such talks: he was fully aware of Ali’s horror of civil
war, and now sought ways to make this work to his
advantage. After all, there were other, less costly means
than outright war to achieve his aims.
Even as he publicly demanded that Ali resign as
Caliph, Muawiya instructed his envoys to quietly
propose an alternative solution. He and Ali should avoid
war by agreeing to divide the empire between them, he
said. He would take Syria, Palestine, and Egypt and all
the revenue from them, and Ali would retain control of
Iraq, Persia, and Arabia. A de facto partition of the
empire, that is, along the very lines that had divided the
Byzantine and Persian empires before the Arab conquest,
and in effect, two Caliphs instead of one.
It came as no surprise when Ali indignantly turned
down the idea, but even if the proposal was bound to
fail, it served as yet another means of taunting him.
Ideally, it might even prompt him into attack so that
Muawiya would then seem the injured party, and Ali the
aggressor. Instead, Ali made one last eʃort to avoid all-
out battle. He rode up to the pavilion at the center of the
plain and called out Muawiya, his voice carrying to the
front lines of either side as he challenged the Syrian
governor to a one-on-one duel that would decide the
whole matter and save mass bloodshed.
Muawiya’s chief of staʃ, Amr, the famed general who
had conquered Egypt for Islam, urged him to accept the