Aban ibn Abi Ayyash said that he heard Sulaym ibn Qays saying: “I was present with Ali (AS) on the Day of Jamal. We were all 2,000 and the people of Jamal were more than 20,000.
With Ali (AS) there were nearly 4,000 from those Muhajireen and Ansar who were present in Badr, Hudaybiyah and other wars. All others were people of Kufa except those who had joined him from Basra and Hijaaz. They were not migrants, they were the ones who accepted Islam after the Victory (Makkah). From the 4,000 the majority were Ansar.
Among the people there was no one who had been forced to pay allegiance or forced to fight. They were simply called and 70 people from Badr came, and in that the majority was from Ansar who were present in Ohad and Hudaybiyah and no one from them stayed behind.
There was no one from Muhajireen or Ansar who had no love from him. They all bore friendship towards him and prayed for his success and help and they wanted him to defeat his enemies and de did not pressurize or convince anyone. They had all paid allegiance to him – of course, not everyone fights for the sake of Allah.
There were very few who taunted him and kept away from him, who were hiding from him and were portraying his obedience, except three people who paid allegiance to him and then created doubts against fighting along his side and sat in their houses, I.e Mohammad ibn Muslimah, Sa’ad ibn Abi Waqas and ibn Umar.
Usama ibn Zayd after that accepted, became happy with it, prayed for Ali (AS) and repented for himself, kept away from his enemies and bore witness that he (Ali) was on the truth and whoever opposed him was the cursed one and his killing was lawful.”