People were taken aback when they heard these
words. They could easily understand that one of
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 whom the 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 a Prophet 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
judgment 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) to
make peace and avoid fighting. However, they were
not sincere in their offer and merely wanted an
opportunity to mount a treacherous attack on the
Muslims. Abu Musa however saw through 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 Caliph Umar 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 Musa as 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 agonizing for the
Muslims when, as we saw in the story of al-Baraa
ibn Malik, the Persians began throwing down iron
chains from the walls of the fortress at the ends
of which were fastened red-hot iron hooks. Muslims
were caught by these hooks and were pulled up
either dead or in the agony of death.
Abu Musa realized that the increasingly unbearable
impasse could 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 and use
whatever artful means he could to open the city's
gates from within. With the Persian he sent a
special force of hand-picked men. They succeeded
well in their task, opened the gates and made
way for Abu Musa's army. Within hours the Persians
were subdued.
In spite of the fact that Abu Musa was a strong
and powerful warrior, 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
been given 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 to this 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 a new 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 influential section of his followers insisted
on Abu Musa. Their reason for so doing was that
Abu Musa had not taken part in the dispute from
its beginning. Instead he had kept aloof from
both parties when 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 that Abu 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 than
it 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.
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