THE PLOT RIPENS. CONSPIRATORS ATTACK MEDINA.
DEATH OF OTHMAN.
A.H. XXXV. A.D. 656.
[Sidenote: Plot to surprise Medîna. End of A.H. XXXIV. Summer of A.D.
655.]
The plot was now rapidly coming to a head, and a plan of action had
been already fixed. While the lieutenants of the Caliph were absent
from their posts on the occasion just described, the conspirators
were to issue from Kûfa, Bussorah, and Fostât, so as to converge upon
Medîna in combined and menacing force. There, in answer to the Caliph’s
challenge, they would present an endless roll of complaints, and cry
loudly for redress, reform, and the removal of their governors. If the
request were denied, they would demand the abdication of Othmân, and,
in the last resort, enforce their demand at the point of the sword. But
as to a successor they were not agreed. Kûfa was for Zobeir; Bussorah
was for Talha; Egypt’s favourite was Aly.
[Sidenote: The conspirators set out for Medîna. Shawwâl, XXXV. April,
A.D. 656.]
The scheme, being immature, at first miscarried. But months later, in
the middle of the following year, it was revived and preparations made
in secret for giving it effect. Under the pretext of visiting Mecca,
and there performing the Lesser Pilgrimage, the concerted movement at
last took place, two or three months before the annual pilgrimage.[476]
Abu Sarh, the Governor of Egypt, on learning of the treasonable
design, at once despatched a messenger to apprise Othmân. In reply
he was ordered to pursue the rebels; he did so, but it was too late;
they had marched beyond his reach. On turning back, he found Egypt in
the hands of the traitor, son of Abu Hodzeifa,[477] and fleeing for
his life, took refuge across the border, in Palestine. Amongst the
insurgent leaders of Egypt was Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr.
[Sidenote: The insurgents encamp near Medîna; but retire.]
On receiving the intelligence that the insurgents were marching on
Medîna, Othmân ascended the pulpit of the Great Mosque and made known
to the citizens the real object of attack. ‘It is against myself,’
he said; ‘soon they will look back with a longing eye to this my
Caliphate, and wish that each day of the same had been a year in
length, because of the tumult and bloodshed, anarchy and ungodliness,
that will flood the land.’ The rebels were not long in making their
appearance, and they pitched three camps, the men of Kûfa, Bussorah,
and Egypt, each encamping separately, in the neighbourhood of
Medîna.[478] The citizens put on their armour, a thing unheard of
since the days of the Apostasy in the reign of Abu Bekr, and prepared
for resistance. The insurgents, foiled thus far, sent deputies to the
widows of Mahomet, and the chief men of the city. ‘We come,’ they said,
‘to visit the Prophet’s home and resting-place, and to ask that certain
of the governors be deposed. Give us leave to enter.’ But leave was
not granted. Then the insurgent bands despatched each a deputation
to its respective candidate. Aly stormed at the messengers sent to
him as soon as they appeared, and called them rebels accursed of the
Prophet; and the others met with no better reception at the hands of
Talha and Zobeir. Unable to gain over the citizens, without whose
consent their object was out of reach, the rebel leaders declared
themselves satisfied with a promise from the Caliph of reform, and,
breaking up their camp, retired in the order in which they came. They
made as if each company was taking its way home again, but really
with the concerted plan of returning shortly, when they expected to
find the city less prepared to resist.[479] The citizens cast aside
their armour, rejoicing in the apparent deliverance from a pressing
danger; and for some days things went on as before, Othmân leading
the prayers. Suddenly, the three bands reappeared at the city gates.
A party headed by Aly went forth to ask the reason. [Sidenote: They
return with document bearing the Caliph’s seal.]The strangers pointed
to a document attested by the Caliph’s seal; this, they said, had been
taken from a servant of Othmân’s whom they caught hastening on the road
to Egypt; and it contained orders that the insurgents were to be seized
and imprisoned, some tortured, and some put to death. Aly, suspecting
collusion, asked how the discovery made by the Egyptian company on the
road to Fostât had become so promptly known to the others marching in
quite a different direction, to Kûfa and Bussorah, as to bring them
all back together? ‘Speak of it as ye will,’ they said, ‘here is the
writing, and here the Caliph’s seal.’ Aly repaired to Othmân, who
denied all knowledge of the document; but, with the view of clearing
up the matter, consented to receive a deputation of the rebel leaders.
