DOMESTIC EVENTS DURING THE CALIPHATE OF OTHMAN.
HIS GROWING UNPOPULARITY.
[Sidenote: Discontent at Kûfa and Bussorah.]
Kûfa and Bussorah at this period exercised an influence on the
destinies of Islam hardly less potent than that of the Court of Medîna
itself. The turbulent and factious atmosphere of these cities became
rapidly and dangerously charged with sentiments of disloyalty and
rebellion, and an unwise change of governors aggravated the evil.
[Sidenote: Sád reinstated in the government of Kûfa; A.H. XXXIV. A.D.
645,]
Moghîra did not long enjoy the power to which the weakness of Omar
had raised him. He was removed by Othmân shortly after his accession;
and, to fill the vacancy, in obedience (as some say) to the dying wish
of Omar, Sád, the conqueror of Medâin, was reinstated in his former
office. The issue was again unfortunate. To provide for his luxurious
living, Sád, shortly after his appointment, took an advance of money
from the chancellor of his treasury, Ibn Masûd; who, by and by, became
importunate for its repayment. A heated altercation ensued, and Sád
swore angrily at Ibn Masûd. The factious city ranged itself, part with
the great warrior, and part with the quondam slave. The quarrel reached
the ears of Othmân, who was much displeased, and recalled Sád before
he had been a year at Kûfa. [Sidenote: but shortly superseded by Welîd
ibn Ocba,]As successor, the Caliph appointed Welîd ibn Ocba, a brave
warrior, but suspected of intemperance, and withal a uterine brother of
his own. To make the choice the more unfortunate, Welîd was son of that
Ocba who, when taken prisoner in the battle of Bedr and about to be put
to death, exclaimed in the bitterness of his soul, ‘Who will care for
my little children?’ and was answered by the Prophet, ‘Hell-fire!’ The
words were not forgotten, and faction was careful now to turn them to
the worst account. Nevertheless, Welîd was popular; and as, for several
years, he directed successive campaigns in the east with gallantry and
vigour, he managed thus to divert the restless spirits of his people
from discontent at home. But in the end, the unruly populace was too
strong for him. A murder took place, and sentence of death was executed
at the city gate against three of the culprits.[450] [Sidenote: who was
deposed for inebriety. A.H. XXX. A.D. 651.] Their relatives resented
the act of justice, and lay in wait to find ground of accusation
against the governor, whose habits gave them ready opportunity to
attain their object. Charges of intemperance were repeatedly laid
against him, and as often dismissed by Othmân, because wanting in legal
proof. At last his enemies succeeded in detaching from his hand the
signet-ring of office while he slept (as they said) from the effects
of a debauch, and carried it off in triumph to Medîna. But still
worse, it was established that Welîd had on one occasion conducted
the morning prayers in such a state of inebriation that, having come
to the end of the proper service, he went on, without stopping, to
commence another. The scandal was great; and the majesty of Islam must
be vindicated. Welîd was recalled to Medîna, scourged according to law,
and deposed.[451]
[Sidenote: Abu Mûsa deposed at Bussorah. A.H. XXIX. A.D. 650.]
At Bussorah, too, things were going from bad to worse. Abu Mûsa had now
been many years governor, when the restless citizens became impatient
of his rule. He had been preaching to the pampered soldiery the virtue
of enduring hardness as good soldiers of the faith, and therefore of
going forth on foot to war. When the next expedition was ready to
start, they watched to see whether he would himself set the example.
And as his ample baggage issued forth, winding in a long string of
mules from the approaches to the castle, they set upon him, crying out,
‘Give us of these beasts to ride upon, and walk thou on foot, a pattern
of the hardness thou preachest unto us.’ Then they repaired to Medîna,
and complained that their governor had drained the land of its wealth,
pampered the Coreish, and tyrannised over the Arab tribes. Instead of
checking with promptitude their petulance and insubordination, Othmân
gave it new life by deposing Abu Mûsa on these vague complaints, and
appointing an obscure citizen whom they desired, to be their governor.
Found unequal to the post, this man was deposed, and a youthful cousin
of the Caliph, Ibn Aámir,[452] promoted in his room. [Sidenote: Ibn
Aámir appointed governor.]When tidings of his nomination reached
Bussorah, Abu Mûsa told the people: ‘Now ye shall have a taxgatherer to
your hearts’ content, rich in cousins, aunts, and uncles; he will flood
you with his harpies!’ And so, in truth, it turned out; for he soon
filled all the local offices and the commands in Persia with creatures
of his own. But in other respects he proved an able ruler, and took a
leading part in the struggle now close at hand.
[Sidenote: Saîd governor of Kûfa. A.H. XXX. A.D. 651.]
