Ibn Saud marched north into al-Qassim, raising an army to confront the Ikhwan. Amongst his force were members of Ibn Bijad's own tribe, the Utaibah, who were loyal to the King.
The two sides met at a place called Sibilla. Two of the three main Ikhwan leaders, Faisal Ad-Dawish and Sultan bin Bijad bin Humaid (Ibn Bijad), confronted the army of Ibn Saud.
Ibn Saud offered to allow the Shari'ah court to determine the fate of the Ikhwan leaders. It was, as was often the case with Ibn Saud, a device which went to the heart of the matter. The Ikhwan had rebelled against their King and flouted his commands. But Ibn Saud was prepared to forego his right to punish them for treason against his person and his office. Instead, he offered them the right to justice before the religious court, founded on the principles of the Holy Qur'an. Those who had perpetrated crimes in the name of Islam should be judged not by their King but by the Ulema, the religious leaders of Ibn Saud's society.
Ibn Saud was eager, if at all possible, to avoid a battle in which, inevitably, many of the faithful would die but he knew there was little hope that Faisal Ad-Dawish or Ibn Bijad would accept such a solution. They were indisputably guilty of mass murder and robbery and any court would have no alternative but to condemn them. Nevertheless, the offer did make it clear, in the simplest and most direct way, that the days of random raids and the butchery of any whom the Ikhwan considered inferior, were over. The Ikhwan must be subject to the laws of the land and, if they transgressed, they were to be treated as criminals.