Introduced by Aly, they made no obeisance to the Caliph, but with
defiant attitude approached and recounted their grievances. [Sidenote:
Angry altercation with the Caliph.]They had retired with the promise
of redress; but, instead of redress, here was the Caliph’s own servant
whom they had caught posting onward to Egypt with the treacherous
document now produced. Othmân swore solemnly that he knew nothing
of it. ‘Then say who it was that wrote this order.’ ‘I know not,’
said the aged Caliph. ‘But it was passed off as thine; thy servant
carried it; see, here is thy seal, and yet thou wast not privy to it!’
Again Othmân affirmed that it was even so.[480] ‘Either thou speakest
truth,’ they cried in accents loud and rude, ‘or thou art a liar.
Either way, thou art unworthy of the Caliphate. We dare not leave the
sceptre in the hands of one who is either a knave or a fool too weak
to govern others. Resign, for the Lord hath deposed thee!’ Othmân made
answer:--‘The garment wherewith the Lord hath girded me I will in no
wise put off; but any evil ye complain of, that I am ready to put away
from me.’ It was all too late, they cried; he had often made, and as
often broken, the promise to amend; they could no longer put any trust
in him; now they would fight until he abdicated, or else was slain.
‘Death,’ said Othmân, gathering himself up, with the firmness and
dignity which marked his last days--‘Death I prefer; as for fighting,
I have said it already, my people shall not fight; had that been my
desire, I had summoned legions to my side.’ The altercation becoming
loud and violent, Aly arose and departed to his home. The conspirators
also retired to their fellows; but they had now secured what they
wanted, a footing in the city. They joined in the ranks of worshippers
at the daily prayers in the Great Mosque, cast dust in the face of
Othmân as he officiated, and threatened the citizens to make them keep
away. The fatal crisis was hurrying on.
[Sidenote: Tumult in the Mosque; Othmân struck down.]
On the Friday following this scene, when the prayers were done, Othmân
ascended the pulpit. He first appealed to the better sense of the
citizens, who (he knew), however cowed by the threats of the rebels,
condemned their lawless attitude. Then turning to the conspirators
themselves, who had been taking part in the service, he continued,
‘Ye are aware that the men of Medîna hold you to be accursed at the
mouth of the Prophet, for that ye have risen up against his Caliph
and Vicegerent. Wherefore wipe out now your evil deeds by repentance,
and by good deeds atone for the same.’ One and another of the loyal
citizens arose earnestly to confirm the Caliph’s words and plead his
cause; but they were silenced and violently set down.[481] A tumult
arose. The men of Medîna were driven from the Mosque and its court,
by showers of stones. One of these struck Othmân, who fell from the
pulpit to the ground, and was carried to his house adjoining in a
swoon. He soon recovered, and for some days was still able to preside
at the daily prayers. But at last the insolence and violence of the
insurgents, rising beyond bounds, forced him to keep to his house,
and a virtual blockade ensued. But a body-guard of armed retainers,
supported by certain of the citizens, succeeded for the present in
keeping the entrance safe.
[Sidenote: Attitude of Aly, Zobeir, and Talha.]
From the day of the first tumult, Aly, Zobeir, and Talha (the three
named by the rebels as candidates for the Caliphate) each sent a son to
join the loyal and gallant band planted at the palace door. But they
did little more; and, in fact, throughout the painful episode, they
kept themselves altogether in the background. After the uproar and
Othmân’s swoon, they came along with others to inquire how he fared.
But no sooner did they enter, than Merwân and other kinsmen tending
the Caliph, cried out against Aly as the prime author of the disaster,
which would recoil, they said (and said truly) upon his own head.
Thereupon Aly arose in wrath, and, with the rest, retired home. It was,
in truth, a cruel and dastardly desertion, and in the end bore bitter
fruit for one and all. It was not only a crime, but a fatal mistake.
Alarm at the defiant rising against constituted authority, and loyalty
to the throne, equally demanded bold and uncompromising measures. The
truth was outspoken by one of the Companions at the time. ‘Ye Coreish,’
he said, ‘there hath been till now a strong and fenced door betwixt you
and the Arabs; wherefore do ye now break down the same?’[482]
[Sidenote: Othmân closely besieged, holds parley with Aly, Zobeir, and
Talha.]
