Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

This term was very often used by the later historians who documented the events
of that era. 1 Hence when al-Jāḥiẓ wrote his book regarding the issue of Imāmah
in which he comprehensively discussed the evidences and views of those who
impugn ʿAlī I and his Khilāfah, he named his book al-ʿUthmāniyyah.
Later on, much of expansion had occurred in the usage and the purport of the
term ‘ʿUthmāniyyah’. As a result, some of its meanings were considered to be
synonymous with Naṣb, subsequent to which Naṣb replaced it 2 and it, the term
ʿUthmāniyyah, no more remained popular.
1 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 3/503; Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī 2/187; al-Badʾ wa al-Tārīkh 5/123, 209; Tārīkh Dimashq 49/465;
al-Muntaẓam 5/150; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 3/229, 232; Majmūʿ Fatāwā Shaykh al-Islām 35/73; Minhāj al-
Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah 6/199; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 3/39; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 7/252, 314; Tārīkh Ibn
Khaldūn 2/641, 4/381.
2 When analysing the various usages of the scholars of the term ʿUthmānī it becomes abundantly
clear that its purport was very general and vast and that it passed through various stages. It therefore
includes a variety of people who all have one thing in common, inclination toward ʿUthmān I.
The first usage: It was used to refer to those who respected ʿUthmān I and gave him preference
over ʿAlī I in merit, but without impugning ʿAlī I and denying his lofty rank. This was the initial
usage of this term, for Ibn ʿAbbās I used it as well, as is stated in al-Iḥkām of Ibn Ḥazm 6/315. And
it is probably this meaning which is meant when this term is used to describe many of the scholars,
especially those from Baṣrah and Kūfah.
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajr I has defined a ʿUthmānī in the following way in his book in his book Fatḥ al-Bārī
6/191: “A person who give preference to ʿUthmān I over ʿAlī I in virtue”. Also see ʿUmdat al-Qārī
15/12.
A report which is documented by al-Khallāl in his al-Sunnah (2/324) supports this meaning:
Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Bakr al-Shaybānī narrates from Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah that he said,
“When a person would pass by the early scholars and they were told that he is a ʿUthmānī
they would love that.” The narrator says, “I asked Saʿīd, “Why would that be?” He said,
“Because he gave preference to ʿUthmān but did not denigrate ʿAlī.”
Likewise another report which is documented by al-Fasawī in his al-Maʿrifah wa al-Tārīkh also
supports this meaning. He says:
I heard ʿAṭāʾ saying, “I said to Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who was a ʿUthmānī, “It seems as though
you display more disinterest in the narrations you heard from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.” He replied,
“Certainly the narrations I have heard from ʿAlī I are more beloved to me than red camels.”
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