Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

ما علمت أن عليا اتهم في قتل عثمان حتى بويع،‏ فلما بويع اتهمه الناس
I do not know of ʿAlī being accused of the murder of ʿUthmān till he was
given the pledge. When he was given the pledge the people accused him. 1
Fourthly, ʿAlī I would at times be compelled to use phrases indicative of his
participation in the murder of ʿUthmān I. For example:
إنكم قد أكثرتم علي في قتل عثمان،‏ إل إن الله تعالى قتله وأنا معه
You have spoken much to me about the murder of ʿUthmān. Behold Allah
killed him and I with him.
Likewise the following statement, as is reported from him:
والله ما ساءني ذلك ولسرني
By Allāh, that did not disappoint me nor did it please me.
And the statement:
إن دم عثمان في جمجمتي
The blood of ʿUthmān is in my skull. 2
Consequently some people misconstrued these statements to refer to his
happiness with the murder of the Khalīfah. 3
Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī 4 mentions:
1 Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: Chapter of leaders: sub-chapter regarding the leaders and entering upon
them: ḥadīth no. 30710.
2 Akhbār al-Madīnah 2/274, 276; Tamhīd al-Awāʾil wa Talkhīṣ al-Dalāʾil p. 555.
3 Akhbār al-Madīnah 2/274.
4 Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭayyib ibn Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Baghdādī, Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī. A leading
Ashʿarī theologian who was very brilliant and witty. One of the most prolific authors in theology, for
he wrote against the Rāfiḍah, the Muʿtazilah, the Khawārij, and the Jahmiyyah. He passed away in 403
A.H. Some of his works are: al-Tamhīd, al-Tabṣirah, Daqāʾiq al-Ḥaqāʾiq. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 5/379; Siyar
Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 17/190; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 3/147; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 11/350.
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