Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

When people went to Amir al-mu'minin
in a deputation and complained to him through what they had to say against Uthman, and
requested him to speak to him on their behalf and to admonish him for their sake, he went
to see him and said: ⁽¹⁾

The people are behind me and they have made me an
ambassador between you and themselves; but by Allah, I do not know what to say to you. I
know nothing (in this matter) which you do not know, nor can I lead you to any matter of
which you are not aware. You certainly know what we know, we have not come to know
anything before you which we could tell you; nor did we learn anything in secret which we
should convey to you. You have seen as we have seen and you have heard as we have heard.
You sat in the company of the Prophet of Allah as we did. (Abu Bakr) Ibn Abi Quhafah and
(Umar) ibn al-Khattab were no more responsible for acting righteously than you, since you
are nearer than both of them to the Prophet of Allah through kinship, and you also hold
relationship to him by marriage which they do not hold.

Then (fear) Allah, in your own self; for, by Allah,
you are not being shown anything as if you are blind or being apprised of anything as if
you are ignorant. The ways are clear while the banners of faith are fixed. You should know
that among the creatures of Allah, the most distinguished person before Allah is the just
Imam who has been guided (by Allah) and guides others. So, he stands by the recognised
ways of the Prophet's behaviour and destroys unrecognised innovations. The (Prophet's)
ways are clear and they have signs, while innovations are also clear and they too have
signs. Certainly, the worst man before Allah is the oppressive Imam who has gone astray
and through whom others go astray. He destroys the the accepted sunnah and revives
abandoned innovations. I heard the Messenger of Allah saying: "On the Day of
Judgement the oppressive Imam will be brought without anyone to support him or anyone to
advance excuses on his behalf, and then he will be thrown into Hell where he will rotate
as the hand-mill rotates, then (eventually) he will be confined to its hollow."

I swear to you by Allah that you should not be that
Imam of the people who will be killed because it has been said that, "An Imam of this
people will be killed after which killing and fighting will be made open for them till the
Day of Judgement, and he will confuse their matters and spread troubles over them. As a
result, they will not discern truth from wrong. They will oscillate like waves and would
be utterly misled." You should not behave as the carrying beast for Marwan so that he
may drag you wherever he likes, despite (your) seniority of age and length of life.

Then Uthman said to Amir al-mu'minin: "Speak
to the people to give me time until I redress their grievances." Amir al-mu'minin
then said: "So far as Medina is concerned here is no question of time. As for remoter
areas you can have the time needed for your order to reach there."

