battle, despite the intense fighting that continued possibly for hours around Aisha's camel. One by one, the rebels stepped up to lead the camel and, one by one, they were killed. The fighting stopped only when Ali's troops succeeded in killing Aisha's camel and capturing the Mother of the Faithful. Surviving poems about the battle portray this final episode, while the lowest figures for the battle are 2500 dead from Aisha's side and 400-500 from Ali's army. Aftermath Pardon of Aisha Aisha was treated with respect and temporarily housed in Basra. Still, both Ali and his representative Ibn Abbas reprimanded Aisha as they saw her responsible for the loss of life and for leaving her home in violation of the Quran's instructions for Muhammad's widows. Ali later ordered Aisha's half-brother, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, to escort her back to Mecca or Medina. The treatment of Aisha is viewed by Shah-Kazemi as an example of Ali's magnanimity. Following her defeat, John Cappucci writes that Aisha acknowledged the caliphate of Ali. Some traditions indeed show Aisha as remorseful and that she wished not to have lived to witness the battle. In one such tradition, avoiding the battle is preferred over bearing ten sons for the prophet. Her view of Ali might have not changed though, suggests Madelung. He cites a tradition related by Kabsha bint Ka'b ibn Malik, in which Aisha praises Uthman and regrets that she incited revolt against him (but not against Ali). At any rate, her defeat put an end to her political ambitions, and she only engaged in a few minor political events henceforth. Her defeat was presumably cited to discourage medieval Muslim women from engaging in politics. General pardon Ali announced a public pardon after the battle, setting free the war prisoners and prohibiting the enslavement of their women and children. The properties seized were to be returned to the enemy soldiers, otherwise to their legal Muslim heirs. Ali instead compensated his army from the treasury of Basra. These instructions upset those whom Madelung and Veccia Vaglieri describe as the radicals in the camp of Ali. The orders indeed later became a rallying cry for the Kharijites against Ali. The discontented soldiers questioned why they were not allowed to take enemy's possessions and enslave their women and children when shedding their blood was considered lawful. If that was to be the case, Ali retorted, then they had