The Outset of Dissension in Islam — Page 73
73 others; and all the while they felt no shame in doing so. Hence, their hue and cry against Hadrat ‘Uthm a n ra was sufficient proof of the fact that this commotion was not on account of any real shortcoming; rather, it was the result of being distanced from Islam and irreligiousness. The second conclusion which is derived from this incident is that these people did not possess even a single legitimate complaint against Hadrat ‘Uthm a n ra and his governors. For if a complaint truly existed, what need was there for them to fabricate lies? The invention of false complaints alone is sufficient evidence of the fact that these people had no real complaint. As such, we see that before the arrival of Ashtar when Yaz i d held a gathering, only a few soldiers participated at the time. When Qa‘q a ‘ prohibited them, they became afraid and put off their gathering. However, we see that within the very same month after being influenced by the lies of Ashtar a large segment of the public had joined these people and set out from Kufah in order to stop Sa‘ i d and request the appointment of another governor. This is testimony to the fact that initially, people would not be easily deceived by the rebels because they had no means to incite them. When Ashtar managed to invent a means, which was enough to spark the people’s indignation, a section of the public fell into this trap and joined them. The emergence of this disorder also clearly establishes that the actual opposition of these people was against Hadrat ‘ Uthm a n ra and not his governors. For in the beginning, it was he against whom the rebels desired to incite the people. However, when they noticed that no one would join them in this; rather, they would begin to oppose them, these people began to