So soon as the conspirators had shown their true colours, Othmân
despatched an urgent summons to Syria and Bussorah for help. Muâvia,
who had long foreseen the dire necessity, was ready with a strong force
which, as well as a similar column sent by Ibn Aámir from Bussorah,
hurried to their master’s rescue. But the march was long, and the
difficulty was for Othmân to hold out until these columns reached. The
insurgents had entire possession of the Mosque and of the approaches to
the palace; and, in the height of insolence, their leader now took the
Caliph’s place at public prayers.[483] There were no troops at Medîna,
and Othmân was dependent on the little force that barely sufficed to
guard the palace entrance. It was composed of train-band slaves, some
eighteen near kinsmen, and other citizens including (as we have said)
the sons of Aly, Zobeir, and Talha. Apprehending, from the ferocity
with which the attack began now to be pressed, that the end might not
be far, Othmân sent to tell Aly, Zobeir, and Talha that he wished to
see them once more. They came and waited without the palace, but within
reach of hearing. The Caliph, from the flat roof of his house, bade
them to sit down; and so for the moment they all sat down, both foes
and friends, together. ‘My fellow citizens!’ cried Othmân with a loud
voice, ‘I have prayed to the Lord for you, that when I am taken, he may
set the Caliphate aright.’ After this, he made mention of his previous
life, and how the Lord had made choice of him to be the Successor of
his Prophet, and Commander of the Faithful. ‘And now,’ said he, ‘ye
have risen up to slay the Lord’s elect. Have a care, ye men! (and here
he addressed the besiegers); the taking of life is lawful but for
three things, Apostasy, Murder, and Adultery. Taking my life without
such cause, ye but suspend the sword over your own necks. Sedition and
bloodshed shall not depart for ever from your midst.’ They gave him
audience thus far, and then cried out that there was yet a fourth just
cause of death, namely the quenching of truth by iniquity, and of right
by violence; and that for his ungodliness and tyranny he must abdicate
or be slain. For a moment Othmân was silent. Then calmly rising, he
bade the citizens go back to their homes; and himself, with but faint
hopes of relief, turned to re-enter his dreary abode.[484]
[Sidenote: The blockade pressed. Sufferings from thirst.]
The blockade had now lasted several weeks, when a mounted messenger
reached the city with tidings that succour was on its way.[485] But
this, coming to the knowledge of the Caliph’s enemies, only made them
redouble their efforts. They now closed every approach, allowing
neither outlet nor ingress to a single soul. Water could be introduced
by stealth only at night, and, there being no well within the palace,
the little garrison suffered the extremities of thirst. On the appeal
of Othmân, Aly interposed, and expostulated with the besiegers. ‘They
were treating their Caliph,’ he told them, ‘more cruelly than they
would treat Greek or Persian captives in the field. Even Infidels did
not deny water to a thirsty enemy.’ But they were deaf to his entreaty.
Omm Habîba, the Prophet’s widow, and sister of Muâvia, touched with
pity, sought herself, with Aly’s aid, to carry water upon her mule
through the rebel lines into the palace; but neither her sex nor rank,
nor her relation to the Prophet, was safeguard enough to prevent her
being roughly handled. They cut her bridle with their swords, so
that she nearly fell to the ground, and then drove her rudely back.
The better part of the inhabitants were shocked at the violence and
inhumanity of the rebels; but none had the courage to oppose them.
Sick at heart, most kept to their houses; while others, alarmed for
themselves, as well as to avoid the cruel spectacle, quitted Medîna.
It is hard to believe that, even in the defenceless state of the city,
Aly, Zobeir, and Talha, the great heroes of Islam, could not, had they
really wished it, have raised an effective opposition to the lawless
work of these heartless regicides. History cannot acquit them, if not
of actual collusion with the insurgents, at least of cold-blooded
indifference to their Caliph’s fate.[486]
[Sidenote: Annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Dzul Hijj, A.H. XXXV. June, A.D.
656.]
The solemnities of the Káaba worship were now at hand, and Othmân,
still mindful of his obligation as head of Islam to provide for their
due observance, once more ascended the palace roof. From thence he
called the son of Abbâs, one of the faithful party guarding the
entrance, to come near, and bade him assume the leadership of the band
of pilgrims proceeding from Medîna;--a duty which, much against his
will, as taking him away from the defence, he undertook at the Caliph’s
repeated command. Ayesha joined the party. She is accused of having
formerly stirred up the people against Othmân. Now, at any rate, this
impulsive lady not only shook herself free from the insurgents, but,
in order to detach her brother Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr, also from
their company, she besought him to accompany her to Mecca. But he
refused.[487]
[Sidenote: The palace stormed. 18 Dzul Hijj. June 17.]
