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Assassination of Ali | |
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Location | Great Mosque of Kufa, Kufa, present-day Iraq |
Coordinates | 32°01′43″N44°24′03″E / 32.02861°N 44.40083°E |
Date | 28 January 661 |
Target | Ali ibn Abi Talib |
Attack type | Assassination |
Weapon | Poison-coated sword |
Deaths | 1 |
Victim | Ali ibn Abi Talib |
Perpetrator | Ibn Muljim |
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Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Rashidun caliph (r. 656–661) and the first Shia Imam, was assassinated during the morning prayer on 28 January 661 CE, equivalent to 19 Ramadan 40 AH. He died of his wounds about two days after the Kharijite dissident Ibn Muljim struck him over his head with a poison-coated sword at the Great Mosque of Kufa, located in Kufa, in present-day Iraq. He was about sixty-two years of age at the time of his death.
Ibn Muljim had entered Kufa with the intention of killing Ali, probably in revenge for the Kharijites' defeat in the Battle of Nahrawan in 658. He found two accomplices in Kufa, namely, Shabib ibn Bujra and Wardan ibn al-Mujalid. Unlike Ibn Muljim, the swords of these two missed Ali and they fled, but were later caught and killed. Before his death, Ali requested either a meticulous application of lex talionis to Ibn Muljim or his pardon, and he was later executed by Hasan, the eldest son of Ali. By most accounts, also involved in the assassination was al-Ash'ath ibn Qays, the influential Kufan tribal leader whose loyalty to Ali is often questioned in the early sources. The assassination of Ali paved the way for his rival Mu'awiya to found the Umayyad Caliphate. The shrine of Ali in Najaf, near Kufa, is a major destination for Shia pilgrims.
The controversial policies of the third caliph Uthman resulted in a rebellion that led to his assassination in 656 CE. [1] Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, was subsequently elected caliph by the Medinans and the dissidents present there. [2] [3] There he received a nearly unanimous pledge of allegiance, [4] [5] [6] gathering various underprivileged groups around himself. [7] [4] By contrast, Ali found limited support among the powerful Quraysh tribe, some of whom aspired to the title of caliph. [8] Among the Quraysh, the caliphate of Ali was soon challenged by Aisha, a widow of Muhammad, and two of his companions, namely, Talha and Zubayr. [9] Uthman's cousin Mu'awiya also denounced the accession of Ali when he was dismissed from his post as the governor of Syria. He now demanded retribution against Uthman's killers. [10]
Ali defeated the rebellion of Aisha, Talha, and Zubayr in the Battle of the Camel in 656, but the Battle of Siffin against Mu'awiya in 657 resulted in a stalemate when the latter called for arbitration by the Quran to avoid defeat. [11] [12] [13] The strong peace sentiments in Ali's army compelled him to accept the offer, [14] and an ill-fated arbitration committee was set up with representatives from Ali and Mu'awiya with a mandate to settle the dispute in the spirit of the Quran. [15] However, as Ali marched back to his capital Kufa, a group of his soldiers criticized the arbitration and accused Ali of blasphemy for leaving the matter to the discretion of two men. Most of them had earlier forced Ali to accept the arbitration but now exclaimed that the right to judgment belonged to God alone. [16] Many of them were won back by Ali, [17] while the rest assembled near the Nahrawan Canal on the east bank of the Tigris river. [18] Following this exodus, they became known as Khawarij (lit. 'those who leave'). [19] The Kharijites denounced Ali as caliph, declared him, his followers, and the Syrians as infidels. [20] [21] They declared the blood of such infidels to be licit, [20] [21] and committed many murders, apparently not even sparing women. [19] Ali crushed them in the Battle of Nahrawan in 658, [22] but their remnants and offshoots continued to terrorize for many years. [22] [23]