⁽¹⁾.
During the Caliphate of Uthman when the Muslims were weary of the oppression of the
Government and its officials collected in Medina to complain to the senior companions of
the Prophet, they came to Amir al-mu'minin in a peaceful manner and requested him to see
Uthman and advise him not to trample on the Muslims' rights and to put an end to the
troubles which were proving the cause of the people's ruin, whereupon Amir al-mu'minin
went to him and uttered these words.
In order to make the bitterness of
the admonition palatable Amir al-mu'minin adopted that way of speech in the beginning
which would create a sense of responsibility in the addressee and direct him towards his
obligations. Thus, by mentioning his companionship of the Prophet, his personal position,
and his kinship to the Prophet as against the two previous Caliphs, his intention was to
make him realise his duties; in any case, this was obviously not an occasion for
eulogising him, so that its later portion can be disregarded and the whole speech be
regarded as an eulogy of his attainments, because from its very beginning it is evident
that whatever Uthman did, he did it wilfully, that nothing was done without his knowledge
or his being informed, and that he could not be held unaccountable for it because of his
being unaware of it. If the adoption of a line of action which made the whole Islamic
world raise hue and cry in spite of his having being a companion of the Prophet, having
heard his instructions, having seen his behaviour and having been acquainted with the
commandments of Islam can be regarded as a distinction, then this taunt may also be
regarded as praise. If that is not a distinction then this too cannot be called and
eulogy. In fact, the words about which it is argued that they are in praise are enough to
prove the seriousness of his crime, because a crime in ignorance and unawareness is not so
serious as the weight given to the seriousness of the commission of a crime despite
knowledge and awareness. Consequently a person who is unaware of the rise and fall of a
road and stumbles in the dark night is excusable but a person who is aware of the rise and
fall of the road and stumbled in broad day light is liable to be blamed. If on this
occasion he is told that he has eyes and is also aware of the rise and fall of the way, it
would not mean that his vastness of knowledge or the brightness of his eye-sight is being
praised, but the intention would be that he did not notice the pitfalls despite his eyes,
and did not walk properly, and that therefore for him, having or not having eyes is the
same, and knowing or not knowing is equal.
In this connection great stress in
laid on his being a son-in-law, namely that the Prophet married his two daughters Ruqayyah
and Umm Kulthum to him one after the other. Before taking this to be a distinction, the
real nature of Uthman's son-in-lawship should be seen. History shows that in this matter
Uthman did not enjoy the distinction of being the first, but before him Ruqayyah and Umm
Kulthum had been married to two sons of Abu Lahab namely Utbah and Utaybah, but despite
their being sons-in-law, they have not been included among people of position of
pre-prophethood period. How then can this be regarded as a source of position without any
personal merit, when there is no authority about the importance of this relationship, nor
was any importance attached to this matter in such a way that there might have been some
competition between Uthman and some other important personality in this regard and that
his selection for it might have given him prominence, or that these two girls might have
been shown to possess an important position in history, tradition or biography as a result
of which this relationship could be given special importance and regarded as a distinction
for him? If the marriage of these two daughters with Utbah and Utaybah in the
pre-prophethood period is held as lawful on the ground that marriage with unbelievers had
not till then been made unlawful, then in Uthman's case also the condition for lawfulness
was his acceptance of Islam, there is no doubt that he had pronounced the kalimah
ash-shahadatayn (there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger) and had accepted
Islam outwardly. As such this marriage can be held a proof of his outward Islam, but no
other honour can be proved through it. Again, it is also not agreed that these two were
the real daughters of the Messenger of Allah, because there is one group which denies them
to be his real daughters, and regards them as being the daughters of Khadijah's sister
Halah, or the daughters of her own previous husband. Thus, Abu'l-Qasim al-Kufi (d. 352
A.H.) writes:
"When the Messenger of Allah
married Khadijah, then some time thereafter Halah died leaving two daughters, one named
Zaynab and the other named Ruqayyah and both of them were brought up by the Prophet and
Khadijah and they maintained them, and it was the custom before Islam that a child was
assigned to whoever brought him up." (al-lstighathah, p. 69)
Ibn Hisham has written about the
issues of Hadrat Khadijah as follows:
"Before marriage with the
Prophet she was married to Abi Halah ibn Malik. She delivered for him Hind ibn Abi Halah
and Zaynab bint Abi Halah. Before marriage with Abi Halah she was married to Utayyiq ibn
Abid ibn Abdillah ibn Amr ibn Makhzum and she delivered for him Abdullah and a
daughter." (as-Sirah an-nabawiyyah, vol. 4, p. 293)
This shows that of Hadrat Khadijah
had two daughters before being married to the Prophet and according to all appearance they
would be called his daughters and those to whom they were married would be called his
sons-in-law, but the position of this relationship would be the same as if those girls
were his daughters. Therefore, before putting it forth as a matter for pride the real
status of the daughters should be noted and a glance should be cast at Uthman's conduct.
In this connection, al-Bukhari and other narrators (of traditions) and historians record
this tradition as follows:
Anas ibn Malik relates that:
"We were present on the occasion of the burial of the Prophet's daughter Umm Kulthum,
while the Prophet was sitting beside her grave. I saw his eyes shedding tears. Then he
said, 'Is there any one among you who has not committed a sin last night?' Abu Talhah
(Zayd ibn Sahl al-Ansari) said, 'I', then the Prophet said, 'Then you get into the grave,'
consequently he got down into the grave."
The commentators said about
'committed sin' that the Holy Prophet meant to say 'one who had not had sexual
intercourse.' On this occasion the Holy Prophet unveiled the private life of Uthman and
prevented him from getting down into the grave, although it was a prominent merit of the
Prophet's character that he did not disgrace or belittle any one by making public his
private life, and despite of knowledge of others' shortcomings, ignored them; but in this
case the filth was such that it was deemed necessary to disgrace him before the whole
crowd.
Since Uthman did not show any
regard for the demise of his wife (Umm Kulthum) nor was he moved or felt sorry (for this
event), and paid no heed to the cutting off his relationship with the Holy Prophet (for
being his son-in-law), he (Uthman) had sexual intercourse on the same night, therefore
the Holy Prophet deprived him of this right and honour. (al-Bukhari, as-Sahih, vol. 2, pp.
100-101, 114; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 3, pp. 126, 228, 229, 270; al-Hakim,
al-Mustadrak, vol. 4, p. 47; al-Bayhaqi, as-Sunan al-kubra, vol. 4, p. 53; Ibn Sad,
at-Tabaqat al-kabir, vol. 8, p. 26; as-Suhayli, ar-Rawd al-unuf, vol. 2, p. 107; Ibn
Hajar, al-Isabah, vol. 4, p. 489; Fath al-bari, vol. 3, p. 122; al-Ayni, Umdah al-qari,
vol. 4,p. 85; Ibn al-Athir, an-Nihayah, vol. 3, p. 276; Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-Arab, vol.
9, pp. 280-281; az-Zabidi, Taj al-arus, vol. 6, p. 220).

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