Note 540 — Chapter XXXIX · BATTLE OF SIFFIN. A.H. XXXVI., XXXVII. A.D. 657.

The Persian Tabari gives the slain on both sides from first to last at 40,000, out of a total force of 130,000 men. Making every allowance for exaggeration, the carnage must have been great. The names of only a few ‘Companions’ are given; but now these were rapidly disappearing from the scene, as the period of a whole generation had elapsed since the Hegira. The chief fighting, moreover, was between the Bedouins; those from the north, as a rule, being on Aly’s side, and the Arabs of the south on that of Muâvia. The numbers from Mecca and Medîna were comparatively small. The prisoners taken on both sides were released. Amru is spoken of as having advised to put them to death, but this is altogether unlikely.