Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/228



reign of ʿOthmān lasted twelve years. It is usual to say that the first six were popular, and the last six the reverse ; in other words, that during his later years the tide turned, and, discontent ripening into sedition, the storm burst with gathered fury upon the aged Caliph. This is true to some extent; but in reality the causes of unpopularity were busily at work from the very first. They were two-fold, as has been already noticed; first, antagonism between the Arab nation at large and Ḳoreish; and second, jealousy among Ḳoreish themselves,—namely, between the house of Hāshim and that of Umeiya, to which latter ʿOthmān and Muʿāwiya belonged.

The Arab soldiery, flushed with the glory and fruits of victory, were spread all over the Empire. In Syria, they were held in check by the powerful hand of Muʿāwiya, strengthened by the large body of influential Citizens from Mecca and Medīna settled there. But in other lands, conscious of their power, the Arab tribes were rapidly getting the bit between their teeth. Their arrogant and factious spirit had its focus in Al-Kūfa and in Al-Baṣra; in both these cities, indeed, it had already under ʿOmar shown itself; for even he had not been able effectually to curb their insolence. The Arabs were impatient of control, partly because the success of Islām was due to their arms; partly because, in the brotherhood of the Faith, all Believers, specially those of Arab blood, stood on equal ground. The power of the Caliph, indeed, as successor to the Prophet, was absolute, uncontrolled by any constitutional authority whatever. But even he, yielding to popular sentiment, not only 199