Who really killed ‘Uthman?

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replied “No by Allah, not until the Banu Ummayya surrender the right on their own
accord”. (Tareekh Damishq, by Ibn Asakr, Chapter “‘Uthman” page 407)
Not only was Talha present at the time of the siege he was co-operating with one of the leaders
of the Egyptian rebels Ibn Udays.
Tabari narrates from Abdullah bin Ayyash:
“I entered ‘Uthman’s presence and talked with him for an hour. He said, Come Ibn Ayyah, and
he took me by the hand and had me listen to what the people at his door were saying. We
heard some say, “What are you waiting for” while others were saying “Wait perhaps he will
repent”. While the two of us were standing there, Talha bin Ubaydullah passed by; he stopped
and said “Where is Ibn Udays?” He was told, “He is over there”. Ibn Udays came over to
(Talha) and whispered something to him, then he went back to his comrades, “Do not let
anyone go in to see this man or leave his house”.
‘Uthman said to me, “These are Talha bin Ubaydullah’s orders”. He continued: “Oh
God protect me from Talha b. Ubaydullah, for he has incited all these people against
me”.
(Taken from History of Tabari, English translation Volume 15 page 199)
So this narration’s makes it absolutely clear that Talha was they key adviser to one of the
Egyptian leaders – to the extent that they were heeding his advice on how to act. Interesting is
also ‘Uthman’s admission that the presence of the people at ‘Uthman door was due to Talha’s
incitement – he placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Talha. Whose opinion should we
give greater credence to, Abu Sulaiman’s or that of the victim ‘Uthman?
Talha was the key figure guiding the Egyptians, he had ensured that all methods, no matter
how extreme were used to pressure Uthman into abdicating his post, this included the action of
cutting off water to Uthman. Naturally this fact is deeply embarrassing to ‘Abu Sulaiman who
states confidently:
Ansar.org states:
“It is an obvious lie that Talha and Al-Zubair surrounded Uthman
and prevented him from reaching to water. Where is the
authentic attribution? And what reference did Al-Tijani rely on? I
challenge him to bring to light one single authentic reference
about that!”
The only thing that is ‘obvious’ is the fact that Abu Sulaiman failed to do some homework
before making such a claim! Had he done he would have steered away from such a challenge.
For the purposes of his humiliation, allow us to present this fact from Tarikh al-Tabari, English
version, Volume 15, pages 180-181
“Abdurrahman Ibn al-Aswad said: "I constantly saw Ali avoiding (Uthman) and not
acting as he formerly had. However, I know that he spoke with Talha when Uthman
was under siege, to the effect that water skins should be taken to him. Ali was
extremely upset (from Talha) about that until finally water skins were allowed to
reach Uthman"
So ‘Abu Sulaiman in light of this reference could you answer these questions:
1. If Talha had nothing to do with this action, then why did Imam ‘Ali (as) approach Talha
directly requesting that water be sent out to Uthman?
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