On the occasion of Hajj, 'Uthmaanbin 'Affaanannounced his readiness to
listen to complaints among the governors. Thus, following his orders,
all the governors reached Makkah. In accordance with 'Abdullaah
binSaba's scheme, his followers too set out from every province and
center but arrived in Al-Madeenahinstead of Makkah. At this point
'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanaddressed them and said:"Trouble is bound to
appear in the near future, but I don't like tobe blamed for it, for
whatever I have done, it was solely for the welfare of the people."
This utterance of the Caliph silenced them all.
'Uthmaancame back to Al-Madeenah after performing the Hajj. He then
assembled thosefrom outside and also invited 'Ali,Talhah and
Az-Zubayr. 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan rose to address them and said: "Abu
Bakrand 'Umarafter becoming Caliph, practiced caution concerning their
relatives with aneye on accountability, although the Prophet,, took
care of hisrelatives and extended help to them. My relatives are poor
and so I do the needful for them. I amready to do away with my
practice if you prove it invalid andunlawful."
Objections:
'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanhad barely spoken this, when a man got up and
raised the objection:"You unlawfully gave away wealthand property to
your relatives; forinstance, you once gave the entire booty to
'Abdullaah bin Sa'd." 'Uthmaanreplied: "I have given him one-fifth
from theone-fifth of the booty. And we have such examples during the
Caliphates of Abu Bakr and 'Umar."
Another person said: "You have conferred power and rule on
yourrelatives; for instance, you have appointed Mu'aawiyah bin Abu
Sufyaan governor of the entireSyria. You made 'Abdullaah bin 'Amr
governor of Basrah by deposing Abu Moosaa Al-Ash'ari; you installed
Waleed bin 'Uqbah and then Sa'eed bin Al-'Aas governors of Koofah by
removingAl-Mugheerah bin Shu'bah." 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanreplied:"Those
governors are not my relatives and they have the abilityto manage the
affairs well. However, if they do not deserve the post, I am always
ready to change them for others. Thus I have already put Abu Moosaa
Al-Ash'ari as the governor of Koofah by removing Sa'eed bin Al-'Aas."
Yet another person got up and said: "You love your family members the
most and you give them extravagant gifts." 'Uthmaanreplied: "Love of
the family members is not a sin. And I give them gifts from my own
possessions, not from the public treasury. How can I give them
anything from the public treasury when I myself do not take a single
dirham from there? I am at liberty to give away anything to anybody
from my personal property."
In short, objections of this naturewere raised and 'Uthmaan bin
'Affaan answered them fully and thoroughly. At the end of the
assembly, the people left silently.
Events of 35 AH
The governors of various provinces began to leave Al-Madeenah. When
Mu'aawiyahthe governor ofSyriadecided to depart, he came to 'Uthmaan
bin 'Affaanand said: "I anticipate an attack on you and you may not be
able to resist it. Itis better for you to accompany me toSyria, for
the Syrians are loyal and lend their full support to me."
'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanreplied:"On no account shall I abandon the
proximity and neighborhood of the Prophet,." Having heard this
Mu'aawiyah said: "Let me send you an army fromSyriato guard you
against any eventuality." 'Uthmaan said: "I am not in favor of putting
my neighbors into trouble." Hearing this Mu'aawiyahsaid: "You are
bound to be deceived." In reply to this 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaansaid:
"Allaah is enough for me and what an Excellent Supporter He is." After
which he remained silent.
Mu'aawiyahthen left the place and came to 'Ali, Talhah and Az-Zubayr.
He asked them to provide protection to 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan, then he
setoff forSyria.
Conspiracy of 'Abdullaah binSaba
'Abdullaah bin Saba had already finalized his nefarious plan during
his stay inEgypt. He had won over Companions like 'Ammaar bin Yaasir
and Warqah bin Raafi'to his side. However, none besides the small
group of his followers were aware of his real game. His love for 'Ali
and the family of the Prophet,was nothing more than a maneuver for
inciting people against the Caliphate. A considerable number of Muslim
soldiers had joined his party. Gradually, 'Abdullaah binSabawon the
hearts of enough peopleto challenge the authority of 'Uthmaan bin
'Affaan and bring about his deposition or do away with him. However,
the issue of 'Uthmaan's successor was still the bone of contention.
Gradually, his party was divided in three groups each supporting its
own candidate from among 'Ali, Talhah and Az-Zubayr. Since 'Abdullaah
binSabahad no interest in the unity and strengthof Islam, he held back
his supportfrom 'Aliand left the matter to the contenders. His main
issue was the liquidation of 'Uthmaan'sCaliphate.
