Uthman’s Assassination
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During the reign of Uthman
, the third Caliph, the Islamic state had expanded far and wide, but the empire was experiencing grave financial troubles. Many poor Beduins felt that Uthman’s policies
were tilted in favor of the Ummayad elite. This fact is trumpeted by the Shia scholars today, who love to slander Uthman
; they accuse him of nepotism and mismanagement.
In any case, the Beduins found a spokesman in Ali
. Ali
prevented these Beduins from resorting to violent rebellion and to instead use peaceful negotiation. As the Vizier and top advisor of Caliph Uthman
, Ali
had the ability to bring the case of the Beduins to the Caliph. Ali’s supporters
were a myriad of disenchanted people, all of whom had grievances with Caliph Uthman. A portion of these Shia’t Ali were the Saba’ites, the ancestors of the modern day Ithna Ashari Shia. Abdullah ibn Saba, leader of the Saba’ites, began the villification of Uthman
; many of the disenchanted Beduins in the Shia’t Ali were receptive to this Fitnah. This sub-section of the Shia’t Ali would eventually over the centuries form the Shia we see today [i.e. Ithna Ashari Shia].
Abdullah ibn Saba convinced some of the extremist Beduins in Egypt to rebel against Uthman
. This was not sanctioned by Ali
, who favored arbitration. In any case, Uthman
heard of these Shia’t Ali who were planning on rebelling against him [i.e. open treason]. So Uthman
ordered the Eygptian governor to punish the malcontents. When the Egyptian Beduins found out that the governor was going to punish the malcontents on the orders of Uthman
, they decided to launch a pre-emptive strike and seige the Caliph’s home in Medinah.
This decision by the extremist members of the Shia’t Ali was not supported by Ali
. When Ali
heard that extremist members of his own party were plotting the murder of the Caliph, he immediately dispatched his own son to defend Uthman
. Ali
sent a letter to Uthman
saying, “I have 500 men, so give me the permission to defend you from these people, otherwise things would happen that they would kill you.” Uthman
answered, “May Allah reward you for your good intentions, but I do not want blood to be shed for my cause.” [Tareekh Damascus, p.403]
Hasan
, Hussain (ra?), Ibn Umar
, Ibn Al-Zubair
, and Marwan
rushed to the house of Uthman
raising their swords. Uthman
told them, “I order you to go back home, put your swords in their sheaths, and stay at home.” [Tareekh Khaleefah Al-Khayyat, p.174]
Kunanah, the slave of Safiyah, said:
“I witnessed the murder of Uthman. Four young men from Quraysh were taken out from Uthman’s house. These young men were covered by blood, and they were defending Uthman may Allah be pleased at him; Al-Hasan bin Ali, Abdullah bin Al-Zubair, Muhamed bin Hatib, and Marwan bin Hakam.” [A’asr Al-Khilafah Al-Rashidah by Akram Diya’a Al-Umari, p.390. Al-Umari said that the Hadith was narrated in Al-Estia’ab with a good authentication.]
When Hasan
entered upon Uthman
, he said, “O Commander of the Faithful! I am under your command, so order me as you wish.” Uthman
answered, “My dear brother’s son! Go back, and stay in your home until Allah carries out His order. I do not need the shedding of blood.” [Musnad Ahmed, Virtues of the Companions, #753]
And so it was that the Amir Al Mumineen Uthman bin Affan
was slain by certain extremist members of the Shia’t Ali, namely the Saba’ites [the pioneers of modern day Shi’ism].
[size=3]Ali’s Caliphate
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After Uthman’s death
, the Shia’t Ali asked Ali
to declare himself Caliph. Ali
refused, namely out of anger at his own Shia who murdered Uthman
. Ali
did not want to be associated with these trouble-makers. This is recorded in Nahjul Balagha, which the Shia consider very authentic. [It should be noted that the Ahlus Sunnah believe the Nahjul Balagha to contain many forgeries.] The Nahjul Balagha contains the sermons and letters of Ali (ra?) and in it we find sermon after sermon in which Ali
condems his Shia–particularly the Saba’ites–for their extremist actions.
Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 191
Ali says to his "Shia":
“You should know that you have again reverted to the position of the [pagan] Bedouin Arabs after immigration to Islam, and have become different Shias after having been once united. You do not possess anything of Islam except its name, and know nothing of belief save its show. You would throw down Islam on its face in order to defame its honor and break its pledge for brotherhood which Allah gave you as a sacred trust on His earth and a source of peace among the people…You have broken the shackles of Islam, have transgressed its limits, and have destroyed its commands!”
[source: http://www.al-islam.org/nahjul/191.htm]
Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 91
When people decided to swear allegiance at Amir al-mu’minin’s hand after the murder of Uthman, Ali said:
“Leave me and seek someone else. We are facing a matter which has (several) faces and colors, which neither hearts can stand nor intelligence can accept. Clouds are hovering over the sky, and faces are not discernible. You should know that if I respond to you, I would lead you as I know and would not care about whatever [anyone else] may say. If you leave me, then I am the same as you are. It is possible I would listen to and obey whosoever you make in charge of your affairs. I am better for you as a counsellor than as chief.”
[source: http://www.al-islam.org/nahjul/91.htm]
At first, Ali
refused to be Caliph. However, he eventually accepted the position and became Amir Al Mumineen. Upon his announcement as Caliph, there was a large grumbling from people who accused Ali
of being an accomplice in the murder of Uthman
, since it was well known that it was an element of the Shia’t Ali who were responsible for the seige of Uthman’s house
. This accusation made against Ali
is recorded in Sermon 22 of Nahjul Balagha which is titled “About those who accused Ali of Uthman’s killing.”
[size=3]Qisas
There was a public outcry for Ali
to enact Qisas [i.e. find and prosecute Uthman’s killers], and no doubt Uthman’s family and tribe were anxious to see the murderers brought to justice. However, Ali
decided to delay enacting Qisas for the reason that he was too preoccupied facing a civil war from people who were accusing him of murder, and this was not the time to be searching his own ranks for murderers. It was a time when people were ready to rebel against Ali
, so the last thing Ali
could afford to do was lose more supporters by interrogating his own Shia’t Ali. Because of this, Ali
decided to delay enacting Qisas, but it should be noted that Ali
had the sincere intention of eventually finding and prosecuting Uthman’s killers even though they were from his own camp. Such was the noble nature of Ali
.
As a consequence of Ali’s decision
to delay justice [i.e. delay enacting Qisas], hundreds of people were taking to the streets in protest. Many of these were from the same tribe of Uthman
; for example, the governor of Syria–Muawiyyah
–was Uthman’s cousin
and he was one of the people demanding Qisas. The Prophet’s widow, Aisha
, realized that the situation was getting out of hand and that things might get ugly soon between those demanding Qisas and those delaying Qisas. She decided to act as an arbiter on behalf of Uthman’s family and friends; she herself was related by marriage to Uthman (ra?), who married two of Aisha’s half-daughters. Aisha
feared that if she did not intercede on behalf of the malcontents by convincing Ali
to quickly prosecute the murderers, they would rebel against Caliph Ali
. This point cannot be emphacized enough: Aisha
left her house with the intention of reconciling Muslims, not to make them fight.