According to what Haytham b. ʿAdī relates, after the Battle of Nahrawān, a man named Ḥāris b. Rāshid al-Nājī came together with the people of Basra and opposed ʿAlī, saying to him:
"You fought the people of Nahrawān because they protested your involvement in the arbitration. And you gave your word and guarantee to the Syrians. You claimed that you would not break this guarantee and promise, but those two arbiters agreed to depose you and appointed Muʿāwiya as caliph. In reality, it was ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ who made him caliph. Abū Mūsā refrained from this. But by the agreement of the two, you were deposed. I, for my part, depose both you and Muʿāwiya from this office." Many men from his tribe, Banū Nājiya, and others followed this man named Ḥāris. They withdrew to one side. ʿAlī sent a large army against them under the command of Māqil b. Qays al-Ramaḥī. Māqil killed many of them. He took 500 men from the Banū Nājiya tribe captive and brought them to ʿAlī. On the way, they were met by Maskala b. Ḥubayb Abū Mighlaz, a governor of ʿAlī.
The captives lamented and complained to Maskala about the calamity that had befallen them. Maskala then purchased them from Māqil for 500,000 dirhams and set them free. When Māqil demanded this money from him, Maskala fled and went to Ibn ʿAbbās, who was in Basra. Māqil informed Ibn ʿAbbās of the situation by letter. Maskala also said to Ibn ʿAbbās: "I have come to you to pay this money." Then he fled from there as well and went to ʿAlī. Ibn ʿAbbās and Māqil informed ʿAlī of the situation by letter. When ʿAlī demanded the blood money of the captives from him, Maskala gave him 200,000 dirhams. Then he fled and went to Muʿāwiya, son of Abū Sufyān, who was in Syria. ʿAlī approved the manumission of the captives and said: "How much of the blood money remained as a debt upon Maskala?" After saying this, he ordered Maskala's house in Kūfa to be demolished.
Haytham relates that Abū Ṭufayl said:
"The Banū Nājiya tribe apostatized. ʿAlī sent Māqil b. Qays against them. Māqil took them captive. Maskala then purchased them from ʿAlī for 300,000 dirhams and set them free, then fled to Muʿāwiya."
According to Haytham, this is the statement of the Shīʿa. For after the apostasy events during the time of Abū Bakr, it was not heard that any Arab tribe apostatized.
Haytham relates that ʿAdī b. Ḥātim said: "Murra said to ʿAlī, who was delivering a sermon:
- You killed the people of Nahrawān because they protested the arbitration. And you killed Ḥāris b. Rāshid because he asked you to appoint an arbiter. By Allah, there is not even the distance of a foot between these two matters.
- Silence! You are a Bedouin. Only yesterday you were eating hyena on Mount Ṭayy (you do not understand these matters).
- By Allah, we also saw you yesterday eating unripe dates in Medina.
Then a man from among the Basrans opposed ʿAlī. ʿAlī killed him. When Ashras b. ʿAwf al-Shaybānī and his companions also opposed him, ʿAlī killed him and his companions. Then Ashhab b. Bishr al-Bajalī, and after him a man from the tribe of ʿUrayna among the people of Kūfa, rebelled. They and their companions were also killed by ʿAlī. After this, Saʿīd b. Naġd al-Tamīmī, and then a man from the Banū Thalaba tribe among the people of Kūfa, also rebelled against ʿAlī. These and their companions were killed near the Dair Rabʿān bridge, above Madāʾin."