Armed revolt against Uthman[edit] Question book-new.svg This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2013) The politics of Egypt played the major role in the propaganda war against the caliphate, so Uthman summoned Abdullah ibn Saad, the governor of Egypt, to Medina to consult with him as to the course of action that should be adopted. Abdullah ibn Saad came to Medina, leaving the affairs of Egypt to his deputy, and in his absence, Muhammad bin Abi Hudhaifa (adopted son of Uthman) staged a coup détat and took power. On hearing of the revolt in Egypt, Abdullah hastened back but Uthman was not in a position to offer him any military assistance and, accordingly, Abdullah ibn Saad failed to recapture his power.[79] The Qurra then felt that Abu Musa al_Ashari could look after their interests better. Said ibn al-As, the governor in Kufa, in Iraq, then wrote to Uthman I have no power at all over Kufa with Al-Ashtar and his friends who are called al-qurra, and they are idiots [80] In 655/634 the Qurra stopped Uthans governor Said ibn al-As at Jaraa, preventing him from entering Kufa and declared Abu Musa al-Ashari to be their governor. (Later the Qurra proposed Abu Musa al_Ashari as the arbitrator against the wished of Ali after the Battle of Saffin because they felt that he could also better represent their interests there and split away from Ali and became officially known as the Khawarij.)[81] In Basra the governor, Abdullah ibn Aamir, left for Hajj, and in his absence the affairs of the province fell into a state of confusion. The three main provinces of Egypt (which was already the center of the dissident movement), Kufa, and Basra became essentially independent from the Caliphate of Uthman, and became the center of revolt.[citation needed] Rebels in Medina[edit] From Egypt a contingent of about 1,000 people were sent to Medina, with instructions to assassinate Uthman and overthrow the government. Similar contingents marched from Kufa and Basra to Medina.[82] They sent their representatives to Medina to contact the leaders of public opinion. The representatives of the contingent from Egypt waited on Ali, and offered him the Caliphate in succession to Uthman, which Ali turned down. The representatives of the contingent from Kufa waited on Al-Zubayr, while the representatives of the contingent from Basra waited on Talhah, and offered them their allegiance as the next Caliph, which were both turned down. In proposing alternatives to Uthman as Caliph, the rebels neutralized the bulk of public opinion in Medina and Uthmans faction could no longer offer a united front. Uthman had the active support of the Umayyads, and a few other people in Medina,[83] but the rest of the people of Medina chose to be neutral and help neither side.[citation needed] Siege of Uthman[edit] Main article: Siege of Uthman The situation in Medina was a big gain for the rebels. When they felt satisfied that the people of Medina would not offer them any resistance, they entered the city of Medina and laid siege to the house of Uthman, essentially taking it over but not confining the Caliph. The rebels declared that no harm from them would come to any person who choose not to resist them. Uthman strongly instructed his supporters to refrain from violence but his various servants (about 40 of them) appealed for permission to fight against the rebels, along with a thousand other citizens of Medina. Uthman, who was a wealthy man even from the days before Islam, freed all 40 of his slaves and ordered them to stay away from the civil war between the Muslims.[citation needed] The early stage of the siege of Uthman’s house was not severe,[84] the rebels merely hovered around the house and did not place any restrictions on him. Uthman went to the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi as usual, and led the prayers. The rebels offered prayers under the leadership of Uthman. While Uthman addressed the people in the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi he was criticized by opponents. At this the supporters of Uthman took up cudgels on his behalf. Tempers flared up on both sides, hot words were exchanged between the parties, and that led to the pelting of stones at one another. One of the stones hit Uthman, he fell unconscious and was carried to his house, still unconscious.[citation needed] The proceedings in the mosque showed that most of the people of Medina (or at least those in the mosque) preferred not to fight, but to watch developments. When the rebels felt that the people of Medina were not likely to offer active support to Uthman, they changed their strategy, and tightened the siege of the house of Uthman, thus confining Uthman to his home. Uthman was denied the freedom to move about and was not allowed to go to the mosque.[citation needed] As the days passed, the rebels intensified their pressure against Uthman.[84] They forbade the entry of any food or provisions, and later water as well, into his house, even turning down a few widows of Muhammad. Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan, a widow of Muhammad, came to see Uthman and brought some water and provisions for him but she was not allowed to enter. Another widow of Muhammad, and the daughter of the late Caliph Abu Bakr, Aisha, made a similar attempt, and she was also prevailed upon by the rebels to go back.[citation needed] When Ali first heard about the siege of Uthman, he sent his sons Hassan and Hussayn to protect Uthman.[85] Zubayr ibn Awwam sent his son Abdullah ibn Zubair and Talha ibn Ubaydullah sent his son also sent his son to protect Uthman.[86][87] With the departure of the pilgrims from Medina to Mecca, the hands of the rebels were further strengthened, and as a consequence the crisis deepened further. The rebels understood that after the Hajj, the Muslims gathered at Mecca from all parts of the Muslim world might march to Medina to relieve Uthman. They therefore decided to take action against Uthman before the pilgrimage was over. During the siege, Uthman was asked by his supporters, who outnumbered the rebels, to let them fight against the rebels and rout them. Uthman prevented them in an effort to avoid the bloodshed of Muslim by Muslim. Unfortunately for Uthman, violence occurred anyhow. The gates of the house of Uthman were shut and guarded by the renowned warrior, Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr.[84] The sons of Ali, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, were also among the guards;[88] while amongst those inciting the people to fight included Aisha,[89] one of the wives of Muhammad. A skirmish erupted between the opponents and the supporters of Uthman at the gate, some anti-Uthman partisans were killed, and the rebels were finally pushed back. Among the supporters of Uthman, Hasan ibn Ali, Marwan and some other people were wounded.[citation needed] Assassination[edit] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011) Finding the gate of Uthmans house strongly guarded by his supporters, the Qurra climbed the back wall and sneaked inside, leaving the guards on the gate unaware of what was going on inside. Hassan and Hussein were also guarding Uthman at the time.[90] The rebels entered his room and struck blows at his head.[91] Naila, the wife of Uthman, threw herself on his body to protect him. It is believed that this Quran, present at museum in Toshkent, has the blood spots of Uthman.[citation needed] Raising her hand to protect him she had her fingers chopped off and was pushed aside, and further blows were struck until he was dead. The supporters of Uthman then counterattacked the assassins and, in turn, killed them. There was further fighting between the rebels and the supporters of Uthman, with casualties on both sides, after which the rebels looted the house.[92] According to Encyclopedia of Islam, Muawiyah sent a relief force led by Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri to protect Uthman, but events moved so fast that Uthman got killed before they arrived, so they turned back from the wadi I kura [93][94][95][96] According to al-Baladhuri one of the earliest books of these events, Ali was furious and slapped Hassan and Hussein saying How did he get killed when you were at the door?[97] The rioters wanted to mutilate his body and were keen that he be denied burial. When some of the rioters came forward to mutilate the body of Uthman, his two widows, Nailah and Ramlah bint Sheibah, covered him, and raised loud cries which deterred the rioters. The rebels left the house and the supporters of Uthman at gate hearing it, entered, but it was too late.[98] Thereafter the rioters maintained a presence round the house in order to prevent the dead body from being carried to the graveyard.[citation needed] Uthman was assassinated on the 18 Dhul Haj.[citation needed] Funeral[edit] After the body of Uthman had been in the house for three days, Naila, Uthmans wife, approached some of his supporters to help in his burial, but only about a dozen people responded. These included Marwan, Zayd ibn Thabit, Huwatib bin Alfarah, Jabir bin Mutaam, Abu Jahm bin Hudaifa, Hakim bin Hazam and Niyar bin Mukarram.[99] The body was lifted at dusk, and because of the blockade, no coffin could be procured. The body was not washed, as Islamic teaching states that martyrs bodies are not supposed to be washed before burial. Thus Uthman was carried to the graveyard in the clothes that he was wearing at the time of his assassination.[100] His body was buried by Hassan and Hussein[101] Naila followed the funeral with a lamp, but in order to maintain secrecy the lamp had to be extinguished. Naila was accompanied by some women including Ayesha, Uthmans daughter.[citation needed] Burial[edit] The body was carried to Jannat al-Baqi, the Muslim graveyard.[citation needed] It appears that some people gathered there, and they resisted the burial of Uthman in the graveyard of the Muslims. The supporters of Uthman insisted that the body should be buried in Jannat al-Baqi. They later buried him in the Jewish graveyard behind Jannat al-Baqi. Some decades later, the Umayyad rulers demolished the wall separating the two cemeteries and merged the Jewish cemetery into the Muslim one to ensure that his tomb was now inside a Muslim cemetery.