over ʿUthmān (1), claiming that his own father had enjoyed greater prestige than he. ʿUthmān retorted, “Leave that alone; it is behavior from the Age of Ignorance.” From then on, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ began whipping the people up against ʿUthmān.

In Egypt there was a faction that detested ʿUthmān (2) and spoke of him in vile terms, as we have already mentioned. They censured him for dismissing certain eminent Companions and appointing in their place men whom they deemed unfit for authority.

After the removal of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, the Egyptians also came to dislike ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ; yet Ibn Abī Sarḥ was preoccupied with fighting the forces in the Maghrib and with conquering the Berber territories, al-Andalus, and Ifrīqiyah. At the same time a group of the Companions’ sons arose in Egypt, urging the populace to wage war against the Caliph and denounce him. The foremost among them were Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr and Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥudhayfa, until they mustered (3) nearly six hundred riders who set out for Madinah in the month of Rajab, posing as pilgrims performing ʿumrah, intent on censuring ʿUthmān. They advanced in four detachments (4), with overall command held by ʿAmr ibn Budayl ibn Waraqāʾ al-Khuzāʿī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUdays al-Balawī, Kināna ibn Bishr al-Tujībī, and Sūdān ibn Ḥumrān al-Sakūnī. Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr travelled with them, while Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥudhayfa remained in Egypt, agitating the people and defending the insurgents. ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ also wrote to ʿUthmān to inform him that these men were approaching Madinah to object to him under the guise of ʿumrah.

When they drew near the city, ʿUthmān ordered ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (5) to go out to them and send them back to their own lands before they could enter Madinah. Some say, rather, that he called upon the people to go out to them, and ʿAlī volunteered; so the Caliph dispatched him with a number of notables and instructed him to take ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir along. ʿAlī spoke to ʿAmmār, but ʿAmmār refused to accompany him. ʿUthmān then sent Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ to persuade ʿAmmār to go with ʿAlī, yet ʿAmmār flatly refused and stood his ground with the utmost obstinacy. He was embittered against ʿUthmān because the Caliph had earlier disciplined and struck him for reviling ʿAbbās ibn ʿUtbah ibn Abī Lahab; ʿUthmān had punished them both, and for that reason ʿAmmār conspired against him and began stirring people up. Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ scolded him and tried to deter him, but he would not desist, retract, or abandon his course.

Accordingly, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib went out and met them at al-Juhfah. They held him in great esteem and were extravagant (6) in their praise of him, yet he turned them back, rebuked them, and cursed them, so they ended up blaming themselves, saying, “This is the very man on whose account you are fighting the governor and making him (7) your proof against him!” It is also reported that he debated them about ʿUthmān and asked what grievances (8) they held against him; they listed several points, among them that he had set aside pastureland as a protected reserve