Othman ibn Affan

“ So the Amir rode up to him and said to him, ‘O slave, where is thy lord?’ ‘In the palace,’ answered he, without stirring from his leaning posture; whereupon Othman waxed wroth and said to him, ‘O pestilent slave, art thou not ashamed, when I speak to thee, to answer me, sprawling at thy length like a good-for-nought?’ ‘Begone,’ answered the eunuch, ‘and do not multiply words.’ When Othman heard this, he was filled with rage and drawing his mace, would have smitten the eunuch, knowing not that he was a devil ”

“ At length the inhabitants could find no advantage in spending their whole lives in a beleaguered town undergoing slow starvation. Prusa surrendered in 1326, and Othman heard of the news on his death-bed. The Turkish frontier now once again touched the Sea of Marmora, which it had not reached since the Crusaders thrust it back inland in 1097.
The reign of Othman's son Orkhan, the second Emir of the Ottomans, almost coincided with that of Andronicus III. All that the one lost the other gained. Orkhan's life-work was the completion of the conquest of Bithynia, which his father had begun. ”

“ All of them agreed at once to this proposition but Ali, who thought himself injured, because he had not been the immediate successor of Mohammed. At last, when Abdarrhaman had sworn that he would neither vote for nor favour any man whatsoever that should offer himself, Ali also gave his consent. Upon this, Abdarrhaman consults with the rest, who inclined to Othman Ebn Affan. Accordingly, Othman was chosen caliph, and inaugurated three days after Omar’s death. ”

“ In point of fact they felt a closer connexion with these than, for example, with the natives of Medina; nature had not been expelled by faith. [8] The supremacy of the Emigrants naturally furnished the means of transition to the supremacy of the Meccan aristocracy. Othman did all in his power to press forward this development of affairs. He belonged to the foremost family of Mecca, the Omayyads, and that he should favour his relations and the Koreish as a whole, in every possible way, seemed to him a matter of course. ”

“ Abd al Rahmân, scandalised at the misappropriation of religious property devoted to the poor, laid hands upon the animal, slaughtered it, and divided the flesh among the people. The personal reverence attaching heretofore to the ‘Successor of the Prophet of the Lord,’ gave place to slight and disregard. Even in the streets, Othmân was greeted with cries, demanding that he should depose Ibn Aámir and the godless Abu Sarh, and put away from him Merwân, his chief adviser and confidant. ”

“ Orchan buried his father at Broussa, and erected a splendid mausoleum over his remains. Acting on his father’s advice he made Broussa his capital, and it remained so until the fall of Constantine’s city. The standard and scimitar of Othman are still preserved as objects of veneration. As we have said before, the sword of Othman is girded on each succeeding Sultan amid the prayers of his people: “May he be as good as Othman.”
The romantic history of the kingdom built up by Othman was worthily continued by his sons. Orchan was proclaimed Emir and urged his brother to share the throne. ”

“ Abdallah told him in reply, “That as to what he had said concerning the prophet (who was very great) he was not only what he had said, but much more; all too that he had said of Abubeker and Omar was just enough; but as for Othman, he had more reason to know him than any man alive; and he was sure he was murdered wrongfully, for he never wrote that letter whereof he had been accused; and for his own part, he should be a friend of Othman’s both in this world and that to come, a friend of his friends,??? and an enemy of his enemies.” ”

“ But the majority were merely a band of men without views, whose aim was a change not of system, but of persons in their own interest. Everywhere in the provinces there was agitation against the caliph and his governors, except in Syria, where Othman’s cousin, Moawiya, son of Abu Sofiān (see below) , carried on a wise and strong administration. The movement was most energetic in Irak and in Egypt. Its ultimate aim was the deposition of Othman in favour of Ali, whose own services as well as his close relationship to the Prophet seemed to give him the best claim to the Caliphate. ”

