Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/240

 651–5] by the partisans of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty as an unpardonable offence committed by the ungodly Caliph. The accusation thus trumped up was really without foundation. Indeed, it was scouted by ʿAlī himself. When, several years after, as Caliph, he found the citizens of Al-Kūfa still blaming his ill-starred predecessor for the act;—"Silence!" he cried; "ʿOthmān acted with the advice of the leading men amongst us; and had I been ruler at the time, I should myself have done the same."

A great body of the nobility from Mecca and Medīna about this time transferred their residence to Al-Kūfa and Al-Baṣra. These had no right to share in the endowments of Al-ʿIrāḳ, the special privileges of which, in virtue of conquest, were reserved for the original settlers. They were allowed, however, now to do so on condition that they surrendered their properties in the Ḥijāz. The concession afforded fresh ground for discontent at the extravagant pretensions of Ḳoreish.

The story of Abu Dharr is singularly illustrative of the times, and his treatment formed one of the grounds of complaint against the Caliph. He was an early convert to the Faith; and is said even to have anticipated Moḥammad in some of the observances of Islām. An ascetic in habit, he inveighed against the riches and indulgences of the day as altogether alien from the Faith, and as evils which, rushing in like a flood, were now demoralising the people. Gorgeous palaces, crowds of slaves, horses and camels, flocks and herds, costly garments, sumptuous fare, and splendid equipage were the fashion, not only in Syria and Al-ʿIrāḳ, but even now within the Holy Cities. The protest of Abu Dharr was