Who really killed ‘Uthman?

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If we are to accept all of these traditions then we are to believe that the Sahaba had been
offered assistance and protection from his evil opponents, but his response was to:
• Return to their homes
• Not fight / cause bloodshed
Whilst Gandhi would have been proud of this type of pacifism, it is clear that if we are indeed to
accept this, then it means ‘Uthman rejected pledges of support by the Sahaba. If so, why?
Islam tells us to protect our livelihood and ourselves by any means possible, failure to do so
constitutes suicide, which is a sin. If ‘Uthman stopped the companions from helping him, then it
was suicide on his part. Protecting oneself is a must, that is why Prophet Muhammad (s) left
Mecca for Medina, this being the case why did ‘Uthman fail to adopt any steps to protect his
life?
Let us think of the facts, we are talking about an individual who:
• has many sons,
• is from a very strong/ powerful family
• has many servants and soldiers to protect him,
• is also incidentally the Caliph, of all the Muslims and who commands authority over the
faithful
• has a governor in all the provinces each of whom have large armies that can come at
anytime.
Hadhrath ‘Uthman was fortunate enough to have all these cards stacked in his favor. Despite
this, then why did he not try to protect himself? After all it was not a sudden thing, the siege of
‘Uthman’s residence went on for many days. He was kept under house arrest for fifty days and
then killed in broad daylight, only two options remain:
Either:
he committed suicide; or:
Those present in Madina, (Sahaba, Tabieen etc) were blameworthy, for having failed to assist
him in his hour of need.
2.11 Did Imams Hasan and Husayn (as) protect ‘Uthman?
We the Shi’a do not believe that our Imams had been sent to protect ‘Uthman, in fact Tabari
tells is that Imam ‘‘Ali (as) had distanced himself from ‘Uthman – he wanted nothing further to
do with him.
As evidence we have the testimony of Imam ‘Ali (as) in his response to one of Mu’awiya’s
letters prior to the Battle of Sifeen. We read in Ahl’ul Sunnah’s authority work Akhbar al Taweel
page 173 that Imam Ali (as) wrote to Mu’awiya stating:
“…Khaulani has brought your letter to me. You have written that I deserted Uthman
and incited people against him. I did no such thing, when the people became
dissatisfied with the Khalifa some withdrew support to him, while others killed him,
while I remained confined to my home and kept myself aloof from his affairs”.
This being the case why would he have sent his sons to protect a man that he no longer
wanted anything to do with!
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