We have also traditions in which Othmân is represented as reproaching Talha for encouraging the insurgents to a more strict enforcement of the blockade; but, whatever his demerits in deserting the Caliph, this seems incredible. The ordinary account is that Talha as well as Zobeir, on hearing of the rebel excesses, kept to his house; others, again, say that they both quitted Medîna.
Omm Habîba, as daughter of Abu Sofiân, naturally sympathised with Othmân. Hantzala, one of the citizens of Kûfa who had accompanied the insurgents, was so indignant at their treatment of one of ‘the Mothers of the Faithful,’ that he went off to his home, and there gave vent to his feelings in verses expressive of his horror at the scenes his comrades were enacting at Medîna.
One day, we are told, Othmân, goaded by the thirst of himself and his household, ascended the roof, and cried aloud: ‘Ye men! know ye that I bought the well Rûma, and furnished it with gear that the Moslems might quench their thirst thereat? and now ye will not let me have one drop to quench my thirst. Moreover, I builded you such and such a mosque; and now ye hinder me from going forth to say my prayers in the Great Mosque.’ And so on, contrasting the various benefits he had conferred upon them, and the kind and loving words the Prophet used to address to him, with the cruel treatment he was now receiving; whereat the hearts of all were softened, and the word was passed round to hold back from pressing the attack. But Ashtar, the rebel, said, ‘He is but playing with you and practising deceit,’ and so he resumed the attack. There are many such traditions, but they seem to possess little authority.
[487] The pilgrims, in order to reach Mecca in time for the pilgrimage (beginning on the 8th of Dzul Hijj, June 7), must have left Medîna a week or ten days previously; that is, some three weeks before the final attack on the palace.
[488] The one killed was Moghîra, a Thackîfite from Tâyif. He was a confederate of the Beni Zohra, the same who had persuaded that clan to retire from the Coreishite army when it marched forth to attack Mahomet at Bedr (Life of Mahomet, p. 228).
Merwân received a sword-cut, which severed one of the tendons of the neck, and left him, when he recovered, with his neck stiff and shortened. The rebels were about to despatch him when his foster-mother cried out: ‘Do ye seek to kill him? he is dead already; if ye would sport with and mutilate his body, that were inhuman and unlawful.’ So they left him. In after days, when Merwân came to power, he showed his gratitude to this woman by giving her son a command.
[489] The blood, we are told, flowed down the leaves just touching these words: ‘If they rebel, surely they are schismatics; thy Lord will swiftly avenge you.’ (Sura ii. v. 138.) The appropriateness of the text, however, may of itself have suggested the story.
When the insurgents first rushed in, he was at the moment reading the appropriate passage in Sura iii. v. 174. Referring to the battle of Ohod, and the danger in which Medîna was then placed, the disaffected citizens are there represented as taunting Mahomet and his followers in these words: ‘Verily, the men (of Mecca) have gathered forces against you; wherefore, be afraid of the same. But (the taunt) only increased their faith, and they said: The Lord sufficeth for us; He is the best Protector.’ This was a favourite text of Othmân’s, and he may perhaps have turned to it for comfort now that vain was the help of man.
[490] The actual murderers were Al Ghâficky, the leader, and Sudân, who was himself killed. Kinâna ibn Bishr is also named. All these belonged to the Egyptian band, which seems to have contained the most rabid of the insurgents. Amr ibn al Hamac leapt upon the body, hardly yet breathless, and inflicted nine wounds—‘three for the Lord’s cause, and six to satisfy his own passion.’
[491] These two were among the chief men ‘whose hearts were gained over’ by largesses from the booty after the battle of Honein.—Life of Mahomet, p. 436. Hakîm is frequently mentioned in the Prophet’s biography. It was Hakîm who carried supplies to his aunt Khadîja when shut up with Mahomet in the Sheb.—Life, p. 100.