Note 537 — Chapter XXXIX · BATTLE OF SIFFIN. A.H. XXXVI., XXXVII. A.D. 657.

Abu Mûsa had kept aloof from the battle, but must have been in the neighbourhood. When told of the arbitration, he exclaimed, ‘The Lord be praised, Who hath stayed the fighting!’ ‘But thou art appointed Arbiter on our side.’ ‘Alas! alas!’ he cried; and so, in much trepidation, he repaired to Aly’s camp. Ahnaf ibn Cays asked to be appointed joint-Umpire with Abu Mûsa, who, he said, was not the man to stand alone, nor had he tact and wit enough for the task;—‘There is not a knot which Abu Mûsa can tie, but I will unloose the same; nor a knot he can unloose, but I will find another still harder to unravel.’ This was too true; but the army was in an insolent and perverse mood, and would have none but Abu Mûsa.