`A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) is the mother of the believers and wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him). She was known for her wide knowledge and perfect understanding. Neither her nor the Companions, Az-Zubayr and Talha, were opponents of `Ali, may Allah be pleased with them all. On the contrary, they were brothers, as stated by the Qur’an, and loved and respected each other as highly as it can be.
The conflict that took place between them has no relation to `Ali’s being a caliph, the whole case is connected with tribulation from those who participated in murder of `Uthman. They came to `Ali asking him to retaliate from the murderers of `Uthman but `Ali chose to postpone this until the affairs of the Muslim Ummah are settled, following the assassination of its Caliph (may Allah be pleased with him). None of them initiated the war, but the troublemakers, who aroused the fitnah of `Uthman in the first time, managed to start the war on their part when they found the companions in agreement and they will be brought to the punishment. So, started killing so that the companions will be distracted from this matter and they could find a way out after that. This way the battle of the Camel was waged.
People nowadays dare to accuse the companions ignorantly and if they browsed the authenticated books of history will find that all what took place between the companion and all their differences were a kind of ijtihad (legal reasoning) and that they were not seeking matters of this transient world.
Sheikh `Abd Allah b. Sardar , lecturer at the Umawi Mosque in Madinah states,
The cause of this conflict upon the battle of the Camel was that some of the Companions, including `A’ishah, were demanding that retribution for killing `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) be exacted from his murderers. `Ali and those with him wanted to postpone carrying out the retribution due to the difficult political circumstances which `Ali had to deal with at that time. They all went to Basrah and agreed not to fight.
However, a group of agitators attempted to start a war. So, they acted on their own and attacked the companions of `A’ishah in the next morning. The Sahabah (the companions of the Prophet) in both sides managed to stop the fighting and bring things back under control on the same day. `Ali then praised `A’ishah, and she praised him. May Allah be pleased with them both!
I would like to point out something very important. Allah is not going to ask us on the Day of Judgment about the Sahabahs’ relationships with one other. This is why the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah believe that Muslims should not occupy themselves with these matters. Such preoccupations do nothing to help a Muslim in his beliefs or in his worship.
As regards the conflict between the Companions in general, Dr. Salah Al-Sawy, secretary-general of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA), stated,
The basic rule in this respect is to refrain from speaking about the conflicts that occurred between the Companions, to avoid delving into the matter, to hold the general belief that they had a justifiable interpretation for whatever went on between them, that their deeds can be categorized either as a commendable effort or a pardonable offense, and that, by virtue of their honorable status as Companions of the Prophet (Pbuh), no one who comes after them will ever measure up to them. Indeed, if any of us were to spend a measure of gold the size of Mt. Uhud, it would not equal the mudd (a small measure) of any of them, nor even half as reported in the Hadiths.