajaa. Umar appointed
Abu Musaas commander of the army.
So well fortified was Tustar that it was impossible to take it by
storm. Several attempts were made to breach the walls but these proved
unsuccessful. There followed a long and difficult siege which became
even more testing and agonizingfor the Muslims when, as we saw in the
story of al-Baraa ibn Malik, the Persians began throwing down iron
chains fromthe walls of the fortress at the ends of which were
fastened red-hot iron hooks. Muslims were caught by these hooks
andwere pulled up either dead or in the agony of death.
Abu Musa realized that the increasingly unbearable impassecould only
be broken by a resort to stratagem. Fortunately, at this time a
Persian defected to the Muslim side and Abu Musa induced him to return
behind the walls of the fortified city anduse whatever artful means he
could to open the city's gates from within. With the Persian hesent a
special force of hand-picked men. They succeeded well in their task,
opened the gates and made wayfor Abu Musa's army. Within hours the
Persians were subdued.
In spite of the fact that Abu Musa was a strong and powerfulwarrior,
he often left the battlefield transformed into a penitent, weeping
person. At such times, he would read the Quran in a voice that
profoundly stirred the souls of all who listened to him. Concerning
his moving and melodious recitation of the Quran the Prophet, peace be
on him, had said: "Abu Musa has indeed beengiven one of the flutes of
the people of David."
Also, Umar, may god be pleased with him, often summoned Abu Musa and
asked him to recite from the Book of God, saying:
"Create in us a yearning for our Lord, O Abu Musa." As a mark of his
dedication to the Quran, Abu Musa was one of the few companions who
had prepared a mushaf a written collection of the revelations.
Abu Musa only participated in fighting against the armies of
Mushrikin, armies which tried to oppose the religion of God and
extinguish the light of faith. When fighting broke out among Muslims,
he fled from such conflict anti never look any part in it. Such was
his stand in the conflict that arose between Ali and Muawiyah. It is
in relation tothis conflict and in particular his role as an
adjudicator that the name of Abu Musa al-Ashari is most widely known.
Briefly, Abu Musa's position appeared to be that of a 'neutral.' He
saw Muslims killing each other and felt that if the situation were to
continue the very future of the Muslim ummah would be threatened. To
start off with a clean slate, the Khalifah Ali should give up the
position and Muawiyah should relinquish any claim to be Khalifah and
the Muslims should be given a free choice to elect whoever they wanted
as Khalifah.
It was of course true that Imam Ali held the position of Khalifah
legitimately and that any unlawful revolt could only have as its
object the challenging and overturning of the rule of law. However,
developments had gone so far, the dispute had become so bloody and
there seemed to be no end in sight except further bloodshed, that anew
approach to a solution seemed the only hope of avoiding further
bloodshed and continuous civil war.
When Imam Ali accepted the principle of arbitration, he wanted
Abdullah ibn Abbas to represent him. But an influentialsection of his
followers insisted on Abu Musa. Their reason for sodoing was that Abu
Musa had not taken part in the dispute from its beginning. Instead he
had kept aloof from both partieswhen he despaired of bringing about an
understanding and a reconciliation and putting an end to the fighting.
Therefore, they felt, he was the most suitable person to be the
arbitrator.
Imam Ali had no reason to doubt the devotion of Abu Musa to Islam and
his truthfulness and sincerity. But he knew the shrewdness of the
other side and their likely resort to ruses and treachery. He also
knew thatAbu Musa in spite of his understanding and his knowledge
despised deceit and conspiracies and always wanted to deal with people
on the basis of trust and honesty, not through cunning. Ali therefore
feared that Abu Musa would be deceived by others and that arbitration
would end up with the victory of guile over honesty and that the
situation would end up being more perilous thanit was.
Adjudication nonetheless began with Abu Musa representing the side of
Ali and Amr ibn al-Aas representing the side of Muawiyah. A possible
version of their historic conversation has been recorded in the
book"Al-Akhbar at-Tiwal" by Abu Hanifah Ad-Daynawawi as follows:
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Abu Musa: O Amr, what do you think of this suggestion in whichthere is
the common good of the ummah and the pleasure of Allah?
Amr: What is it?
Abu Musa: Let us nominate Abdullah ibn Umar as Khalifah. He himself
has not intervened at all in this war.
Amr: What do you think of Muawiyah for the position?
Abu Musa: It is neither opportune to have Muawiyah in this position
nor does he deserve it.
Amr: Don't you know that Uthman was unjustly murdered?
Abu Musa: Certainly.
Amr: And that his status among the Quraysh you know (is one of honor),
and that Muawiyah is the wali of the blood of Uthman.... And God says
in the Quran: "Whoever is killed unjustly, We have given his heir
authority...." (The full verse of the Quran is: Nor take life which
God has made sacred except for a just cause. And if anyone is slain
wrongfully, We have given his heir authority (to demand Qisas or to
forgive). But let him not exceed bounds in the matterof taking life;
for he is helped by the Law. Surah 17, verse 33 .) In addition to this
he is the brotherof Umm Habibah, the wife of theProphet, may God bless
him and grant him peace, and he is one of his companions.
