William Muir

“ They murmured thus against the Caliph:—"'Othman hath changed the ordinances of his predecessors, he hath made Admiral a man whom the Prophet would have put to death; and such like men also hath he put in chief command at Al-Kufa, Al-Basra, and elsewhere." The clamour reaching the ears of Ibn abi Sarh, he declared that none of the malcontents should fight in his line of battle. Excluded thus, they were the more incensed. Spite of the threats of Ibn abi Sarh, the inflammatory language spread, and men began to speak openly and unadvisedly against 'Othman. ”

“ Excepting raids of little import, Syria had for some time enjoyed rest, when suddenly in the second year of 'Othman's caliphate, Mu'awiya was startled with by the approach of an army from Asia Minor, which he had not the means to oppose. Help was ordered from the eastern provinces, and 8000 volunteers soon joined the Syrian army. Thus reinforced, the Arabs repulsed the Byzantine attack. ”

“ Man at sea is an insect on a splinter, now engulfed, now scared to death." On receipt of this alarming account, 'Omar forbade Mu'awiya to have anything to do with ships;—"The Syrian sea, they tell me, is longer and broader than the dry land, and is instant with the Lord, night and day, seeking to swallow it up. ”

“ The Lieutenants whom he left to prosecute the campaign restored authority at the point of the sword in the revolted parts of Kirman and Sijistan, and brought under obedience the chiefs as far as Herat, Kabul, and Ghazna.1 The control must, however, as yet have been but slight and desultory; for long years after, we find these outlying provinces continually rising against Muslim rule, and again for the time asserting independence. ”