Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/258

 656] equally demanded a bold and uncompromising front. The truth was outspoken by one of the Companions at the time. "Ye Ḳoreish," he said, "there hath been till now a strong and fenced door betwixt you and the Arab tribes; wherefore is it that ye now break down the door?"

So soon as the conspirators had shown their true colours, ʿOthmān despatched urgent calls to Syria and Al-Baṣra for help. Muʿāwiya, who had long foreseen the dire necessity, was ready with a strong force, which, as well as a similar column from Al-Baṣra, hurried to their Master's rescue. But the march was long, and the difficulty was for ʿOthmān to hold out till they should appear. The insurgents had possession of the Mosque and of the approaches to the Palace; and, in the height of insolence, their leader now took the Caliph's place at prayer. There were no troops at Medīna, and ʿOthmān was dependent on the little force which barely sufficed to guard the palace entrance. It was composed besides train-band slaves, of some eighteen near kinsmen, and other citizens, with the sons of ʿAlī, Az-Zubeir, and Ṭalḥa. Apprehending, from the growing ferocity of the attack, that the end might not be far off, ʿOthmān sent to tell ʿAlī, Az-Zubeir, and Ṭalḥa that he wished once more to see them. They came and stood without the palace, but within reach of hearing. The Caliph, from the flat roof of his house, bade them all sit down; and so for the moment friends and foes sat down together. "Fellow citizens!" cried ʿOthmān with loud voice, "I have prayed to the Lord for you, that when I am taken, he may set the Caliphate aright." Then he spoke of his previous life, and how the Lord had made choice of him to be Successor of His Prophet and Commander of the Faithful. "And now," said he, "ye have risen up to slay the Lord's elect. Have a care, ye men!" (and here he addressed the besiegers);—"the taking of life is lawful but for three things, apostasy, murder, and adultery. Taking my life without such cause, ye but suspend the sword over your own necks. Sedition and bloodshed shall not depart for ever from your midst." Thus far they gave him audience, and then cried out that there was yet a fourth just cause of death, the quenching of truth by wrong-doing, and of right by violence; and for his ungodliness and tyranny he must abdicate or be slain, For a moment