William Muir

“ So they marched out as far as Al-Kadisiya, and sent forward to tell Sa'id that "they did not need him any more." Little anticipating such reception, Sa'id remonstrated with them. "It had sufficed," he said, "to have sent a delegate with your complaint to the Caliph; but now ye come forth a thousand strong against a single man!" They were deaf to his expostulations. His servant, endeavouring to push on, was slain by Al-Ashtar; and Sa'id himself fled back to Medina, where he found 'Othman terrified by tidings of the outbreak, and prepared to yield whatever the insurgents might demand. ”

“ For here the contention was between Koreish with all the nobility of Islam on the one hand, and the Arab tribes and city rabble on the other; and in this question the great leaders would to a man have rallied round the throne. By his pitiable weakness in yielding to the insurgents, 'Othman not only courted contempt, but lost the opportunity of placing the great controversy about to convulse the Muslim world upon its proper issue. ”

“ Months passed, and things did not mend at Al-Kufa. Most of the leading men, whose influence could have kept the populace in check, were away on military command in Persia; and the malcontents, in treasonable correspondence with the Egyptian faction, gained head daily. In an unlucky moment, Sa'id planned a visit to Medina, there to lay his troubles before the Caliph. ”