The government of Kûfa, vacated by the deposition of Welîd, together
with the whole province of Mesopotamia, was conferred by Othmân upon
another young and untried kinsman, Saîd ibn al Aás. His father was
killed fighting against the Prophet at Bedr; and the boy, thus left an
orphan, had been brought up by Omar, and was eventually sent by him
to the wars in Syria. Receiving a good account of his breeding and
prowess, Omar summoned him to his court, and gave him two Arab maidens
to wife.[453] This youth, now promoted to the most critical post in the
empire, was not only without experience in the art of governing, but
was vainly inflated with the pretensions of the Coreish. Accustomed
in Syria to the discipline of Muâvia’s rule, he wrote to Othmân, on
reaching Kûfa, that license reigned there; that noble birth passed for
nothing; and that the Bedouins were away, beyond control, with the bit
between their teeth. His final address as governor was a blustering
harangue, in which he glibly talked of crushing the sedition and
arrogance of the men of Kûfa with a rod of iron. [Sidenote: Discontent
gains ground at Kûfa.]Countenanced by the Caliph in his vain career,
he fomented discontent by advancing to invidious distinction the
Coreishite nobility, and treating with contumely the great body of
the citizens. ‘One Coreishite succeedeth another in this government,’
they said;--‘the last no better than the first. It is but “out of the
frying-pan into the fire.”’ The under-current of faction gained daily
in strength and volume. But the vigorous campaigns of Saîd in northern
Persia, for he was an active soldier, served for a time to occupy men’s
minds, and to stay the open exhibition of the rebellious spirit.
[Sidenote: Other causes of disaffection.]
Meanwhile other causes were at work throughout the empire calculated to
increase the disaffection; or which, if unimportant in themselves, were
adroitly seized by the Caliph’s enemies and turned to that purpose.
[Sidenote: Othmân’s recension of the Corân. A.H. XXX. A.D. 651.]
First may be mentioned the recension of the Corân. The Moslem warriors
had spread themselves over such vast areas, and the various columns,
as well as converted peoples, were so widely separated one from the
other, that differences arose in the recitation of the sacred text,
as it had been settled in the previous reign. Bussorah followed the
reading of Abu Mûsa; Kûfa was guided by the authority of Ibn Masûd,
their chancellor; and the text of Hims differed from that in use even
at Damascus. Hodzeifa, during his campaign in Persia, having witnessed
the variations in the different provinces, returned to Kûfa strongly
impressed with the gravity of the evil and the need of a revision. Ibn
Masûd was highly incensed with the slight thus put upon the authority
of his text. But Hodzeifa persisted in his views, and, supported by
Saîd, the governor, urged Othmân to restore the unity of the divine
word, ‘before that believers began to differ in their scripture, even
as do the Jews and Christians.’ The Caliph took the advice of the
leading Companions at Medîna, and, in accordance therewith, called
for samples of the manuscripts in use throughout the empire. He then
appointed a syndicate, from amongst the Coreish, of men whose authority
could be relied upon, to collate these copies with the sacred originals
still in the keeping of Haphsa, the widow of Mahomet. Under their
supervision the variations were reconciled, and an authoritative
exemplar written out, of which duplicates were deposited at Mecca and
Medîna, Kûfa and Damascus. From these exemplars, copies were multiplied
over the empire; all former manuscripts were called in and committed
to the flames; and the standard text was brought into exclusive use.
The uniformity thus secured by the secular arm, and maintained by the
same in every land and every age, is taken by the simple believer as a
proof of divine custodianship. The action of Othmân was received at the
moment, as it deserved, with a very general consent, excepting at Kûfa.
There Ibn Masûd, who prided himself on his faultless recitation of the
oracle, pure as it fell from the Prophet’s lips, was much displeased;
and the charge of sacrilege in having burned the former copies of the
sacred text, was readily circulated amongst the factious citizens. By
and by the charge was spread abroad, and was taken up with avidity by
the enemies of Othmân; and, ages afterwards, we find it still eagerly
urged by the partisans of the Abbasside dynasty as an unpardonable
offence on the part of the ungodly Caliph. The accusation, thus trumped
up for party purposes, was really without foundation. Indeed, it was
scouted by Aly himself. When, several years after, he proceeded as
Caliph to Kûfa, he found the citizens still blaming his ill-starred
predecessor for the act. ‘Silence!’ he said; ‘Othmân acted as he did
with the advice of the leading men amongst us; and if I had been ruler
at the time, instead of him, I should myself have exactly done the
same.’[454]
[Sidenote: Many of the Coreish migrate to Irâc.]
