Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/223

 194 him. But he had not calculated on the frailty of human nature; and selfish ends proved more powerful than loyalty. ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān was the only real. patriot amongst them. Neither Ṭalḥa, nor Az-Zubeir, nor Saʿd had any special reason to aspire to the Caliphate. Az-Zubeir, indeed, was closely related to the Prophet. Saʿd, also, was the nephew of Moḥammad's mother; but his recall from Al-Kūfa had tarnished his fame as conqueror of Al-Medāin. ʿAlī, a few years younger, had the strongest claim of kinship, whatever that might be; for he was at once the son of the Prophet's uncle, the widowed husband of the Prophet's daughter Fāṭima, and the father of his only surviving grandsons. He had hitherto, from inactive temperament, remained passive at the Caliph's court; but, of quick and high intelligence, he had ever held a distinguished place in the counsels of ʿOmar. In the absence of any leading competitor, his claim could now no longer be left out of sight, nor, without want of spirit, fail to be asserted by himself. ʿOthmān was his only real rival. Years carried weight with ʿOthmān, for he was now close on seventy. Attractive in person and carriage, he early gained the hand of Roḳeiya, the Prophet's daughter. Shortly after her death, he married her sister Um Kulthūm; and when she, too, passed away, Moḥammad used to say he loved ʿOthmān so dearly that, if another daughter had yet remained, he would have given her to him. But his character withal had vital defects. Of a close and selfish disposition, his will was soft and yielding. And of all the competitors, ʿOthmān probably had the least capacity for dominating the unruly elements now fermenting throughout the Muslim empire.

The Electors, when appointed by ʿOmar, forthwith retired, and fell into loud and hot discussion. ʿOmar, overhearing it, desired that they should wait till his decease. So after the burial, Al-Miḳdād, a veteran citizen appointed by the deceased Caliph to the duty, assembled the Electors in the treasury chamber adjoining ʿĀisha's house, while Abu Ṭalḥa with a guard kept watch at the door. ʿOmar had ordered that the choice should not be delayed beyond the third day, so that his successor might be declared by the fourth at latest; and signified the utmost urgency by saying that if the minority then resisted, they should be beheaded