Abu Musa: Fear God, O Amr.. Regarding what you have mentioned about
the status of Muawiyah, if the position of the Khalifah is based on
status, the person most deserving of it is"Abrahah ibn Sabbah". He is
a descendant of Yemeni kings whose domain extended to the east and the
west. And what status has Muawiyah in comparison with Ali ibn Abi
Talib? Regarding your statementthat Muawiyah is the wali of Uthman,
the person who has thefirst right to this is his son, Amr ibn Uthman.
However, if you agree with me, we could revert to the memory of Umar
ibn al-Khattab and appoint his son Abdullah, the pious one.
Amr: What prevents you from appointing my son Abdullah he is virtuous,
upright, one of thosewho were first to perform the Hijrah and who has
been a long-standing companion of the Prophet.
Abu Musa: Your son is a man of honesty and truth. But you have plunged
him deeply into these wars. Come let us appoint the Good One, the son
of the Good One - Abdullah ibn Umar.
Amr: O Abu Musa! The only person who can set this matter aright is a
man who has two wisdom teeth who eats with one and feeds with the
other (referring to the political astuteness of Muawiyah).
Abu Musa: Woe to you, O Amr. The Muslims are depending on us to solve
this matter. They have fought with swords and spears. Let us not
return them to a state of fitnah.
Amr: What are you suggesting then?
Abu Musa: I suggest that we leave the two men-Ali and Muawiyah. Then
we set up a shura among Muslims to let them choose from among
themselves whoever they like.
Amr: I agree to this suggestion for indeed the common good of the
people rests in it.
.AutoIndent 5
The above exchange shows Abu Musa to be a man of integrity and
intelligence. He showed up the weakness of Amr's claims for Muawiyah
to be the Caliph of the Muslims on the grounds of honor and status and
on the grounds that he was the 'heir' to Uthman.
By his suggestion that the son ofUmar ibn al-Khattab be appointed as
Khalifah, Abu Musa showed that he was not prepared to stick
uncompromisingly to the side he represented and that he was willing to
consider an appropriate companion of the Prophet as an alternative,
for thegood of the Muslim community.
Amr finally agreed on Abu Musa's suggestion for a shura and for
letting the Muslims decide freely whom they should have as Khalifah.
It did not occurto Abu Musa that Amr would nothonor the agreement they
had come to and that he would resort to deceit.
Before the agreement was announced in public, Ibn Abbas warned Abu
Musa saying: "I fear,by God, that Amr might deceive you. If you have
both agreed on something, then let him announce it before you.."
Abu Musa, because of the gravityof the situation, felt that Amr would
honor the agreement. On the following day, before the assembled
Muslims, Abu Musa and Amr got together. Abu Musais said to have
invited Amr to speak first but he declined saying:
"I would not go before you for you are more honoured than I am, you
performed the Hijrah before I did and you are older than I." With this
Abu Musa advanced and spoke:
"O people! We have considered how best God would bring together the
Ummah for their common good. It seems to us that the best solution in
this regard is that the two men Ali and Muawiyah should withdraw and
that a shura should be formed so that people could choose for
themselves who they want as the Khalifah.
"I have agreed that Ali and Muawiyah should withdraw.""You now deal
with the situation and appoint as you Khalifah whoever you want."
It was now Amr's turn to make the same announcement. He gotup and
addressed the people: "OPeople! Abu Musa has said what you have heard.
He has abandoned his friend (Ali). Like him I abandon his friend (Ali)
and I confirm my friend Muawiyah (as Khalifah) for he is the heir to
the Amir al-Muminin, Uthman, and the one most deserves his position."
Abu Musa was shocked by what he heard. He could not imagine that Amr
would commit such treachery even though he was warned about it. Filled
with anger and disgust, he lambastedAmr for his deceit and for ruining
the chances of peace andreconciliation among Muslims. Amr had thus
turned the arbitration process into a farce.
Abu Musa continued to remain neutral in the conflict which wasended by
Ali when he made a treaty with Muawiyah confirming him as the one
responsible for governing Syria and Egypt.
Abu Musa himself left for Makkahand spent the rest of his life near
the Sacred Mosque. During his life he had remained devotedto the noble
Prophet and his righteous successors. During thelife of the Prophet,
the Prophet had appointed him and Muadh ibn Jabal as governor of
Kufah.
Abu Musa was particularly attached to the Quran, reading itconstantly,
memorizing it, understanding it and putting it into practice. His
advice regarding the Quran is full of wisdom: "Follow the Quran," he
said, "and do not desire that theQuran should follow you."
In ibadah, he showed a great deal of strength and endurance. On days
when the heat was intense and almost unbearable, Abu Musa would be
found fasting and he would say:"Perhaps the thirst of the midday heat
would prove to be quenching for us on the day of Qiyamah."
As his end drew near, the words which he kept saying were words which
he was wont to repeat throughout his life as a believer:
"Allahumma anta-s Salaam Wa minka-s Salaam. "O Lord, You arethe Source
of Peace And from You comes Peace..."
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