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]
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]
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]
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. 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]
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]