Grievances and the Siege

In his later years, complaints against 'Uthman grew. Some were sincere differences of judgement: he appointed several of his own kinsmen of Banu Umayyah as governors, and some of them were unpopular; he completed the prayer in full at Mina where the Prophet ﷺ had shortened it. When one of those governors, al-Walid ibn 'Uqbah, was proven to have drunk wine, 'Uthman had him removed and flogged. Ibn 'Umar answered other charges one by one, explaining each with the Prophet's ﷺ own words (Sahih al-Bukhari 3698).

The Companion Abu Dharr, a man of fierce austerity, argued in Syria with Mu'awiyah over the verse about ﴿وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ﴾ (“those who hoard gold and silver”) (9:34). 'Uthman called him to Madinah, where crowds gathered around him; when Abu Dharr spoke of it, 'Uthman offered that he might withdraw nearby if he wished, and he settled at al-Rabadhah. There Abu Dharr told a visitor that even if they placed an Abyssinian over him he would listen and obey (Sahih al-Bukhari 1406). The two men differed, but neither broke the bond of the community.

In 35 AH, rebels from Egypt, Kufah and Basrah came to Madinah and surrounded 'Uthman's house. Many Companions and their sons, among them al-Hasan and al-Husayn, offered to fight for him. He forbade them: he would not be the first caliph to shed Muslim blood to keep his seat. He would not step down either, holding to a covenant the Prophet ﷺ had made with him, that if people tried to strip from him a garment Allah had clothed him with, he should not take it off.