A great body of the nobility from Mecca and Medîna about this time
transferred their residence to Irâc. These had no right to share in the
endowments of that province, the special privileges of which, in virtue
of their conquest, were reserved for the present citizens of Kûfa and
Bussorah. They were allowed, however, to do so on selling to Othmân, on
behalf of the State, the properties which they owned in the Hejâz; and
the concession appears to have added a fresh grievance to foment the
rising discontent at the extravagant pretensions of the Coreish.[455]
[Sidenote: Story of Abu Dzarr Ghifâry,]
The story of Abu Dzarr Ghifâry is singularly illustrative of the times,
and his harsh treatment is ordinarily mentioned as a serious ground
of complaint against the Caliph. He was one of the earliest converts
to the faith; and tradition asserts that he even anticipated Mahomet
himself in some of the observances of Islam. An ascetic in his habits,
he inveighed against the riches and extravagance of the day--evils
which were altogether alien from the simplicity of Mahomet, and which,
rushing in like a flood, were now demoralising the people. Gorgeous
palaces, crowds of slaves, multitudes of horses, camels, flocks and
herds, profusion of costly garments, sumptuous fare, and splendid
equipage, were the fashion, not only in Syria and Irâc, but had begun
to find their way even into the Hejâz.[456] The protest of Abu Dzarr
points to the recoil of the stricter class of believers against all
this luxury and indulgence; and the manner in which the discontented
classes, and the advocates of communism, were beginning to turn that
recoil to their own account, and to the discredit of the government.
Visiting Syria, the spirit of the ascetic was stirred at the pomps
and vanities so rife around him, and he preached repentance to the
inhabitants of Damascus. ‘This gold and silver of yours,’ he cried,
‘shall one day be heated red-hot in the fire of hell; and therewith
shall ye be seared in your foreheads, sides, and backs, ye ungodly
spendthrifts![457] Wherefore, spend now the same in alms, leaving
yourselves enough but for your daily bread; or else woe be to you in
that day!’ Crowds flocked to hear him, some trembling under the rebuke;
the envious rejoicing at the contempt poured on the rich and noble;
and the people dazzled by the vision of themselves sharing in the
treasures thus denounced. Uneasy at the disturbance caused by these
diatribes in the public mind, Muâvia resolved to test the spirit of the
preacher. He sent him a purse of a thousand pieces; in the morning,
affecting to have made a mistake, he demanded the return of the gift;
but during the night Abu Dzarr had distributed the whole in charity.
Upon this, Muâvia, apprehensive of the spread of communistic doctrines,
despatched the preacher to Medîna, telling Othmân that he was a sincere
but misguided enthusiast. Before the Caliph, Abu Dzarr persisted in
fearlessly denouncing the great and wealthy, and urged that they should
be forced to disgorge their riches. Othmân condescended to reason with
him. ‘After men have completely fulfilled their legal obligations,’
he asked, ‘what power remaineth with me to compel them to any further
sacrifice?’ and he turned to Káb, the learned Jewish convert, in
corroboration of what he had said. [Sidenote: banished by Othman to
Rabadza. A.H. XXX. A.D. 651.] ‘Out upon thee, thou son of a Jew! What
have I to do with thee?’ cried Abu Dzarr, and with these words smote
Káb violently upon the stomach. Argument being thus of no further
use, Othmân banished the preacher to Rabadza in the desert of Nejd,
where two years after he died in penury. As he felt his end approach,
the hermit desired his daughter to slay a kid, and have it ready for
a party of travellers who, he said, would shortly pass that way to
Mecca, and bury him; then, making her turn his face toward the Kâaba,
he quietly breathed his last. Soon after, the expected party came up,
and amongst them Ibn Masûd from Kûfa, who, weeping over him, bewailed
his fate, and buried him on the spot on which he died. The death of Ibn
Masûd himself, a few days after, added to the pathos of the incident.
The plaintive tale was soon in everyone’s mouth; and the banishment of
the pious ascetic and preacher of righteousness was made much of by
the enemies of the Caliph. The necessity was forgotten; the obloquy
remained.[458]
[Sidenote: Othmân incurs odium by putting down unlawful amusements, and
by extending the square of the Kâaba. A.H. XXVI. A.D. 647.]
When he was himself minded to assume the office of censor and rebuke
the ungodliness of the day, the unfortunate Caliph fared no better. The
laxity of Syria had reached even to the sacred precincts of the Hejâz;
and Othmân, on attempting to check the games and other practices held
to be inconsistent with the profession of Islam, incurred resentment,
especially from the gay youth whose amusements he had thwarted.
