Rashidun Caliphate capital Kufa
Ali's reign (656–661)
Crisis and fragmentation
Following Uthman's assassination, Muhammad's cousin Ali (r. 656–661) was elected caliph by the rebels and townspeople of Medina. He transferred the capital to Kufa, a garrison city in Iraq. Soon thereafter, Ali dismissed several provincial governors, some of whom were relatives of Uthman, and replaced them with trusted aides, such as Malik al-Ashtar and Salman the Persian.
Demands to take revenge for the assassination of Caliph Uthman rose among parts of the population, and a large army of rebels led by Zubayr, Talha and the widow of Muhammad, Aisha, set out to fight the perpetrators. The army reached Basra and captured it, whereupon 4,000 suspected seditionists were put to death. Subsequently, Ali turned towards Basra and the caliph's army met the rebel army. Though neither Ali nor the leaders of the opposing force, Talha and Zubayr, wanted to fight, a battle broke out at night between the two armies. It is said, according to Sunni Muslim traditions, that those who were involved in the assassination of Uthman initiated combat, as they were afraid that negotiations between Ali and the opposing army would result in their capture and execution. The battle thus fought was the first battle between Muslims and is known as the Battle of the Camel. Ali emerged victoriously and the dispute was settled. The eminent companions of Muhammad, Talha, and Zubayr, were killed in the battle and Ali sent his son Hasan ibn Ali to escort Aisha back to Medina.
Thereafter, there rose another cry for revenge for the blood of Uthman, this time by Mu'awiya, a kinsman of Uthman and governor of the province of Syria. However, it is regarded more as an attempt by Mu'awiya to assume the caliphate, rather than to take revenge for Uthman's murder. Ali fought Mu'awiya's forces to a stalemate at the Battle of Siffin, and then lost a controversial arbitration that ended with the arbiter, 'Amr ibn al-'As, pronouncing his support for Mu'awiya. After this Ali was forced to fight the Battle of Nahrawan against the rebellious Kharijites, a faction of his former supporters who, as a result of their dissatisfaction with the arbitration, opposed both Ali and Mu'awiya. Weakened by this internal rebellion and a lack of popular support in many provinces, Ali's forces lost control over most of the caliphate's territory to Mu'awiya while large sections of the empire—such as Sicily, North Africa, the coastal areas of Spain and some forts in Anatolia—were also lost to outside empires.
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