Complex sentence: Ali was entrusted with a huge army of 40,000 men drawn from the "abna ′", but in the Battle of Rayy on 3 July 811 he was crushingly defeated and killed by a far smaller army under Tahir ibn al-Husayn.
Split into simpler sentences: Ali was entrusted with a huge army of 40,000 men drawn from the "abna ′". In the Battle of Rayy on 3 July 811 he was crushingly defeated and killed by a far smaller army under Tahir ibn al-Husayn.