Note 538 — Chapter XXXIX · BATTLE OF SIFFIN. A.H. XXXVI., XXXVII. A.D. 657.

An angry passage is given as occurring between Amru and Aly, but it reads like an Abbasside invention. When Amru objected to Aly being named ‘Caliph,’ or ‘Commander of the Faithful,’ in the deed, Aly recalled to those around him the similar occurrence at Hodeibia. He said that when he himself, on that occasion, was reducing the truce to writing, the Coreish objected to Mahomet being styled in it The Prophet of the Lord. ‘Well do I remember,’ continued Aly, ‘when the Prophet desired me, at their bidding, to erase the words; and then, when I hesitated, he blotted them out with his own hand, and said to me, “The day will come when thou, too, shalt be called on to make a like concession, and thou shalt agree thereto.” ‘Out upon thee!’ cried Amru; ‘dost thou liken us unto the Pagan Arabs, being good believers?’ ‘And when,’ said Aly, answering indirectly, ‘shall the Wicked not have a head, nor the Faithful an enemy?’ Whereupon Amru swore that he never would sit in company with Aly again; and Aly, on his part, expressed a similar determination. This conversation may possibly have had some foundation in fact, but it is abundantly coloured by Abbasside imagination. For the scene at Hodeibia, see Life of Mahomet, p. 372.