Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/249

 220 plained, and not without reason, of the unfriendly attitude of ʿAlī himself. "For my own part," he said, "I have done my best; and as for the men ye blame me for, did not ʿOmar himself appoint Al-Moghīra to Al-Kūfa; and if Ibn ʿĀmir be my kinsman, is he the worse for that?" "No," replied ʿAlī; "but ʿOmar kept his lieutenants in order, and when they did wrong he punished them; whereas thou treatest them softly because they are thy kinsmen." "And Muʿāwiya, too," continued the Caliph; "it was ʿOmar who appointed him to Syria." "Yes," answered ʿAlī; "yet I swear that even ʿOmar's slaves did not stand so much in awe of him as did Muʿāwiya. And now he doth whatever he pleaseth, saying, It is ʿOthmān. And thou, knowing it all, leavest him alone!" So saying, ʿAlī turned and went his way.

As ʿAlī's message professed to come from the people, ʿOthmān went straightway to the pulpit and addressed the assemblage met for prayer. He reproached them for intemperate speech and subserviency to evil leaders, whose object it was to blacken his name, exaggerate his faults, and hide his virtues. "Ye blame me," he said, "for things ye bore cheerfully from ʿOmar. He trampled on you, beat you with his whip, and abused you. And ye took it patiently from him, both in what ye liked and what ye disliked. I have been gentle with you; bended my back unto you; withheld my tongue from reviling, and my hand from smiting. And now ye rise up against me!" Then, after dwelling on the prosperity of his reign at home and abroad, and the many benefits accruing therefrom, he ended—"Wherefore, refrain, I entreat of you, from abuse of me and of my governors, lest ye kindle the flames of sedition and revolt throughout the empire." The appeal was marred by his cousin Merwān, who at its close exclaimed, "If ye will oppose the Caliph, we shall soon bring it to the issue of the sword." "Be silent!" cried ʿOthmān; "leave me with my fellows alone. Did I not tell thee not to speak?" ʿOthmān then descended from the pulpit. The harangue had no effect. The discontent spread, and the gatherings against the Caliph multiplied.