The Moslem annalist may well sigh as he bids farewell to the strong and single-minded Caliph; and enters on the troubled sea of self-seeking faction, strife, and schism, which opens with the Caliphate of his successor.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ELECTION OF OTHMAN.
DZUL HIJJ, A.H. XXIII.—MOHARRAM, A.H. XXIX.
NOVEMBER, A.D. 644.
The Electors.
What arrangement Omar might have made for a successor, had his end come less suddenly upon him, it is perhaps unnecessary to inquire. But some more definite choice he would, in all probability, have signified. We know that the perils of disunion hung heavily on his mind. The unbridled arrogance of the numerous powerful tribes settled in Kûfa and Bussorah, flushed with the glory and the spoils of war, was already felt a danger; while family rivalries amongst the Coreish themselves were beginning to weaken their hold over the people which had hitherto been absolute. So much is plain, that (Abd al Rahmân perhaps excepted) Omar saw none amongst them endowed with sufficient power and influence, after his death, to hold the reins of government. There was none, at least, so prominent as to take the acknowledged lead. Again, the mode of nomination or election proper to Islam, was as yet all uncertain. Abu Bekr had on his death-bed named Omar his successor; but the higher precedent of Mahomet, who appointed no one to take his place, but simply named Abu Bekr, when he fell sick, to lead the prayers, was doubtful. Had Abu Obeida been yet alive, Omar declared that he would have chosen him; and the succession now offered to Abd al Rahmân was (as we have seen) declined. Weak and faint from the assassin’s dagger, the emergency came upon the dying Caliph altogether unprepared to meet it. So, relieving himself of the responsibility, he fell upon the expedient of nominating the six chiefest Companions, on one or other of whom he knew that the choice must needs fall, to be the Electors of a successor from amongst themselves. These were Abd al Rahmân, Othmân, Aly, Sád, Zobeir, and Talha. A seventh was added in the person of his son Abdallah, who, himself excluded from election,[432] was (in case the conclave were divided) to have the casting vote; and this his father desired him to give on whichever side Abd al Rahmân might be. Talha was absent, and did not return until the election had been made.
Character of the Electors.
Omar hoped, no doubt, that the Successor thus chosen would be strong in the support of his Electors. But he had not calculated on the frailty of human nature; and selfish ends proved more powerful than loyalty to Islam. Abd al Rahmân was the only real patriot amongst them. Talha, Zobeir, and Sád, not yet beyond the age of fifty, had none of them any special reason to aspire to the Caliphate. They were all warriors of renown. Zobeir was closely related to the Prophet. Sád was the nephew of Mahomet’s mother; but his recall from Kûfa (although Omar had declared it to involve no discredit) could not but in some measure tarnish the fame of the conqueror of Medâin. Aly, a few years younger, had by far the strongest claims of kinship (whatever these might be); for he was at once the son of Mahomet’s uncle, the widowed husband of Fâtima, and the father of the Prophet’s only surviving grandsons. He had hitherto, from his inactive temperament, remained passive at the Caliph’s court; but, possessed of a quick and high intelligence, he had ever held a distinguished place in the counsels of Omar. The time was now come, when, in the absence of any leading competitor, his claims could no longer fail to be recognised by those around him; or, without want of spirit, to be asserted by himself. Othmân was the only real rival. His years carried weight, for he was now close on seventy. Handsome and attractive in person and carriage, he gained the hand of Rockeya, the Prophet’s daughter. She died while the battle of Bedr was being fought. Shortly after, he married her sister Omm Kolthûm; and when she, too, died, Mahomet used to say he loved Othmân so dearly that, if another daughter had remained, he would have given her also to him. But with all this, his character had vital defects. Of a close and selfish disposition, his will was soft and yielding. And of all the competitors, Othmân probably had the least capacity for dominating the unruly elements of the Moslem empire.
Electors’ conclave. Three days’ fruitless discussion.
The Electors, when appointed by Omar, retired at once to an adjoining chamber, and forthwith fell into such loud and hot discussion, that Abdallah exclaimed, ‘Good heavens! all this tumult, and my father still alive!’ Omar, overhearing it, desired that they should wait till his decease, and then again assemble. So after his death and burial, Micdâd, a veteran citizen appointed by the deceased Caliph to the duty, gathered the Electors in the treasury chamber attached to Ayesha’s house, Abu Talha keeping watch at the door with a guard of fifty men.[433] Omar’s order was that the choice should not be delayed beyond the third day, so that his successor might be declared by the fourth at latest; and he signified the urgency of the business in the empire’s interest, by saying that if the minority then resisted, they should be beheaded on the spot. When the Electors came together, each pressed hotly the claim of his own party, and two days were wasted in unprofitable wrangling. Abd al Rahmân spent his nights in visiting the leading citizens, and the governors and chief men from the provinces (who, having come for the yearly pilgrimage, had not yet departed to their several posts) and in sounding their views. On the third day, Abu Talha warned the Electors that he would allow no further delay, and that the decision must be come to by the following morning. To bring the matter, therefore, to an issue, Abd al Rahmân offered to forego his own claim to the Caliphate, if only the rest would abide by his decision. They all agreed but Aly, who at first was silent. At last Aly said: ‘First give me thy word that thou wilt not regard kith nor kin, but the right alone and the people’s weal.’ ‘And I,’ rejoined Abd al Rahmân, ‘ask thee first to give me thy troth that thou wilt abide by my choice, and against all dissentients wilt support the same.’ Aly assented, and thus the matter rested in the hands of Abd al Rahmân.
Abd al Rahmân acts as Umpire.
That night Abd al Rahmân did not close his eyes. The contest was narrowed between the houses of Hâshim and Omeyya, in the persons of Aly and Othmân, and their influence with the electoral body was fairly equal.[434] Abd al Rahmân was closeted with each of the Electors alone in turn. Zobeir was in favour of Aly; how Sád voted is not certain. With Aly and Othmân, separately, Abd al Rahmân was long in secret conference. Each pressed his own claim; but each also admitted the claim of the other to be the next in weight to his own. The morning broke upon them thus engaged; and now the nomination must be made.