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.
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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
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]