When Umar ibn Abd al-Azīz assumed the caliphate, he brought to light those aspects of the Sunnah and justice that had been obscured. After he died, Yazīd ibn Abd al-Malik sought to follow his example. Twenty elders from among the elders of the pro-Uthmān [faction] (1) then came to him and swore to him by Allah, besides whom there is no deity, that whenever Allah appoints a caliph, He accepts his good deeds and overlooks his evil deeds. Consequently, he ceased to follow the example of Umar [ibn Abd al-Azīz] (2).

For this reason, they displayed absolute obedience to whoever governed them. They believed that Allah had obligated them to obey their ruler absolutely and that Allah would not take him to task for his evil deeds. We have not heard that any of them believed their rulers to be infallible. Rather, they maintained that their rulers would not be held accountable for any sin, seemingly believing that the rulers’ evil deeds were expiated by their good deeds, just as minor sins are expiated by avoiding major sins.

If these people did not regard the Umayyad caliphs—Muāwiya and those after him—as accountable for any sin, then what would they say of Uthmān, given his precedence in Islam [and his virtue] (3), his exemplary conduct and justice, and the fact that he was one of the Rightly Guided Caliphs?

As for the Kharijites, they declare both Uthmān and Alī unbelievers; they did not single out Uthmān for condemnation. As for Alī’s partisans, many of them—or most of them—condemn Uthmān. Even among the Zaydis who invoke Allah’s mercy upon Abū Bakr and Umar, some revile and condemn Uthmān. The best among them are those who remain silent concerning him, neither invoking Allah’s mercy upon him nor cursing him.