Ma'n ibn Za'ida's Engraving on the Caliphal Seal

نقش معن بن زائدة على خاتم الخلافة

Ma'n ibn Za'ida engraved on the caliphal seal and took money from Kufa's kharaj. Umar's order to al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba: 'obey my messenger in him' — and before the seated assembly the messenger had a jami'a put on his neck and dragged hard, then jailed him in the reed-prison. Ma'n sent home for his she-camel, his jariya and his Qutwani abaya, rode out by night, lay hid till the search died, and came to Umar waking the tahajjud-men for dawn prayer — 'I come repentant' — 'You?!' After the prayer Umar put it to the assembly: 'cut his hand', said one; 'crucify him', said another; Ali said 'a man lied a lie — his punishment is in his skin', so Umar flogged him hard and jailed him. A Qurashi friend begged his release — 'you reminded me of the stabbing: bring Ma'n' — beaten again and returned to jail, till he told every friend 'do not mention me to the Commander'. Later Umar remembered, shared with him, and let him go.

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The Kufans' Complaint against Sa'd and the Succession of Governors

In al-Baladhuri via Jabir ibn Samura: the Kufans maligned Sa'd to Umar claiming he prayed poorly; Sa'd answered he led them the Messenger's prayer unabridged — lingering in the first two, light in the last — and Umar's mosque-by-mosque inquiry praised him everywhere until a man of Banu Abs called Abu Sa'da testified he neither divided equally nor judged justly; Sa'd's counter-prayer for a liar befell him, Abd al-Malik ibn Umayr later seeing him in the alleys saying 'an old man tried — Sa'd's prayer struck me'. Amr ibn Ma'dikarib testified for Sa'd with 'a gnat's gathering and a goodly mother's tenderness', gave Umar his famous appraisals of war and weapons — the spear 'your brother though he may betray', arrows 'death's messengers', mail 'a burden for horseman and weariness for footman yet a strong fortress', and for the sword 'there your mother bewailed you' met by Umar's 'nay, your mother bewailed you' — whereupon 'the fever drove me to you'. Umar deposed Sa'd for Ammar ibn Yasir, whom they then called weak and unknowledgeable — deposed after a year and nine months — and Umar cried 'who will excuse me from the Kufans? Appoint the strong they make him a sinner, the weak they slight him', finally giving it to al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba on his pledge not to return to his former accusation, which he held till Umar's death; Uthman then appointed Sa'd, replaced him with al-Walid ibn Uqba — Sa'd greeting him 'either you measured after me or I grew senile after you' — then with Sa'id ibn al-As.

Ma'n ibn Za'ida's Engraving on the Caliphal Seal

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The Kufans' Complaint against Sa'd and the Succession of Governors