Multiple early sources write that Ali knew about his fate long before the assassination either by his own premonition or through Muhammad, who had told Ali that his beard would be stained with the blood of his head. In particular, the Sunni historian Ibn Sa'd (d. 845) quotes the prophetic tradition, "the evilest man among the ancients was he who had killed the camel of the prophet Salih and among his contemporaries, he who would kill Ali." The night before the assassination, Ali foretold that his destiny was soon to be fulfilled. As he left the house in the morning, geese followed him, cackling, and Ali remarked that they were weeping for him. [24]
Ali was assassinated by Ibn Muljim, a Kharijite dissident. Ibn Muljim belonged to the Himyar tribe paternally and to the Murad tribe maternally. He also had ties with the Kinda tribe. [25] The common narrative involves Mu'awiya and his governor of Egypt, Amr ibn al-As, as reported by the Sunni historian al-Tabari (d. 923), among others. According to this narrative, Ibn Muljim and two other Kharijites met in Mecca after the Hajj pilgrimage. Following long discussions, they concluded that Ali, Mu'awiya, and Amr were to blame for the ongoing civil war. They swore to kill all three and avenge their fallen companions at Nahrawan. Then they set the date of assassination and each chose his victim. [26] The two other Kharijites are named variously in the sources. The one who wanted to kill Mu'awiya is introduced as al-Burak ibn Abd-Allah or al-Nazzal ibn Amir. The one who promised to kill Amr is given as Amr ibn Bakr al-Tamimi or Umar ibn Bukayr or Zadawayh. [24] The historian Ali Bahramian finds this narrative logically flawed and questions the veracity of the plots to kill Mu'awiya and Amr, [26] while the Islamicist Julius Wellhausen (d. 1918) similarly views the narrative as fabricated. [27] For Laura Veccia Vaglieri (d. 1989), another expert, this narrative is also questionable, [28] but probably generated from a common historical tradition because the variations in the sources are minor in her view. [24]
Ibn Muljim entered Kufa with plans to assassinate Ali. There he found two local Kharijite accomplices, namely, Shabib ibn Bujra and Wardan ibn al-Mujalid. [25] One or both of them appear in the early sources in connection to the assassination and their fates are sometimes swapped. [24] According to al-Tabari, Ibn Muljim met in Kufa a group of the Taym al-Ribab tribe who were mourning their tribesmen killed at Nahrawan. Among them was a woman named Qatami, who impressed Ibn Muljim with her beauty. She agreed to his proposal of marriage with a wedding gift that included the murder of Ali. She then arranged for her tribesman, Wardan, to assist Ibn Muljim in his mission. For his part, Wardan enlisted the help of Shabib. The night before the assassination, the conspirators stationed themselves opposite the door from which Ali would enter the mosque. [24] [29]
On 26 or 28 or 30 January 661 (17 or 19 or 21 Ramadan 40 AH), when Ali arrived at the mosque to lead the morning prayer, Ibn Muljim attacked and wounded Ali on the crown of his head with a poisoned sword either during the prayer, [30] [31] [32] or as he was entering the mosque. [25] [29] [24] Shabib's sword missed Ali and he fled and was lost among the crowd. [24] [25] Being a Kharijite, he was later killed for terrorizing the civilians. [24] Wardan fled to his home where he was killed by a kinsman after confessing his involvement in the assassination. [33] [24] Ibn Muljim was caught at the scene by the Hashimite al-Mughira ibn Nawfal ibn al-Harith, [34] or by Qutham ibn al-Abbas. [24] Ali died about two days later of his wounds at the age of sixty-two or sixty-three. [28] His death is annually commemorated by Shia Muslims on 21 Ramadan. [35] [36]
Before his death, Ali had requested that Ibn Muljim should be executed in retaliation (qisas) if he did not survive, [34] and his wish was fulfilled by his eldest son Hasan. [28] By other accounts, Ali instead left this decision to Hasan and recommended pardon, [37] asked his men not to bound Ibn Muljim tightly, [38] forbade his tribesmen from shedding Muslim blood beyond a meticulous application of lex talionis to Ibn Muljim, who were to be given good meals and a soft bed in the meantime and not exposed to public ridicule. [28] Ibn Muljim is often counted among their ranks and highly praised in the Kharijite literature for assassinating Ali. [26]