“ He learned philology from Abu Zaid, Abu Obaida, Al-Asmai, and others, and had for pupil Al-Mubarrad, who learned much from his master, and handed down many pieces of traditional literature obtained from him. Abu Othman, once being asked his opinion about various men of science, curtly summarized them as follows: 'The Koran-readers are deceitful administrators, the traditionists are satisfied with superfluities, poets are too superficial, grammarians much too heavy, narrators deal only in neat expressions, and the only real science is jurisprudence,' He died A.D. 863. ”

“ As soon as he was established in the government, Othman followed the example of his predecessors, and sent his forces abroad to enlarge his dominions. In a short time, Maho’l Bassorah, and what remained of the borders of Ispahan and Raya was taken; so that the poor Persian king was now eaten up on all sides, and had very little left him. The same year that Othman was made caliph, Birah and Hamden were taken, and Moawiyah, who was then prefect of Syria, and afterwards caliph, invading the territories of the Grecian emperor, took a great many towns, and wasted the country. ”

“ It is said that he is having the latter instructed in the French language, in geography and mathematics. The elder is some ten years of age, but will not succeed his father to the throne until after the death of his uncle, who, by Mussulman law, is next in right to the reigning Sultan. Inheritance, in Islam lands, runs through all the brothers before it reverts to the children of the eldest son. Females can not succeed to the throne, and the house of Othman would consequently become extinct with its last male representative. ”

“ Sitting still at home is the heavenly way. The going out, is the way of the world. Therefore, take your choice.” None of the people took any notice of what he said, nor returned him any answer. But the two Mohammeds were in a rage, and gave him reproachful language. To which he answered with an oath, that the inauguration of Othman hung still both over his own neck and their master’s (meaning Ali) , and as for the people, they were resolved not to engage themselves, unless compelled by absolute necessity, till they had got their hands clear of the murderers of Othman, wheresoever they were. ”

“ He thus gives at full length the messenger’s reply to Ali:—“Fifty thousand men are assembled about the robes of Othman, whose cheeks and beards have never been dry from tears, and whose eyes have never ceased from weeping blood, since the hour of that prince’s atrocious murder. They have drawn their swords with a solemn pledge never to return them to the scabbard, nor cease from mourning, until they have extirpated all concerned in that detested transaction. ”

“ Othman frequently occupied the judicial seat. It happened that, as he was presiding, an important dispute was brought before him for decision, in which a Christian of Belokoma in the Greek empire complained of the injustice of a Seljouk noble of Kermian. Othman decided in favour of the Christian, and the equity of the sentence extended his fame, and gave additional importance to his government. Years rolled on. Many emirs established themselves as independent princes, and have given their names to several provinces in Asia. ”

“ The Sunni may object to the choice of Hasan and Husain as the martyrs most worthy of lamentation, putting forward in their stead Omar, companion of the Prophet himself, who lingered for three days in the agony of death, or Othman, the third Khalifa, who died of thirst, or "the Lion of God," whose life came to so disastrous a close. ”

“ There was only one recorded battle against any army of the Emperor, that at Baphœon, near Nicomedia, where Othman, who by this time reckoned four thousand horsemen among his followers, defeated the inconsiderable body of two thousand Byzantine troops. In the following year, 1302, the Greek Emperor, Michael Palæologus, alarmed at the progress of Othman, crossed in person into Asia Minor at the head of a small army of mercenary Slavs. But he brought no money with him to pay his soldiers. They would not fight without pay. ”

“ Without a head, indeed, to give them a formal unity, they are only one in name. Nothing is less likely than a resuscitation of the effete family of Othman; still, supposing the Ottomans driven into Asia, and a Sultan of that race to mount the throne, such as Amurath, Mahomet, or Selim, it is not easy to set bounds to the influence the Sovereign Pontiff of Islam might exert, and to the successes he might attain, in rallying round him the scattered members of a race, warlike, fanatical, one in faith, in language, in habits, and in adversity. ”

“ That the system of education pursued in the palace of Orkhan must have derived some of its excellent qualities from the family system of Othman’s household, cannot be doubted. The Othoman tribe was not morally corrupted, like the society of the Seljouk Turks; the history of their empire bears strong testimony to the fact during several generations. ”