The approach of relief at last goaded the rebels to extremities, and
they resolved on a final and murderous attack. A violent onset was
made from all quarters, and the forlorn band of defenders (including
still the sons of Aly, Zobeir, and Talha), unable longer to hold their
ground, retired at Othmân’s command, but not without difficulty,
within the palace gate, which they closed and barred. In doing this
they covered their retreat with a discharge of archery, and one of the
rebels was killed thereby. Infuriated at their comrade’s death, the
insurgents rushed at the gate, battered it with stones, and finding it
too strong, sat down to burn it. Meanwhile others, swarming in crowds
from the roof of an adjoining building, gained an easier access, and,
rushing along the corridor, attacked the guard still congregated within
the palace gate. One was slain, Merwân was left half dead, and the rest
were overpowered.[488] Othmân had retired by himself into an inner
chamber of the women’s apartments; and, seated there awaiting his fate,
read from the Corân, spread open on his knees. Three ruffians, sent
to fulfil the bloody work, rushed in one after another upon him thus
engaged. Awed by his calm demeanour, his pious words and mild appeal,
each one returned as he went. ‘It would be murder,’ they said, ‘to lay
hands upon him thus.’ Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr, in his hate and rage,
had no such scruples. He ran in, seized him by the beard, and cried,
‘The Lord abase thee, thou old dotard!’ ‘Let my beard go,’ said Othmân,
calmly; ‘I am no dotard, but the aged Caliph, whom they call Othmân.’
Then, in answer to a further torrent of abuse, the old man proceeded,
‘Son of my brother! Thy father would not have served me so. The Lord
help me! To Him I flee for refuge from thee.’ The appeal touched even
the unworthy son of Abu Bekr, and he too retired. [Sidenote: And Othmân
slain.]The insurgent leaders, on this, crowded in themselves, smote the
Caliph with their swords, and trampled on the Corân he had been reading
from. Severely wounded, he yet had strength enough to stretch forth his
aged arms, gather up the leaves, and press them to his bosom, while
the blood flowed forth upon the sacred text.[489] Thus attacked, the
faithful Nâila cast herself upon her wounded lord, and, endeavouring to
shield him, received a sword-cut which severed some of the fingers from
her hand, and they fell upon the ground. The band of slaves attempted
his defence. One of them slew Sudân, the leader, but was immediately
himself cut down and killed. Further effort was in vain. They plunged
their weapons into the Caliph’s body, and he fell lifeless to the
ground. The infuriated mob now had their way. A scene of riot followed.
They stabbed the corpse, and leaped savagely upon it; and they were
proceeding to cut off the head, when the women screamed, beating
their breasts and faces, and the savage crew desisted. The palace was
gutted; and even Nâila, all wounded and bloody, was stripped of her
veil. Just then the cry was raised, ‘To the Treasury!’ and suddenly all
departed.[490]
[Sidenote: Burial of Othmân.]
As soon as they had left, the palace gate was barred, and thus for
three days the dead bodies of Othmân, Moghîra, and the slave, lay in
silence within. Then Zobeir ibn Motím, and Hakîm ibn Hizâm (Khadîja’s
nephew), chief men of the Coreish, obtained leave of Aly to bury the
Caliph’s body.[491] In the dusk of evening, the funeral procession,
including Zobeir, Hasan son of Aly, and the kinsmen of Othmân, wended
their way to the burying-ground of Backî, outside the city. Death had
not softened the rebels’ hearts, and they pelted the bier with stones.
Not in the graveyard itself, but in a field adjoining, the body, with
a hurried service, was committed to the dust. In after years the field
was added by Merwân to the main burying-ground--a spot consecrated by
the remains of the heroes of Ohod, and many names famous in the early
days of Islam; and there the Beni Omeyya long buried their dead around
the grave of their murdered kinsman.[492]
[Sidenote: His character.]
Thus, at the age of eighty-two, died Othmân, after a reign of twelve
years. The misfortunes amongst which he sank bring out so sharply the
failings of his character that further delineation is hardly needed.
Narrow, weak, and vacillating, he had yet a kindly nature which might
have made him, in less troublous times, a favourite of the people.
Such, indeed, for a season he was at the beginning of his Caliphate.
But afterwards he fell on evil days. The struggle between the Coreish
and the rest of the Arabs was hurrying on the nation to an internecine
war. The only possible safety was for the class still dominant to
have opposed a strong and united front to their adversaries. By his
vacillation, selfishness, and nepotism, Othmân broke up into embittered
factions the aristocracy of Mecca, and threw this last chance away.