Often connected to the assassination is al-Ash'ath ibn Qays, the influential chief of the Kinda tribe in Kufa. [26] As a strong advocate for peace with the Syrians, his loyalty to Ali is doubted in most accounts. [39] Mua'wiya indeed wrote to the Kufan elite after Nahrawan, offering them status and wealth in return for sabotage, [40] [41] [42] whereas Ali refused to grant them any financial favors as a matter of principle. [43] [44] [45] Various sources accuse Ibn Qays of threatening Ali with death, being aware of the assassination plot, or hosting and counselling Ibn Muljim in Kufa before the assassination. [26] [24] [46] An exception is one of the accounts given by the Sunni historian al-Mubarrad (d. 898), in which Ibn Qays warns the caliph about the assassination. [24] Hujr ibn Adi, an ardent supporter of Ali, is said to have accused Ibn Qays of complicity in the assassination, [24] while the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754–775) blamed the assassination of Ali on (some of) his companions, over a century later. [26]
Ali's body was washed by his sons, Hasan, Husayn, and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, and one of his nephews, Abdullah ibn Ja'far. [34] Fearing that his body might be exhumed and profaned by his enemies, Ali was then buried secretly, [28] which may also explain the discrepancies in the sources about his burial site. [32] His grave was identified during the caliphate of the Abbasid Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) and the town of Najaf grew around it near Kufa, becoming a major site of pilgrimage for Muslims, especially Shias. [28] The present shrine was built by the Safavid Shah Safi (r. 1629–1642), [47] near which lies an immense cemetery for Shias who wish to be buried next to their imam. [28] Najaf is also home to top religious colleges and prominent Shia scholars (ulama', sg.a'lim). [28] Most likely incorrect, [32] there are nonetheless claims that Ali was instead buried at the Mausoleum of Ali in Mazar-i-Sharif, located in modern-day Afghanistan. [48] Among many others, the assassination of Ali has been the subject of paintings by the Iranian artists Yousef Abdinejad, [49] Farhad Sadeghi, [50] and Masnsoureh Hossein, [51] as well as a stage play by Bahram Beyzai. [52]
During his rule, Ali found a loyal following who regarded him as the best of Muslims after Muhammad and the only one entitled to the caliphate. Nevertheless, this following remained a minority. [34] [53] Instead, what united Kufans after Ali was their opposition to Syrian domination, [54] or the highhanded rule of his archenemy Mu'awiya. [34] After the assassination of Ali in January 661, his eldest son Hasan was thus elected caliph in Kufa. [55] [1] Mu'awiya marched on Kufa soon after with a large army, while Hasan's army suffered desertions in large numbers, facilitated by the defection of military commanders and tribal chiefs bought by Mu'awiya. [56] [57] After a failed attempt on his life, a wounded Hasan ceded the rule in August 661 to Mu'awiya, who founded the Umayyad Caliphate. [57]
Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from 656 CE to 661, as well as the first Shia imam. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib and Fatima bint Asad, young Ali was raised by his elder cousin Muhammad and was among the first to accept his teachings.
Hasan ibn Ali was an Alid political and religious leader. The eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Hasan briefly ruled as Rashidun caliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered as the second Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding Ali and preceding his brother Husayn. As a grandson of the prophet, he is part of the ahl al-bayt and the ahl al-kisa, and also participated in the event of the mubahala.
Umm Kulthūm bint ʿAlī, also known as Zaynab al-Ṣughrā, was the youngest daughter of Fatima and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The former was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the latter was his cousin. Ali is also recognized as the fourth Rashidun caliph and the first Shia imam. A young Umm Kulthum lost her grandfather and mother in 632 CE. While she was still a child, the second Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab asked for her hand in marriage, which was resisted by Umm Kulthum and her father Ali, possibly due to Umar's reputation for harsh treatment of women. By one Sunni account, Ali finally agreed to the marriage when Umar enlisted the support of prominent Muslims for his proposal.