Departure of the Caravan of Mischief-Mongers
At first, a group of 1000 people was sent in advance pretending to be
a Hajj mission. The party consisted of Abdur-Rahmaan bin 'Udays,
Kinaanah bin Bishr Al-Laythi, andSudanbin Humraan and was headed by
Al-Ghaafiqi bin Harb. It was decided that the entire party should not
proceed at one time fromEgypt. The party was thus divided into four
groups to leaveEgyptseparately and then to meet after several stages.
Another party of 1000 men left Koofah and another of the same number
marched from Basrah. All these parties left their cities in the month
of Shawwaal 35 AH, under the pretext of goingto Hajj. However, their
goal was to get rid of the Caliph either by deposing or by killing
him. At the appointed time, the parties coming from different
directions joined one another and proceeded to Al-Madeenah.
Threestages from Al-Madeenah, the party divided itself into three
separate groups each supporting its own candidate for the Caliphate.
It is worth mentioning here that the followers of 'Abdullaah bin Saba
in Al-Madeenah had written forged letters in the names of 'Ali,
Talhah, Az-Zubayr, and the Mothers of the Believersto their followers
in Koofah, Basrah and Egypt who were against 'Abdullaah bin Saba and
his group. The letters emphasized that 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanwas no
longer able to shoulder the heavy burden of the Caliphate. Therefore
the matter should be brought to its end in the month of Thul-Hijjah.
Encouraged by these forged letters, the rioters found it easy to
indulge in acts of plunder and massacre in order to do away with the
Caliphate. Otherwise, they could not have mustered thecourage to plan
an invasion of Al-Madeenah, the city of the Prophet,where even a
strongarmy of the disbelievers failed to make inroads during
theBattleofthe Trench.
All the distinguished persons rejected their nefarious plan outright,
but they found no preparations of any kind whatsoever in Al-Madeenah.
They went back to the rioters and assembled their chiefs and
representatives for an emergencyconsultation. Allaying fears of
anydefensive preparations in Al-Madeenah from their minds, they placed
before them a suggestion that the parties belonging toEgypt, Basrah
and Koofah should contact 'Ali, Talhah and Az-Zubayrrespectively. They
should make an attempt during separate meetings to express to them
their viewpoint saying that at no cost did they like the Caliphate of
'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan.
Accordingly, they offered their allegiance to them. But each of them
rejected their offer. Thereupon the party fromEgyptsaid to 'Ali:
"Since 'Abdullaah bin Sa'd, the governor of our province is cruel, we
cannot leaveAl-Madeenah without getting himdeposed." With an eye on
their obstinacy and nerve, 'Ali and some other Companions called on
the Caliph and advised him to fulfill their demand to stop the trouble
and depose 'Abdullaah bin Sa'd as the governor ofEgypt. 'Uthmaan bin
'Affaan asked:"Who will then be appointed the governor ofEgypt?" .
Ali intercedes
'Aliand other Companions took the name of Muhammad binAbu Bakr who
happened to be the supporter of 'Ali. Therefore, the Caliph issued an
edict appointing Muhammad bin Abu Bakr, governor ofEgypt. After this
'Ali sent the rioters out. However, on the third or fourth day, all
the parties joined together and came into Al-Madeenah crying Takbeer
)i.e. uttering Allaahu Akbar( with the utmost fervor and cordoned off
the house of the Caliph. 'Alisaw them and said: "You had already left
this place, what madeyou come back?" They said: "The Caliph has sent a
letter to 'Abdullaah bin Sa'd through his slave to kill us as soon as
we reach there. We have seized the letter and have come here with
itand along with the parties fromEgyptand Koofah who want to share our
problem." 'Ali said: "By Allaah this is an act of conspiracy and you
are ill-intentioned." They replied: "Whatever be the case, we have
decided to kill the Caliph,and we seek your assistance in the task."
'Aliangrily said:"How can I help you?" Hearing thisthey said: "Why had
you then written about this?" 'Ali firmly replied: "I have never
written youanything." Hearing this they looked towards each other with
amazement. 'Alithen left Al-Madeenah to stay in Ahjaar-uz-Zayt and the
rioters surrounded the house of 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan. Until then, they
had followed the Caliph in prayers, but now they gave it up and began
to hold others back from standing in prayer behind him.
Witnessing the lurking danger around him, the Caliph wrote letters to
various provinces and sought their help, and in some cases the news
reached those places on its own. However, virtuous men and the
Companions persuaded the people inEgypt,Syria, Koofah and Basrah to
rush to the help of the Caliph. The mosque was under siege and after
that, the rioters prevented 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanfrom coming out of his
home and cut off the supply of water too. Although 'Uthmaan bin
'Affaan persistently tried to convince the rioters that the letter was
not written by him and asked them to produce any witness, but they
ignored his plea.
Summarized from: The History of Islam, by: Akbar Shah Najeebadi
To Be concluded
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