Allah then granted the Muslims possession of Ifriqiyah, both its plains and its mountains; its people gathered under Islam and their obedience became exemplary.

Ibn Abī Sarḥ thereupon distributed the booty that Allah had bestowed. Acting on ʿUthmān’s instructions he retained one-fifth of the khums (in other words, one-twenty-fifth of the total spoils) and sent the remaining four-fifths to the Caliph. He pitched his command tent on the site that would later become al-Qayrawān. The inhabitants dispatched a delegation to complain about what ʿAbd Allah had withheld. ʿUthmān replied, “I granted it to him as an extra allotment; the matter is now yours: if you are content, it shall stand; if you are displeased, it will be returned.” They said, “We are displeased.” He answered, “Then it is to be returned,” and wrote to ʿAbd Allah ordering him to restore the funds and conciliate them. They added, “And remove him from over us.”

Accordingly ʿUthmān wrote once more: “Appoint over Ifriqiyah a governor you deem acceptable and distribute the allotment I had granted you, for the people are dissatisfied.” So ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Sarḥ returned to Egypt, and Allah had already opened Ifriqiyah. Its inhabitants remained the most attentive and compliant of peoples until the reign of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.

Sīf ibn ʿUmar relates from his elders that ʿUthmān immediately dispatched ʿAbd Allah ibn Nāfiʿ ibn al-Ḥuṣayn and ʿAbd Allah ibn Nāfiʿ al-Fihri to al-Andalus by sea. He also wrote to all who volunteered for the expedition: “To proceed: Constantinople will only be conquered from the direction of al-Andalus. Should you take it, you will share in the reward for its conquest. Peace.”

Kaʿb reported: “A company will cross the sea to al-Andalus, conquer it, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be recognized by the light that radiates from them.” They set out accordingly, reaching the land by both land and sea, and Allah granted al-Andalus to the Muslims, adding to their dominion an area equal to that of Ifriqiyah. The affairs of al-Andalus paralleled those of Ifriqiyah until the time of Hishām, when the Berbers were deprived of their lands.

When ʿUthmān removed ʿAmr from the governorship of Egypt, ʿAmr became angry and bore resentment toward him. ʿUthmān therefore appointed ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd, ordered him to proceed to Ifriqiyah, and called on the people to volunteer for the campaign with him.