[102] The funeral prayers were led by Jabir bin Mutaam, and the dead body was lowered into the grave without much of a ceremony. After burial, Naila the widow of Uthman and Aisha the daughter of Uthman wanted to speak, but they were advised to remain quiet due to possible danger from the rioters.[103] Ali later confronted the Kharijites[edit] Ali later assumed the position of caliph. Following the Roman-Persian Wars and the Byzantine–Sasanian wars there were deep rooted differences between Iraq, formally under the Persian Sassanid Empire and Syria formally under the Byzantine Empire. The Iraqis wanted the capital of the newly established Islamic State to be in Kufa so as to bring revenues into their area and oppose Syria.[104] They convinced Ali to come to Kufa and establish the capital in Kufa, in Iraq.[104] Ali later moved the capital to Kufa.[104] After making everyone else fight, the Qurra later turned against Ali. Ali wanted Malik Ashtar or Abdullah bin Abbas to be appointed as an arbitrator for the people of Kufa, Iraq, after the battle of Saffin, but the Qurra strongly demurred. They nominated Abu Musa al-Ashari as their arbitrator. (During the time of Uthman, they had appointed Abu Musa al-Ashari as the Governor of Kufa and removed Uthams governor before they started fighting Uthman) After the battle of Saffin the Qurra realised that Ali could not safeguard their interests and therefore split off and formed their own Party called the Kharijites and later developed into an anarchist movement [105] and plagued successive governments even Harun the Abbasid ruler died fighting the Kharijites [106] They also started killing Alis supporters. They considered anyone who was not part of their group as an unbeliever.[107] In the best selling book, Shadow of the sword, The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World, Tom Holland writes [108] The Kharijites argued a true believer would have trusted his fate not to diplomacy but to ongoing warfare and God will decide. Even though they them selves had put forward their representative and become a party of them selves, so that the negotiations could go in their favor and satisfy their own political and economic interests. Tom Holland says that they then condemned Ali as an unbeliever, as the man who had strayed from the Strait Path. The fact that he was Muhammads nephew only confirmed them in their militancy of their egalitarianism; that the true aristocracy was one of piety and not blood. Even a Companion of the Prophet, if he did not pray until he developed marks on his forehead. If he did not look pale and haggard from regular fasting, if he did not live like a lion by day and a monk by night, ranked in the opinion of the Kharijites as no better than an apostate. They then developed even more twisted views. Tom Holland writes Other Kharijites, so it was reported, might go out and with their swords into the markets while people would stand around not realizing what was happening; they would shout no judgment except God! and plunge their blades into whom ever they could reach and go on killing until they them selves were killed.[109] In 659 Alis forces finally moved against the Kharijites and they finally met in the Battle of Nahrawan. Although Ali won the battle, the constant conflict had begun to affect his standing.[110] Tom Holland writes Ali won a victory over them as crushing as it was to prove pyrrhic: for all he had done, in effect was to fertilise the soil of Iraq with the blood of their martyrs. Three years later, and there came the inevitable blowback: a Kharijite assassin..[111] The Kharijites caused so much trouble that in both the Sunni and the Shia books Ali said:With regard to me, two categories of people will be ruined, namely he who loves me too much and the love takes him away from rightfulness, and he who hates me too much and the hatred takes him away from rightfulness. The best man with regard to me is he who is on the middle course. So be with him and be with the great majority of Muslims because Allah’s hand of protection is on keeping unity. You should beware of division because the one isolated from the group is a prey to Satan just as the one isolated from the flock of sheep is a prey to the wolf. Beware! Whoever calls to this course [of sectarianism], kill him, even though he may be under this headband of mine.(Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 126) Ali was assassinated by Kharijites in 661. On the 19th of Ramadan, while Praying in the Great Mosque of Kufa, Ali was attacked by the Khawarij Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam. He was wounded by ibn Muljams poison-coated sword while prostrating in the Fajr prayer.[112] Scholars like Wellhausen have argued that the Kharijites when revolting against Ali used the same formula as they had previously applied against Uthman, when they revolted against Uthman.[113] Wellhausen argues that for the Kharijite Alis pact with Muawiyah compromised the Devine Right the same act which caused the insurgencies against Uthman and Muawiya as well.