or have you lost your wits now that I am gone?”
al-Walīd replied, “We have neither become more astute nor more foolish; the people have simply used their authority to keep the office away from you.”

This dismissal of Saʿd and the appointment of al-Walīd ibn ʿUqba was one of the charges later levelled against ʿUthmān. Ḥuḍayn ibn al-Munḏir related that al-Walīd once led them in the dawn prayer as four rakʿas while he was drunk; when he finished he turned to the congregation and said, “Would you like some more?”

It is also said that in the same year an army marched out from Kūfa under Salmān ibn Rabīʿa toward Bardhaʿa, where he killed many and took captives.

That year the inhabitants of Alexandria broke their covenant. ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, the governor of Egypt, attacked them and took captives, but ʿUthmān returned the prisoners to the protection of their dhimma (tax-paying protected status). The Byzantine emperor had previously sent Manuel the eunuch to the city by sea, whereupon its people—al-Muqawqis excepted—rebelled. ʿAmr assaulted them in Rabīʿ al-Awwal, conquering the city by force except for the inner town, which remained under treaty.

In the same year ʿUthmān deposed ʿAmr from the governorship of Egypt and appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ. The sounder view is that this occurred in 27 AH. Ibn Abī Sarḥ then sought—and received—permission from ʿUthmān to campaign in Ifrīqiya.

It is also said that in this year Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya was born.

ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) led the people in the pilgrimage.

Year 26 AH

In this year ʿUthmān enlarged the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. He bought additional property from some owners, while others refused to sell; he therefore had their buildings demolished and deposited their valuations in the public treasury. When they protested, he ordered them jailed and said, “Only my forbearance has emboldened you against me. ʿUmar did the same to you and you did not raise your voices at him.” After intercession was made on their behalf, he released them.