The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

5o6 '0'rHI\l7\N [chap, xxvin.
A.H. 24-?5. took counsel on critical occasions with the leading men
around him, but, as a rule, held himself bound by the same,
and enjoined the like on his lieutenants. And so it was that
in the concessions which he made to the clamour of the
citizens of Al- Basra and Al-Kufa, 'Omar had already set
a baneful lesson to his successor, and given to those constituencies
a foretaste of power which they were not slow to
take advantage of Thus the turbulent spirit grew from day
to day—a spirit of opposition to authority, and impatience
of Koreishite rule.
2. Jealousy The second cause, less threatening to Islam at large, was
more insidious and fraught with greater danger to the
houses"of
Hashira and Caliphate, and to the person of 'Othman himself Had
i"e))M.
Koreish rallied loyally around the throne, they might have
nipped the Arab faction in the bud. But the weakness of
'Othman, and the partiality with which he favoured his own
relations, stirred the jealousy of the house of Hashim, which
began now to vaunt the claims of 'All and the Prophet's
family, and to depreciate the Umeiyad branch to which
the Caliph belonged. That branch, unfortunately for' the
Umeiyads, had been the tardiest to recognise the mission
of the Prophet ; and those on whom 'Othman now lavished
his favour were amongst the earliest and most inveterate
Every expression uttered by Mohammad
opponents of Islam.
during that period of bitter enmity was now raked up and
used to blacken their names, and cast discredit on a Government
which promoted them to power and honour. Thus
Koreish were divided ; rivalry paralysed their influence, and
'Othman lost the support which would otherwise have enabled
him to crush the machinations of the Arab malcontents.
Still worse, 'All and his party lent themselves to the
dislo)'al
policy of the Bedawi faction., which was fast sapping the
foundations of the Caliphate, and which, as 'All should have
foreseen, would in the end, if he succeeded to the throne,
recoil against himself.
Factious It was not, however, till later on that these influences,
spirit
though early
^ at work, assumed dangerous prominence. This
diverted by V
^
. ...
,
. ...
military was HI great measure due to the military operations which,
service.
busily pursued in all directions throughout the twelve years
of 'Othman's caliphate, served to divert attention from
domestic trouble. Expeditions, as we have seen, had been