Note 560 — Chapter XLIV · THE REMAINDER OF ALY’S REIGN. A.H. XXXVIII.–XL. A.D. 658–660.
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The defection of Ackîl is not mentioned in the Persian Tabari. But the circumstance is not one of a kind likely to have been invented, or (as being opposed to the credit of the Prophet’s family) perpetuated by tradition under Abbasside influence, if it had not been founded on fact. On the occasion, Aly gave vent to his grief in these lines, illustrating the proverb of Solomon, ‘A brother is born for adversity’:
He is not a brother who quitteth thee in the dark and louring day; But rather he that abideth with thee then, Rejoicing in thy success, and weeping in thy misfortune.
Some traditions make the retirement of Abdallah from Bussorah to have occurred after Aly’s death. But the fact, as stated above, is not likely to have been fabricated. Besides, the narrative is given in great detail and consistency. Abdallah received the summons of Aly to render an account of his government, with wrath and scorn, and retired from Bussorah, carrying his great riches with him. He was pursued by the citizens of Bussorah; but after some fighting, in which the rival tribes took part, he managed to get off to Mecca without further molestation.