Zaynab bint Ali, was the eldest daughter of Fatima and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The former was a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the latter was his cousin. Ali is also recognized as the fourth Rashidun caliph and the first Shia imam. Zaynab is best known for her role in the aftermath of the Battle of Karbala, in which her brother Husayn and most of her male relatives were massacred by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mua'awiya. Women and children in Husayn's camp were taken captive after the battle and marched to Kufa and then the Umayyad capital Damascus, where Zaynab gave impassioned speeches, condemning Yazid and spreading the news of Karbala. She was later freed and died shortly afterward in 682, but her burial site is uncertain. The two shrines associated with Zaynab in Damascus and Cairo are destinations for Muslim pilgrimage. She is considered to be a symbol of sacrifice, strength, and piety in Islam, and a role model for Muslim women, typifying courage, leadership, and defiance against oppression.
Muslim ibn Aqil al-Hashimi was a relative of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Muslim was the son of Aqil ibn Abi Talib and a cousin of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam, who dispatched him to Kufa in Iraq to ascertain their support upon the accession of the Umayyad caliph Yazid. The Kufans welcomed Muslim and overwhelmingly pledged to support Husayn against the Umayyad rule, which they considered illegitimate and tyrannical. In response, Yazid replaced the mild governor of the city with his strongman Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad, who soon discovered the hideout of Muslim through an informant. When Ibn Ziyad imprisoned or killed Hani ibn Urwa, who was secretly sheltering Muslim, he came out in open revolt and surrounded the governor's palace with his supporters in September 680 CE. With a combination of threats and promises, however, Ibn Ziyad induced Kufan tribal leaders to abandon Muslim and withdraw their men. A deserted Muslim was arrested after a strong resistance and executed. Before this turn of events, he had written to Husayn and urged him to come to Kufa. Husayn thus left Mecca with his family and a few supporters, but his caravan was intercepted and massacred by the Umayyad forces in October 680 in Karbala, near Kufa. Muslim is revered in Shia Islam for his bravery and moral uprightness. His shrine in Kufa is a destination for Shia pilgrims.
The First Fitna was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate. The civil war involved three main battles between the fourth Rashidun caliph, Ali, and the rebel groups.
Ali al-Akbar ibn al-Husayn, commonly known as simply Ali al-Akbar, was the son of Layla bint Abi Murra and Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia imam and the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Aged between eighteen and twenty-five, Ali was killed at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE, alongside his father and some seventy-two relatives and supporters, who fought against the army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu'awiya. In Shia Islam, Ali al-Akbar is commemorated as a brave youth martyred before he could marry, and celebrated for his striking resemblance, in appearance and manners, to his great-grandfather, the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Sakīna bint al-Ḥusayn, also known as Āmina, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She was the daughter of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam, and Rubab bint Imra al-Qais. Sakina was a young child in 680 at Karbala, where she witnessed the massacre of her father and his supporters by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid. The women and children, among them Sakina, were marched to the capital Damascus, where they were paraded in the streets and then imprisoned.
The Battle of Siffin was fought in 657 CE between the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib and the rebellious governor of Syria Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. The battle is named after its location Siffin on the banks of the Euphrates. The fighting stopped after the Syrians called for arbitration to escape defeat, to which Ali agreed under pressure from some of his troops. The arbitration process ended inconclusively in 658 though it strengthened the Syrians' support for Mu'awiya and weakened the position of Ali. The battle is considered part of the First Fitna and a major step towards the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Ali contributed significantly to Islam in its early years and was likely the first male to accept the teachings of Muhammad. Ali is accorded an almost legendary place in Islam as a paragon of virtues, a fount of wisdom, and a fearless but magnanimous warrior. In Shia Islam Ali is regarded as the foremost companion of Muhammad and his rightful successor through divinely-ordained designation at the Ghadir Khumm.
Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Ali contributed significantly to Islam in its early years and was likely the first male to accept the teachings of Muhammad. In Sunni Islam, Ali is recognized as a close companion, a foremost authority on the Quran and Islamic law, and the fountainhead of wisdom in Sunni spirituality. When Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali had his own claims to leadership, perhaps in reference to Muhammad's announcement at the Ghadir Khumm, but he eventually accepted the temporal rule of the first three caliphs in the interest of Muslim unity. During this period, Ali is portrayed in Sunni sources as a trusted advisor of the first three caliphs, while their conflicts with Ali are neutralized or downplayed. Ali himself succeeded to the caliphate in 656 but his rule was immediately challenged by multiple pretenders and he was assassinated in 661.
The Shiqshiqiyya Sermon is a controversial text in Nahj al-balagha, the best-known collection of sermons, letters, and sayings attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was the fourth Rashidun caliph, the first Shia imam, and the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The sermon is highly critical of the predecessors of Ali, namely, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, accusing them of usurping the right of Ali to the caliphate.
The Battle of Nahrawan was fought between the army of Caliph Ali and the rebel group Kharijites in July 658 CE. The latter were a group of pious allies of Ali during the First Fitna. They separated from him following the Battle of Siffin when Ali agreed to settle the dispute with Mu'awiya, governor of Syria, through negotiations, a move labeled by the group as against the Qur'an. After failed attempts to regain their loyalty and because of their rebellious and murderous activities, Ali confronted the Kharijites near their headquarters by the Nahrawan Canal, near modern-day Baghdad. Of the 4,000 rebels, some 1,200 were won over with the promise of amnesty while the majority of the remaining 2,800 rebels were killed in the ensuing battle. Other sources put the casualties at 1500–1800.
The Hasan–Mu'awiya treaty was a political peace treaty signed in 661 between Hasan ibn Ali and Mu'awiya I to bring the First Fitna (656–661) to a close. Under this treaty, Hasan ceded the caliphate to Mu'awiya on the condition that the latter should rule in compliance with the Quran and the sunna, a council should appoint his successor, and Hasan's supporters would receive amnesty. Upon accession, Mu'awiya publicly recanted his earlier promises, while Hasan retired from politics in Medina
Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya was a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was the fourth caliph in Sunni Islam and the first imam in Shia Islam. Ibn al-Hanafiyya was an effective lieutenant for his father Ali during his caliphate. After the assassination of Ali and the deaths of his two sons Hasan and Husayn, many recognized Ibn al-Hanafiyya as the head of the House of Ali. Claiming to represent Ibn al-Hanafiyya, Mukhtar al-Thaqafi rose in Iraq in 686 to avenge Husayn and his relatives, who were massacred in 680 CE by forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid bin Mu'awiya. The quiescent Ibn al-Hanafiyya did not actively associate with this rebellion but was still rescued by Mukhtar when he was detained by the rival caliph Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad. Support for Ibn al-Hanafiyya continued even after the defeat and death of Mukhtar in 686–687 in the form of the Kaysanites, a now-extinct Shia sect that traced the imamate to Ibn al-Hanafiyya and his descendants, particularly his son Abu Hashim. After the death of Ibn al-Hanafiyya in 700–701, some Kaysanites declared that he was the Mahdi, the eschatological Islamic leader who would reappear in the end of time and eradicate injustice and evil. The Kaysanites later provided the organizational structure for the Abbasids to overthrew the Umayyads in 750–751.