Gambling and wagering, indeed, were put down with the approval of all
the stricter classes of society; but there were not wanting many who,
displeased with the Caliph’s interference, joined in the cry of his
detractors.[459]
[Sidenote: The Mosque at Medîna enlarged and beautified. A.H. XXXII.
A.D. 653.]
The enlargement of the grand square of the Kâaba, commenced by Omar,
was carried on by Othmân during his visits to Mecca at the time of
pilgrimage. And here, too, the ill-fated Caliph met with opposition.
The owners of the houses demolished in the course of the work refused
to accept the compensation offered, and raised a great outcry against
it. The Caliph put them into prison, for, said he, ‘My predecessor did
the same, and ye made no outcry against him.’ But what the firm arm of
Omar could do, and none stir hand or foot against him, it was a very
different thing for the weak and unpopular Othmân to attempt. He was
more successful with the Great Mosque at Medîna, originally built by
Mahomet, and hallowed by the mortal remains of the Prophet himself and
his two Successors. This was now greatly enlarged and beautified. The
supports, made at the first of the trunks of date-trees, were removed,
and the roof made to rest on pillars of hewn stone. The walls, too,
were built up with masonry, richly carved and inlaid with rare and
precious stones. It was a pious work, and none objected.[460]
Yet another, and a very gratuitous, cause of murmuring arose from
certain changes made by Othmân in the ceremonial of the annual
pilgrimage, which, though in themselves trivial and unmeaning, excited
strong disapprobation at the Caliph’s court. [Sidenote: Unwise changes
in the pilgrim ceremonial. A.H. XXXII. A.D. 653.] He pitched tents for
shelter during the few days spent for sacrifice at Minâ, a thing which
had never been done before; and, to the prayers heretofore recited
there and on Mount Arafat, he added new ones with two more series of
prostrations. The ritual, as established by the Prophet himself, had
been scrupulously followed by his two successors, and a superstitious
reverence attached thereto even in the minutest detail. When
expostulated with on the rash and unhallowed innovation, Othmân gave
no reasonable answer, but simply said it was his will that it should
be so.[461] Aly, Abd al Rahmân, and others were much offended at these
alterations; and the disregard of the sacred example of the Founder of
the faith raised a scandal among the Companions unfavourable to Othmân.
[Sidenote: Othmân makes many enemies.]
On the other hand, beyond the immediate circle of his kinsfolk,
Othmân made no personal friends. Narrow, selfish, indiscreet, and
obstinate--more and more so, indeed, with advancing years--he alienated
those who would otherwise have stood loyally by him; and he made many
enemies, who pursued him with relentless hatred. We have already seen
how Mohammed son of Abu Bekr, and Mohammed son of Abu Hodzeifa, were
embittered against him at the naval victory of Alexandria. And yet
no very special cause can be assigned for their enmity. The first is
said to have been actuated by ‘passion and ambition.’ The other was
nearly related to Othmân, and as an orphan had been kindly brought up
by him; he was now offended at having been passed over for office and
command. Both joined the rebellion which shortly broke out in Egypt,
and were amongst the most dangerous of the Caliph’s enemies. Nor was it
otherwise with the people at large. A factious spirit set in against
the unfortunate prince. The leaven fermented all around; and every man
who had a grievance, real or supposed, hastened to swell the hostile
cry.[462]
[Sidenote: He loses the Prophet’s ring. A.H. XXIX. A.D. 650.]
To crown the Caliph’s ill-fortune, in the seventh year of his reign,
he lost the signet-ring of silver which had been engraven for the
Prophet, and which had been worn and used officially both by him and
his successors. It was a favourite and meritorious occupation of Othmân
to deepen the old wells, and to sink new ones, in the neighbourhood
of Medîna. He was thus engaged when, sitting by the well Arîs,[463]
and pointing with his finger in direction to the labourers, the ring
dropped and disappeared. Every effort was made, but in vain, to recover
the priceless relic. The well was emptied of the water and the mud
cleared out, and a great sum was offered; but no trace of the ring ever
appeared. Othmân grieved over the loss. The omen weighed heavily on his
mind; and it was some time before he was prevailed upon to supply the
place of the lost signet by another of like fashion.[464]
[Sidenote: Othmân marries Nâila. A.H. XXVIII.]
Othmân had married successively two of the Prophet’s daughters, both
of whom died before their father. Three of his wives still survived
when, in the fifth year of his Caliphate, being then between seventy
and eighty years of age, he took Nâila to wife. Of her previous history
we know little more than that she had once been a Christian, but,
before her marriage with the Caliph, had embraced Islam. She bore him a
daughter; and through all his trials clung faithfully by her aged lord,
to the bitter end. The days were coming when he needed such a helper by
his side.[465]