[114] Scholars like Wellhausen argue that the Kharijites sprang from the Qurra and they did not start off as a marginal and clandestine sect, but were in full public eye. Wellhausen argues that:[115] Their origins were essentially very different from those of the Abbasid and Fatimid parties. They did not have to resort to conspiracy and widespread propaganda and were not held together by a secret complex organization. They had only principles but these were always well known to the people and attracted supporters without them seeking them.[116] M. A. Shaban in his Islamic History A.D. 600-750 (A.H. 132): A new Interpretation (1971) Proclaims that the Qurra were the tribesmen who had the trusteeship of the conquered lands. This means that they shared the wealth and the prestige of the new system. Their special position and prestige in the Sawad in Iraq however was threatened by Uthmans policies. This explains their participation in removing Uthman. Although the policy of Ali was lucrative to the Qurra they realized that the new Caliphs inheritance of a divided community and turmoil would make his unable to protect their newly established economic status. Thus at this stage and during the Battle of Siffin (Alis weakest moments) the Qurra decided to secede from Alis coalition and become a party of their own.[117] In the article entitled The Emergence of the Kharijites: Religion and the Social Order in Early Islam (1989) Jeffrey T Kenny has argued that the Kharijites were just one of many factions that emerged from an intricate web of chaning socioeconomic policies in the newly established provinces of the Islamic Empire.[118] M. A. Shaban in his book Islamic History A.D. 600-750 (A.H. 132): A new Interpretation (1971) writes the Qurra insisted on choosing Abu Musa al Ashari to be the Iraqi representative after the battle of Siffin despite Alis vehement objection. Shaban writes that the same Qurra originally insisted on Abu Musa becoming the governor of Kufa and replaced Uthmans governor because Abu Musa had opposed Uthmans policy and therefore had been the choice of the Qurra as governor of Kufa, when they expelled Uthmans governor Said b Al-As. Shaban adds that the Qurra tried to turn the negotiations between the Syrians and the Iraqis to their own advantage and that they wished to become a third party in the dispute. Thus it is at this point that the coalition of Ali ended and that the ex-qurra emerged as the Kharijites.[119] While Watt argues that the Kharijites were not simply dissatisfied with a particular man or family or economics, rather their dissatisfaction was with the whole social structure which was represented by both Uthman and Ali. In the old way they had freedom in the affairs of the tribe. Now they were in the super-tribe of Islam and could not behave as they had behaved previously. They wanted to go back to their old tribal structure where they could glory and boast about their tribe. He writes Those who had been accustomed to tribal societies missed the security ... provided by the old system; nothing in the new system quite replaced it[120] After the death of Ali the Kharijites got stronger in Iraq and Hassan made a peace agreement with Muawiya. Two decades later, after years of planning and scheming and making every one else fight, Marwan came to power in Syria and the Qurra (the Kharijites) established a state in Southern Iraq. The very thing Hassan signed a treaty with Muawiyah to avoid. Now there were three camps, the Scholars in Madina, the Kharijites in Iraq and Umayyads in Syria. In Sahih Al Bukhari the people still referred to the Kharijites by their old name Qurra and most Muslims resented these civil wars and felt that the Arabs had left the teachings of Muhammad and gone back to their old ways of fighting over wealth. Sahih Al Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 228:[121] Narrated by Abu Al-Minhal When Ibn Ziyad and Marwan were in Sham and Ibn Az-zubair took over the authority in Mecca and Qurra (the Kharijites) revolted in Basra, I went out with my father to Abu Barza Al-Aslami till we entered upon him in his house while he was sitting in the shade of a room built of cane. So we sat with him and my father started talking to him saying, O Abu Barza! Dont you see in what dilemma the people has fallen? The first thing heard him saying I seek reward from Allah for myself because of being angry and scornful at the Quraish tribe. O you Arabs! You know very well that you were in misery and were few in number and misguided, and that Allah has brought you out of all that with Islam and with Muhammad till He brought you to this state (of prosperity and happiness) which you see now; and it is this worldly wealth and pleasures which has caused mischief to appear among you. The one who is in Sham (i.e., Marwan), by Allah, is not fighting except for the sake of worldly gain: and those who are among you, by Allah, are not fighting except for the sake of worldly gain; and that one who is in Mecca (i.e., Ibn Az-zubair) by Allah, is not fighting except for the sake of worldly gain.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 05:53:21 +0000
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