The Day of the Camel

'A'ishah, the Mother of the Believers, with Talhah and al-Zubayr, went to Basrah seeking retribution for 'Uthman and to set matters right — not to fight 'Ali. 'Ali marched to meet them, and talks between the two camps came close to an agreement. Then, before dawn, fighting broke out, and two Muslim armies were drawn into a battle that neither leadership had sought.

Al-Zubayr left the field and was killed by a man who followed him as he went; when the killer came to 'Ali expecting reward, 'Ali gave him tidings of the Fire. Talhah too was killed. The battle took its name from the camel on which 'A'ishah's litter stood, around which the fighting was fiercest, until 'Ali had it brought down to end the killing.

'Ali treated 'A'ishah with full honour and sent her back to Madinah with an escort and every comfort. On his side, 'Ammar ibn Yasir said of her: "She is the wife of your Prophet in this world and the Hereafter, but Allah has tested you, to see whether you obey Him or her" (Sahih al-Bukhari 7100). 'Ali grieved over the dead of both sides and prayed for them.

01Why it matters

Even in civil war, 'Ali and his companions kept the honour of the Mother of the Believers and the dignity of their opponents; the fitnah did not make them forget who their brothers were.

02Reflection

In your fiercest disagreements, do you still guard the honour of the person you disagree with?

03Sources

Sahih al-Bukhari 7100 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
Musnad Ahmad ibn HanbalGrade not recorded here
Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-NihayahHistorical report
al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-MulukHistorical report
Ibn al-'Arabi, al-'Awasim min al-QawasimHistorical report

What the hadith grades mean

Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.

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