Write about the following events that took place during the caliphate of 'Ali: • the battle of Siffin; • the emergence of Kharijites; and • the arbitration after Siffin.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2017). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] A three part answer is needed, though all the three parts asked about in the question are linked, and candidates are required to write an account of each one of them. They can begin their answer by writing about the battle of Siffin which was fought between 'Ali and Mu'awiyah. ‘Ali was reluctant to fight fellow Muslims but Mu'awiya who was an Umayyad and the Governor of Syria refused to accept 'Ali as the caliph till the murderers of 'Uthman were brought to justice. 'Ali in turn wanted to stabilise the empire then deal with the assassins of 'Uthman as it was not the work of one man but several. Candidates could give some background information of why the battle was fought between the two and that could be read as development in the answer. It could also be said that the battle of Siffin followed the battle of Camel, in which ‘Ali was victorious, and was fought in Muharram in 37A.H. ‘Ali met Mu'awiya's force with his own army of 80 000 men in Siffin. Fighting continued for several days between the two sides with loss of life on both sides but when the battle started to turn in favour of 'Ali, Mu'awiya asked his men to tie the Qur'an on their lances to stop the war and decide the outcome by referring to the Qur'an. A section of 'Ali's army refused to fight, 'Ali tried to reason with them that it was a ploy to avert defeat but they refused to listen and 10 000 of 'Ali's men laid down their arms which forced 'Ali to agree to a truce, according to the terms of the truce the dispute about the caliphate was to be referred to two arbitrators, one from each side, to meet within six months. The battle of Siffin gave birth to a secession movement, the disenchanted elements of the army from Kufa and Basra refused to set up camp with the rest of the garrison on their return from the battle, they came to be known as the Kharijites. The Kharijites were bitterly opposed to the idea of arbitration, however 'Ali treated them with compassion and persuaded them to return to their homes. Arbitration took place at Dauma-tu-Jandal. Abu Musa Al 'Ashari represented 'Ali whilst Amr bin Al'Aas represented Mu'awiya. It was agreed in the arbitration by the two sides that both 'Ali and Mu'awiya should be deposed. However, at the time of the announcement of the verdict Abu Musa, as per the agreement, announced that he and his colleagues agreed that both 'Ali and Mu'awiya should step down but Amr bin Al'Aas changed his stance and said that 'Ali should step down however, Mu'awiya should retain his post. Thus the arbitration failed. The failure of the arbitration deeply upset the Kharijites who had made their peace with 'Ali. They now broke away and set up their own community in Nahrawan. All three parts of the answer will vary in depth of knowledge and detail and marks should be awarded bearing in mind that all three parts of the answer are addressed.
2. [4] A range of answers could be given. It could be said that the failure of the arbitration led to a weakening of 'Ali's position; or it could be said that a series of events unrolled after the arbitration e.g. 'Ali was preparing to fight the Syrians the Kharijites fought him which demoralised his army even more so that they refused to proceed to Syria which made Mu'awiya even more bold leading to his takeover of Egypt. The fall of Egypt led to frequent rebellions. Some might say that after the arbitration failed 'Ali's position weakened whilst on the other hand Mu'awiya's strengthened which led to the empire being divided between 'Ali and Mu'awiya. All valid responses to be credited.