Note 556 — Chapter XLIV · THE REMAINDER OF ALY’S REIGN. A.H. XXXVIII.–XL. A.D. 658–660.

The incident is significant of the attitude of the Moslems at this period towards Christian captives, which certainly had not softened since the time of Mahomet. On hearing of Mascala’s humanity, the commander of the army said, ‘If I had had any notion that he did this thing out of false pity for the Christians, and thus cast a slight upon Islam, I would, at the risk even of alienating all the Beni Bekr (Mascala’s tribe), have beheaded him on the spot.’ Aly’s remark was: ‘The first act of Mascala (in offering to take upon himself the ransom of the prisoners) was the act of a prince; his second (in avoiding his obligations and going over to Muâvia) the act of a robber and an outlaw.’ So he gave orders for his house to be razed, and all his slaves set free.

From Damascus, Mascala sent a letter to his brother at Kûfa, offering him, on the part of Muâvia, a command and great honour if he would come over to him. The messenger, a Christian of the Beni Tâghlib, was seized and carried before Aly, who ordered his hands to be cut off, so that he died. His brother wrote verses in reply from Kûfa, from which Mascala gathered the concealed meaning, that the messenger had lost his life. Whereupon the Beni Tâghlib received blood-money from Muâvia. The verses have been preserved.