The Outset of Dissension in Islam — Page 104
104 H A D RAT MIRZA BASHIR-UD-DIN MAHMUD AHMAD remain safe from punishment after writing such a letter. Then, if he were to write such a letter, why would he only write one to the governor of Egypt? Why did he not write similar letters to the governors of Basrah and Kufah as well? In this way all the enemies would have been dealt with once and for all. The fact that a letter was only written to the governor of Egypt is evidence of the fact that the caravans of Kufah and Basrah did not have in their midst a man as cunning as Abdull a h bin Sab a. One may assert that perhaps similar instructions were issued to the governors of both these regions as well, but the people who were carrying them could not been apprehended. The answer is that if this were the case then the matter could not have remained hidden. If ‘ Abdull a h bin ‘ A mir is accused of remaining silent due to being a relative of Hadrat ‘Uthm a n ra , then Hadrat Ab u M u s a Al-Ash‘ar i ra , who was from among the prominent companions; whose impeccable faith has been testified to in the Holy Quran and who was the governor of Kufah at the time, would never have remained silent, and would have surely disclosed the matter. Hence, the truth is that this letter was forged and had been crafted by someone from within the Egyptian caravan. Aside from the Egyptian caravan, since there was neither such a person present in the other caravans as was capable of carrying out such a scheme, nor was it possible to steal so many camels from baitul-m a l in such a short time, nor could so many slaves be bribed; for this reason, letters addressed to the governors of other regions were not forged. The servant about whom it was suggested that he carried this letter, could have shed the most light on this matter. However, it is surprising that when Hadrat ‘ Uthm a n ra demanded