Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Thereafter in the latter part of his reign the Fitnah started gaining momentum,
for complaints, sometimes legitimate and sometimes not, began to increase
regarding the governors of ʿUthmān I. The Khalīfah did not leave them
unattended, rather he ordered that every complaintive should meet him in the
season Ḥajj and he also ordered that all his governors be present in order to
confirm the complaints and demand the rights from those whose oppression or
contravention is confirmed. 1
Ostensibly, the approach of softness which ʿUthmān I adopted with his
detractors and his kind nature both indirectly engendered an increase in the
mischief of the riff-raff. ʿUthmān I himself realised this, as he is reported to
have said:
لنت لكم،‏ وأوطأت لكم كتفي،‏ وكففت يدي ولساني عنكم فاجترأتم علي
I was kind to you, I made my shoulder a support for you, and I withheld my
hand and my tongue, consequently you became bold against me. 2
Subsequent to that, the criticsm of these people increased even more and
expanded, 3 but now it started taking a new route and was aimed directly at
ʿUthmān I himself, whereas previously it was directed toward his governors
only. 4
1 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 2/648; Maqtal al-Shahīd ʿUthmān p. 100; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 7/219.
2 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 2/645; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 7/169.
3 Maqtal al-Shahīd ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān p. 103.
4 Muqaddamah Ibn Khaldūn p. 215, 216.
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