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Muslims have traditionally perceived the Battle of the Camel, the first war where Muslim fought Muslim, as “proof” that “woman was not created to poke her nose into politics.”<ref>[http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_401_450/female_leadership_in_islam.htm/ Sa’id Al-Afghani], cited in Shehabuddin, S. “Female Leadership in Islam” in ''Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.''</ref> In fact Aisha was no more aggressive than her male counterparts, and the war was no more disastrous than the hundreds of wars, including Muslim-against-Muslim wars, that male Muslims have fought ever since. The real problem was not that Aisha was a woman but that her Islamic world-view had taught her to solve problems by authoritarianism, assassination and open war. Aisha regretted the Battle of the Camel; she more than once declared, “I wish I had been a leaf on a tree! I wish I had been a stone! I wish I had been a clod of earth! By Allah, I wish that Allah had not created me as anything at all!”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:52.</ref> Sunni Muslims understand these expressions of regret as proof that Aisha “sincerely repented and wasn't against the household [of Ali] after that.”<ref>[http://www.yanabi.com/index.php?/topic/426447-mothers-of-the-believers-hazrath-aisha-siddiqa-ra/page__st__80/ “Mothers Of The Believers Hazrath Aisha Siddiqa (r.a)” in ''Yanabi.com - reviving the spirit of Islam''.]</ref> However, it is not completely clear whether she repented starting the war or whether her real regret was only that she had lost it. | Muslims have traditionally perceived the Battle of the Camel, the first war where Muslim fought Muslim, as “proof” that “woman was not created to poke her nose into politics.”<ref>[http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_401_450/female_leadership_in_islam.htm/ Sa’id Al-Afghani], cited in Shehabuddin, S. “Female Leadership in Islam” in ''Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.''</ref> In fact Aisha was no more aggressive than her male counterparts, and the war was no more disastrous than the hundreds of wars, including Muslim-against-Muslim wars, that male Muslims have fought ever since. The real problem was not that Aisha was a woman but that her Islamic world-view had taught her to solve problems by authoritarianism, assassination and open war. Aisha regretted the Battle of the Camel; she more than once declared, “I wish I had been a leaf on a tree! I wish I had been a stone! I wish I had been a clod of earth! By Allah, I wish that Allah had not created me as anything at all!”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:52.</ref> Sunni Muslims understand these expressions of regret as proof that Aisha “sincerely repented and wasn't against the household [of Ali] after that.”<ref>[http://www.yanabi.com/index.php?/topic/426447-mothers-of-the-believers-hazrath-aisha-siddiqa-ra/page__st__80/ “Mothers Of The Believers Hazrath Aisha Siddiqa (r.a)” in ''Yanabi.com - reviving the spirit of Islam''.]</ref> However, it is not completely clear whether she repented starting the war or whether her real regret was only that she had lost it. | ||
The remainder of Ali’s reign was dominated by his conflict with Muaawiya ibn Abi Sufyan,<ref>In the translations of [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/The_History_of_al-Tabari/ Al-Tabari’s ''Tarikh''] commissioned by the State University of New York, the whole of the seventeenth volume is devoted to this conflict.</ref> a brother-in-law of Muhammad<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918. Muaawiya’s sister Ramlah had been one of Muhammad’s wives.</ref> and kinsman of Uthman.<ref>Jarrett/Suyuti pp. 153, 197. They were both great-grandsons of Umayya ibn Abdshams.</ref> In due course, Muaawiya captured Aisha’s brother Muhammad, killed him “in retaliation for Uthman,” then “cast him into the corpse of a donkey and set fire to it.” Although Aisha had demanded vengeance on Uthman’s assassins, she apparently had not meant her brother, for “she mourned for him greatly and made extra prayers for him at the end of the ritual prayers.”<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 157-158}}.</ref> Muhammad’s son Al-Qasim came to live with her,<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 157-158}}.</ref> which was the nearest she ever came to having a child of her own. Ali was assassinated within five years.<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 213-216, 226-227}}; Jarrett/Suyuti p. 178.</ref> When Aisha heard the news, she recited the traditional formula for ending a folk-tale: “And she threw down her staff and settled upon her place of abode like the traveller happy to return home,”<ref>{{Tabari|17|p. 224}}.</ref> equivalent to, “And they all lived happily ever after.” | The remainder of Ali’s reign was dominated by his conflict with Muaawiya ibn Abi Sufyan,<ref>In the translations of [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/The_History_of_al-Tabari/ Al-Tabari’s ''Tarikh''] commissioned by the State University of New York, the whole of the seventeenth volume is devoted to this conflict.</ref> a brother-in-law of Muhammad<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918. Muaawiya’s sister Ramlah had been one of Muhammad’s wives.</ref> and kinsman of Uthman.<ref>Jarrett/Suyuti pp. 153, 197. They were both great-grandsons of Umayya ibn Abdshams.</ref> In due course, Muaawiya captured Aisha’s brother Muhammad, killed him “in retaliation for Uthman,” then “cast him into the corpse of a donkey and set fire to it.” Although Aisha had demanded vengeance on Uthman’s assassins, she apparently had not meant her brother, for “she mourned for him greatly and made extra prayers for him at the end of the ritual prayers.”<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 157-158}}.</ref> Muhammad’s son Al-Qasim came to live with her,<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 157-158}}.</ref> which was the nearest she ever came to having a child of her own. Ali was assassinated within five years.<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 213-216, 226-227}}; Jarrett/Suyuti p. 178.</ref> When Aisha heard the news, she recited the traditional formula for ending a folk-tale: “And she threw down her staff and settled upon her place of abode like the traveller happy to return home,”<ref>{{Tabari|17|p. 224}}.</ref> equivalent to, “And they all lived happily ever after.” A neighbour asked her if she was really rejoicing over Ali’s death, to which Aisha cryptically replied, “I am forgetful! If I forget, remind me.”<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 224-225}}. The neighbour was Zaynab bint Abi Salama, the daughter of another of Muhammad’s wives and a partisan of Ali.</ref> | ||
===The Caliphate of Muaawiya=== | ===The Caliphate of Muaawiya=== | ||