Place the Qur'ans on spearheads.
Mu'awiyah

This was the first encounter of the two armies. A relative calmness reigned over the battlefield for a long time, since Imam 'Mi was doing his utmost not to impose his views by means of force and war. But the ash-Shamis spoke of nothing but avenging "Uthman's blood".
In the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, some minor clashes took place between the two armies without producing any decisive result, and owing to the commencement of the month of Muharram (in which fighting is forbidden) both sides desisted from combat. But after the end of Muharram, the fight was resumed. During this time Mu'awiyah tried hard to gain the Imam's writ granting him the governorship of ash-Sham and thus put an end to the war. But the Imam could not at any cost accept the co-operation of such a man as Mu'awiyah.
In a fierce clash and owing to the valor and steadfastness of the army of the Imam, the right wing of his forces succeeded in advancing as far as the tent of Mu'awiyah, while the left wing retreated before the onslaught of the army of ash-Sham. It was then that the Imam himself entered the field and organized the retreating wing. Then he invited Mu'awiyah to a man-to-man combat so that with the death of one of the two an end would be put to the differences between the two sides, and all the bloodshed which was undesirable in his opinion, would cease. But Mu'awiyah refused the challenge for fear of his life, since he felt sure that he could not escape the powerful clutches of the Imam.
Fighting continued into the night, and by dawn the final defeat of ash-Sham's army became evident. Malik al-Ashtar, the valiant man of Kufah, on the right wing and the Imam himself in the center made severe onslaughts on the enemy. The columns of the Kufah army had also penetrated deeply into the ash-Sham's front. Mu'awiyah was preparing to flee, for his defeat was close at hand, and this great pillar of paganism and infidelity was about to topple over, and the rule of 'Ali was to be