When they were all in his presence, ʿUthmān refused to dismiss him. That very night al-Ashtar slipped away with a small band of men, travelled by night for ten days until he reached Kūfah, seized the city, mounted the pulpit and declared:

“This is Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ who has come to you, claiming that the Sawād is a garden for the youngsters of Quraysh, while the Sawād is the ground where your heads have fallen and the posts where your spears stand. Whoever acknowledges a duty to Allah should set out for al-Jurʿah.”

The people poured out and camped at al-Jurʿah. Saʿīd advanced until he halted at al-ʿAdhīb. Al-Ashtar then equipped a force of one thousand horsemen under Yazīd ibn Qays al-Arahabi and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kinānah al-ʿAbdī, saying, “March; harry him and send him back to his patron. If he refuses, strike off his head.” They reached him, and when he saw that they were in deadly earnest he withdrew.

Al-Ashtar next ascended the Kūfan pulpit and said, “People of Kūfah, I grew angry only for Allah’s sake and on your behalf. I have appointed Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī to lead your prayers and Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān to administer your public funds.” He then stepped down and said, “Abū Mūsā, ascend.” Abū Mūsā replied, “I will not; rather, come forward and renew your pledge to the Commander of the Faithful.” The people complied.

Al-Ashtar wrote to ʿUthmān detailing what he had done, and ʿUthmān was pleased. ʿUtbah ibn al-Waʿl, the poet of Kūfah, composed:

Be generous to us, O son of ʿAffān, seeking your reward;
Appoint the Ashʿarī over us for a few nights.

ʿUthmān said, “Indeed—for months and years, so long as I live.” What the people of Kūfah did to Saʿīd was the first crack in ʿUthmān’s position, the moment men dared to defy him.

Al-Zuhrī said: When ʿUthmān assumed the caliphate he governed for six years without the people finding anything to reproach him for, and he was dearer to them than ʿUmar, for ʿUmar had been harsh with them. When ʿUthmān ruled, he was gentle with them and maintained their ties; later, however, he grew lax in their affairs and appointed