The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.D. 644] 'OTHMAN CHOSEN 197
voice,— "take heed that, speaking thus, thou makest not a A.H. 24.
way against thyself, whereof thou shalt repent hereafter."
And so 'All passed out with the words of Jacob on his lips
;
" Surely patience bccometh me. The Lord is my helper
against that which ye devise." ^ Shortly after, Talha
returned to Medina. 'Othman acquainted him with what
had happened, and as his vote would have ruled the majority,
declared that if he dissented, he was prepared even then to
resign the Caliphate. But on learning that all the people
had agreed, 'fallia also swore allegiance.
The choice thus made by 'Abd ar-Rahman sowed the seeds
The choice
of sad disaster. It led to dissensions which for years bathed J^'^strous
-'
lor Islam.
the Muslim world in blood, threatened the existence of the
Faith, and to this day divide believers in hopeless and
embittered schism. But 'Abd ar-Rahman could hardly
have anticipated the wanton, weak, and wavering policy of
'Othman, which slowly but surely brought about these results.
There is no reason to think that, in discharging his functions
as Umpire, he acted otherwise than loyally and, as he
thought, for the best.-
An embarrassing incident followed the accession of Murder of
'Othman. Some one told 'Obeidallah, son of the deceased Hormuzan
'
and aiiair
_
of
Caliph, that Abu Lu'lu'a had been seen shortly before in 'Omar's son.
private converse with Al-Hormuzan, the Persian prince, and
with a Christian slave belonging to Sa'd ; and that, when
surprised, the three separated, dropping a poniard such as
that with which the assassin had wounded 'Omar. Rashly
assuming a conspiracy, the infuriated 'Obeidallah rushed with
drawn sword to avenge his father's death, and slew both the
'
Sura xii. 18.
'^
He discharged the invidious task as a loyal and unselfisli patriot.
Night and day engaged in canvassing the sentiments of the leading
chiefs, he did his best to compose the antagonistic claims of the Electors.
The immediate cause of his nominating 'Othman is not easy to find.
'Abljfisid traditions assume it to have I^een the conscientious scruples of
'Ah in hesitating to swear that he would follow strictly the precedents of
Abu Bekr and of 'Omar. The KorTm and the precedent of Mohammad
he would implicitly obey, but the precedent of the first Caliphs only so
far as he agreed with them. In the tenor of the traditions relating
how 'Abd ar-Rahman first questioned 'Ah and then 'Othman, and in
their replies, I hardly find sufficient ground for this assumption; and it
looks very much of a piece with the 'Abbasid fabrications of later days.