[BrifsGefel]

Question: What was the true nature of the wars that started in the time of ‘Ali (r.a)? What should we call those who took part in them, and those who died and those who killed?

T h e A n s w e r : The war between ‘Ali (r.a) and Talha, and Zubayr and ‘A’isha the Veracious (May God be pleased with all of them), called the Event of the Camel, was a struggle between pure justice and relative justice. It was as follows:

‘Ali (ra) took pure justice as his guiding principle and in his judgement of the Law proceeded on that basis, as was the case in the time of the Caliphs Abu Bakr (ra) and ‘Umar (ra). Those who opposed him said that previously the purity of Islam had permitted pure justice, but since with the passage of time various peoples whose Islam was weak had joined Islamic society, to apply pure justice was extremely difficult. For this reason, their judgement of the Law was based on relative justice, known as the lesser of two evils. Dispute over interpretation of the Law led to war. Since the interpretations had been purely for God’s sake and for the benefit of Islam, and war had broken out because of interpretation of the Law, we may surely say that both those who killed and those who were killed won Paradise, and both acted rightfully. ‘Ali (r.a.)’s interpretation was accurate, just as those who opposed him were in error, but they still did not deserve punishment. For if a person makes a correct interpretation, he gains two rewards, but if he fails to do this he still earns one reward, the reward for making an interpretation, which is a form of worship. He is forgiven his error. A learned person who was widely known amongst us and whose pronouncements were authoritative wrote in Kurdish: “Don’t gossip about the war between the Companions, for both killer and killed were destined for Paradise.”

Bediuzzaman