CHAPTER XXXI
THE OUTLOOK DARKENS
34–35 A.H. 655 A.D.
ʿOthmān treated with contumely.The unhappy Caliph was now hurried on, by the rapid course of events, helplessly to his end. ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān, who, no doubt, felt himself responsible from the share he took in the nomination of ʿOthmān, was about this time removed by death. But even he had been dissatisfied; and one of the first open denunciations of ʿOthmān's unscrupulous disregard of law,—small it might be, but significant,—is attributed to him. A high-bred camel, part of the tithes of a Bedawi tribe, was presented by the Caliph, as a rarity, to one of his kinsfolk. ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān, scandalised at the misappropriation of what belonged to charity, laid hands upon the animal, slaughtered it, and divided the flesh among the poor. The personal reverence attaching heretofore to the "Successor of the Prophet of the Lord," gave place to slight and disregard. In the streets, ʿOthmān was greeted with cries that he should depose Ibn ʿĀmir and the godless Ibn abi Sarḥ, and put away Merwān, his chief adviser and confidant. He had the countenance of none excepting his immediate kinsmen, and reliance upon them only aggravated the hostile clamour.
ʿOthmān sends delegates to test feeling in provinces.The conspirators had hitherto burrowed underground. Now their machinations coming to light, rumours of impending treason began to float abroad. The better affected classes throughout the Empire felt uneasy; alarm crept over all hearts. Letters were continually received at Medīna asking what these ominous sounds meant, and what catastrophe was now at hand. The chief men of Medīna kept coming to the Caliph's court for tidings; but,
222