During the Umayyad Caliphate, cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who was also the fourth Rashidun caliph and the first Shia Imam, was a state policy introduced by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the first Umayyad caliph. Mu'awiya was the incumbent governor of Syria who had rebelled against Ali ostensibly to avenge the previous caliph Uthman, who was in turn assassinated by some provincial dissidents angered by his policies. Ali and Mu'awiya fought the inconclusive Battle of Siffin in 657 CE and remained enemies until the assassination of Ali in 661, which paved the way for the caliphate of Mu'awiya in the same year. The public cursing of Ali continued after Mu'awiya and was finally abandoned some sixty years later by the pious Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. The policy likely served as a propaganda measure, and also helped provoke, identify, and then crush the supporters of Ali, whom the Umayyads considered a threat. The historicity of such a policy is supported by Shia Muslims whereas it has remained disputed amongst Sunni Muslim scholars.
Administrative policies of Ali ibn Abi Talib highlights the policies of Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Ali is recognized as the first Shia imam and the fourth Rashidun caliph. He was acclaimed as the caliph in 656 CE after the assassination of his predecessor Uthman, who was killed by Egyptian rebels amidst widespread accusations of nepotism, injustice, and corruption. Ali undertook radical changes upon accession and his strictly egalitarian policies garnered him the support of underprivileged groups while alienating the powerful Quraysh tribe, some of whom revolted against Ali under the pretext of revenge for Uthman in the Battle of the Camel (656) and the protracted Battle of Siffin (657). The latter fight ended in arbitration and led to the creation of the Kharijites, a member of whom is thought to be responsible for the assassination of Ali in 661. For some, the brief caliphate of Ali was characterized by his honesty, his unbending devotion to Islam, his equal treatment of the supporters, and his magnanimity towards his defeated enemies, while others criticize his policies for idealism and lack of political expediency.
The Battle of the Camel took place outside of Basra, Iraq, in 36 AH. The battle was fought between the army of the fourth caliph Ali, on one side, and the rebel army led by Aisha, Talha and Zubayr, on the other side. Ali was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, while Aisha was a widow of Muhammad, of whom Talha and Zubayr were both prominent companions. Ali emerged victorious from the battle, Talha and Zubayr were both killed, and Aisha was sent back to Hejaz afterward. The triumvirate had revolted against Ali ostensibly to avenge the assassination of the third caliph Uthman, although Aisha and Talha are both known to have actively opposed him. The three also called for the removal of Ali from office and for a Qurayshite council (shura) with Talha and Zubayr to appoint his successor.
Ali ibn Abi Talib was acclaimed in 656 CE as the fourth caliph after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Following the 656 assassination of the third caliph Uthman in Medina by provincial rebels who had grievances about injustice and corruption, the prophet's cousin and son-in-law was elected to the caliphate by the rebels, the Ansar, and the Muhajirun. While the election of Ali faced little opposition, his support was limited among the Quraysh, some of whom aspired to the caliphate. The Umayyads and some others thereby left Medina––some thus breaking their oaths of allegiance––and soon rebelled against Ali.
The second Syria campaign of Ali refers to the abortive efforts of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Muslim caliph and the first Shia Imam, to organize a renewed military campaign against Mu'awiya, the rebellious governor of Syria. Following the indecisive Battle of Siffin against Mu'awiya in 657 CE, Ali subdued the Kharijites revolt in the Battle of Nahrawan in 658, but his military coalition in Iraq collapsed afterward when the tribal chiefs withdrew their support, as they hoped for peace with Mu'awiya on beneficial terms. Ali henceforth could barely muster enough force to repel the frequent raiding parties dispatched by Mu'awiya to harass the civilian population loyal to Ali. Egypt too fell to Mu'awiya in 658, further limiting the influence of Ali outside of Iraq. Following the raid of Busr ibn Abi Artat in 661, however, the public outrage against Mu'awiya finally seems to have galvanized the Iraqis' support for war, and a large offensive was planned for the late winter. These plans were abandoned after the assassination of Ali by the Kharijite Ibn Muljam on 26 January 661, during the morning prayers. His assassination paved the way for Mu'awiya, who later founded the Umayyad Caliphate.