“ This measure, considered needful to insure the inviolability of his person, as the only remaining representative of the house of Othman, soon put an end to the rebellion that had occasioned his ascension to the throne. ”

“ I would fight them even if I was assured of being run through with a lance; for the death of a martyr, and the paradise beyond, are only to be acquired in the ranks of Ali. However courageously our enemies may fight, still justice is on our side: they desire not to revenge Othman’s death, but ambition drives them to revolt. Follow me, companions of the prophet! the gates of heaven are opened, and houris are waiting to receive us. Let us triumph here, or meet Mohammed and his friends in paradise! ”

“ He has never been accused of prompting the assassin of Omar; though Persia indiscreetly celebrates the festival of that holy martyr. The quarrel between Othman and his subjects was assuaged by the early mediation of Ali; and Hassan, the eldest of his sons, was insulted and wounded in the defence of the caliph. Yet it is doubtful whether the father of Hassan was strenuous and sincere in his opposition to the rebels ”

“ Afterwards Omar sent him into Egypt, which he reduced, and became lieutenant of the conquered country. Othman continued him in that post four years, and then removed him; whereupon he retired to Palestine, where he lived privately till Othman’s death. Upon this event, he went over to Moawiyah upon his invitation; and took a great part in the dispute between Ali and Moawiyah. The latter restored him to the lieutenancy of Egypt, and continued him in it till his death, allowing him all the revenues of that rich country, upon condition that he should maintain the necessary troops for its defence. ”

“ The Ottoman Empire begins with Othman, born 1258 A.D.; the dynasty is usually counted from the time of his being given a local governorship by the last of the Seljuk Sultans, in 1289. The tribe was simply one small group of families when we first hear of it; Othman’s father Ertogrul entered the Seljuk dominion not many years before that date with only four hundred tents, say two thousand people in all, counting women and children. They had been driven from their homes in Central Asia by the Mongols. The Seljuk Sultan Ala-ed-din III made Othman governor of Karadja-hissar (Melangeia) . ”

“ A man of violent passions and without principle, Othman was, however, not deficient in those talents which confer distinction upon soldiers of fortune. Of obscure birth and low associations, he had, by sheer force of character and daring, won the confidence of the Viceroy of Africa, who had conferred upon him the government of Spain; a position from which he was barred by the unwritten law of the Conquest, which discouraged the aspirations of individuals of his nationality. ”

“ Othman, helpless and timorous, dissuaded them from enterprising any thing till the arrival of the emperor of the faithful, and, having substituted Ammar in his room, withdrew to his own house. Ammar, having called the men to arms, went to the mosque to hold a consultation. Here one of the people stood up and said, “If these people have come hither out of fear, why they have left a country where a bird may be safe. If they make inquiry after the blood of Othman, we did not kill Othman ”

“ But Ayesha, the favourite wife of the Prophet, had always been jealous of Fatima and hostile to Ali. She supported Othman.... The splendid opening of the story of Islam collapses suddenly into this squalid dispute and bickering of heirs and widows.
In 656 Othman, an old man of eighty, was stoned in the streets of Medina by a mob, chased to his house, and murdered; and Ali became at last Caliph, only to be murdered in his turn (661) . In one of the battles in this civil war, Ayesha, now a gallant, mischievous old lady, distinguished herself by leading a charge, mounted on a camel. ”

“ Not where we live but how—is not this the sum of Islam? The joys of mortal flesh what are they when put in contrast with felicities not to be expressed in words?” asked Yezed.
“If Allah meant us not to enjoy this world, why are there so many good things which the weak and the poor cannot have?” was Othman’s question.
“Let Allah in his wisdom answer that; we [Pg 337] must be content and resigned wherever we be, whatever our lot, lest we forfeit eternal bliss,” replied Yezed piously.
“Thou art soaring above the gate of Jannat al Naïm,” said Othman ironically. ”