`::I agree. This article should just be on the battle of the camel. The article had the battle of the siffin on it too. That is why I added the other content as I had been working on that and the Muawiya article. But you are right this should only be about the battle of the camel. Its best to keep this article short and only include the information every one agrees on. As it says in the early Shia book Nahjul Balaagha - Letter 58 Ali says that the first fitna was about this:   :::The thing began in this way: We and the Syrians were facing each other while we had common faith in one Allah, in the same Prophet (s) and on the same principles and canons of religion. So far as faith in Allah and the Holy Prophet (s) was concerned we never wanted them (the Syrians) to believe in anything over and above or other than what they were believing in and they did not want us to change our faith. Both of us were united on these principles. The point of contention between us was the question of the murder of Uthman. It had created the split.   :::I advised them that this problem cannot be solved by excitement. Let the excitement subside, let us cool down; let us do away with sedition and revolt; let the country settle down into a peaceful atmosphere and when once a stable regime is formed and the right authority is accepted, then let this question be dealt with on the principles of equity and justice because only then the authority will have power enough to find the criminals and to bring them to justice.   ::All the early books say that the first fitna was about bringing the people who killed Uthman to Justice. Ali also wanted to bring them to justice the question was about timing. If it is kept simple on the points agreed to by every one it will avoid future arguments.  ::On the other subject, you said But please can you help me find more sources (western, nonwestern, sunni, and shia) on the battle itself because that should be the main focus of this article.  ::I have been collecting old books from Madina from the first 200 years of Islam. They are usually the most detailed. The oldest history books are by imam al waqidi. He lived in Madina for 50 years and had access to the grand children of the companions of Muhammad. One of his books was recently translated and is online at http://www.kalamullah.com/conquest-of-syria.html  ::Al Waqidi's history books are extremely old and everyone uses them, both the Sunnis and the Shia's and the western academics. They also match the text in the Roman books from the time. He writes in a style that makes you feel that you are there. Al Waqidi also wrote a book on the Battle of the Camel. The problem is that it is very hard to find some of these old books. I was going through Ibn Katheer's books on the Umayyads and he also references Al Waqidi.   ::There are also Imam Malik's and Imam Abu Hanifah's books but they are more about Muhammad and on Hadith. Imam Malik's book Muwatta Imam Malik is usually used by orientalists, like N.J. Coulson - in his book ``History of Islamic Law`` as a bench mark to compare Islam Law against other legal systems because it is the oldest book on Islamic law and was the consensus of opinion of the jurists of Madina at the time. It also contains fiqh and hadith narrated through Imam Jafar and Imam Muhammad Bakar. But they are not history books as such. They are more about the rulings that Muhammad gave and on preserving this knowledge for future generations.  ::The next oldest history books you could get hold of are Ibn Hisham's that are based on the work of Ibn Ishaq Born 85 AH /704 AD. It took me ages to find an English version of it. Some of the text on the Battle of Siffin I put in, was from Ibn Hisham's book. And he got those bits from an earlier writer, Abu Mikhnaf, who was Ali's supporter.   ::These events are extremely tragic and you could see the tragedy in these old books. It's all the more tragic for those people, as they were all so united a few years earlier, as shown in the book on Syria http://www.kalamullah.com/conquest-of-syria.html and then a few years later small misunderstandings snowballed and led to extremely tragic events. They all knew each other and in most cases they are all very closely related.  ::Then there is also Al-Baladhuri. Most Muslims have never heard of him, but you could find his book ``The origins of the islamic state`` in the main national libraries in the West. There are also some translations of it on line by the orientalists[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bcWtttJL3WEC&pg;=PA1