Uthman ibn Affan

Abu Dharr's banishment to al-Rabdha (30 AH)

Abu Dharr was carried from Syria to Medina without a saddle-seat, then banished by 'Uthman from Medina to al-Rabdha — the episode that made his name a byword for speaking truth to power.

the Alexandria rising and its recovery (25 AH)

Alexandria broke its treaty: Constantinople shipped a large army under the eunuch Manuel, and the Romans inside the city joined them — though the Muqawqis kept his pact. 'Amr ibn al-'As marched, routed them, followed them into the streets and killed a great multitude including Manuel; he restored to the villagers who had not rebelled their confiscated property upon proof, and demolished Alexandria's walls, leaving her wall-less.

Ali appoints the sons of al-Abbas and Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governors

Ali gave the provinces to several sons of his cousin al-Abbas: Abdallah in Basra, Ubaydallah in Yemen and Bahrain, Qutham in Mecca and al-Ta'if, Tammam in Medina, and with them Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, his step-son, in Egypt. The book sets this among a list of forty-one governors and holds that Ali and Uthman both appointed kin when their competence was clear, not for kinship alone.

Ali burns people in Kufa who claimed he was God

Ali was told that people at the mosque door called him their lord; he said he was only a servant like them, gave them three days, and when they persisted he lit a fire and burned them. Al-Sallabi cites the report via al-Bukhari, Ibn Abbas's objection that the Prophet forbade punishment by fire, and Ibn Taymiyya's statement that Ali burned most of those who believed in his divinity.

Ali burns the village of Zarara where wine was sold

Ali passed a quarter of Kufa called Zarara where meat was sold and wine too, and ordered it set on fire, saying the wicked eat each other; the fire spread from its western side until it reached an orchard. Al-Sallabi takes the report from Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam's Kitab al-Amwal.

Ali's stance during the siege of Uthman

Ali's equal distribution of the fay and the treasury

Ali distributed incoming money equally among the people after setting aside what public needs required, and gave Arab and non-Arab women the same portion, saying he finds no merit for the children of Ishmael over the children of Isaac in the fay. The book also records a sum from Isfahan split into seven shares and a loaf cut into seven pieces drawn by lot, and a dispute over two jars of honey and ghee taken by Ali's daughter Umm Kulthum.

Ali's first sermon after the pledge

Ali carries out the drinking penalty on al-Walid ibn Uqba

Ali flogs the poet al-Najashi al-Harithi for drinking wine in Ramadan

Al-Najashi al-Harithi, a poet, drank wine in Ramadan; Ali flogged him eighty lashes and jailed him, then flogged him twenty more the next day, saying the lashes were for his defiance of God and breaking the fast. The book cites the case as an example of prison as ta'zir.

Ali frees two men who each confessed to one killing and pays the diya from the treasury

Two men each confessed to the same killing before Ali. Hasan's ruling was that the one who had killed had saved a life by confessing; Ali released both and paid the diya from the treasury. The book suggests the victim's heirs may have waived retaliation.

Ali's rulings on the apostate and the zindiq, and the ways he killed them

Ali is reported to have said the apostate is asked to repent three times and then killed; the book gives two reports on the zindiq and two on women apostates. It lists the methods Ali used: the sword, beating to death, burning after killing (Mustawrid al-Ijli), and burning the Saba'iyya.

Ali's judgment on a slap over a debased dirham in Kufa

A man sold a sheep on the condition of no debased coin and gave one; the buyer returned it and was slapped by the seller. Ali, passing through the market, ruled that the slapper sit, let the slapped man choose between retaliation and pardon, then had the slapper carried on a man's back and beaten fifteen strokes, saying this was the punishment for violating the other man's sanctity.

Ali's judgment: Shurahah flogged and stoned after confessing zina

Shurahah confessed to zina while pregnant; Ali flogged her a hundred lashes on Thursday and stoned her on Friday, saying stoning is the Prophet's sunna. The book notes that combining flogging with stoning is disputed among jurists.

Ali's rounds in the market of Kufa

Ali walked the Kufan market himself, told the traders to sell without swearing oaths, forbade adulteration and the selling of floating fish, decided disputes between sellers and buyers, and urged them not to refuse small profit lest they lose the greater.

Ali's oversight of his governors: inspectors, complaints and discipline

Ali followed his governors through inspectors who questioned people about them, secret reports, an open door for every complaint, and written advice. When a charge against a governor was proven he jailed and whipped him with a rod, and on hearing a complaint he would say, 'O God, I did not order them to wrong Your creation or to leave Your right unpaid'.

Ali's inquiry into a missing traveller and his wealth

A young man complained that a company of travellers came back without his father and with his father's money. Ali had the police guard each suspect separately, questioned each on the journey, the lodgings, the cause of death and the burial, and found their accounts contradictory; one confessed, and they were made to pay.

Ali empties the treasury and prays in it

Ali was told the treasury of the Muslims was full of gold and silver; he went, leaning on the informant, gave all of it away to the people of Kufa until nothing remained, had the place sprinkled, and prayed two rak'as in it. The book reads the act as detachment from worldly goods.

the Armenia–Azerbaijan treaty (25 AH)

When Azerbaijan repudiated the treaty on 'Utba ibn Farqad's dismissal, al-Walid campaigned there — 'Abdallah ibn Shubayl raiding Muqan and the Tailsan until its districts bought peace at 800,000 dirhams on Hudhayfa's old terms — while Salman ibn Rabi'a ranged Armenia with twelve thousand. When the patrician Mawriyan advanced with eighty thousand, Habib ibn Maslama resolved on a night attack; his wife Umm 'Abdallah bint Yazid asked «where is your tryst?« — «the pavilion of the Mawriyan« — and when he reached it she was already inside, the first woman into the Mawriyan's pavilion.

The Defeat at Balanjar (32 AH)

The Balanjar disaster (AH 32): against Uthman's written warning not to plunge the army in, Abd al-Rahman ibn Rabi'a marched on Balanjar beyond Derbent and was killed — the Khazars kept his body in a coffin for rain-prayers; Salman ibn Rabi'a's relief column gathered the fugitives, among them Salman al-Farisi and Abu Hurayra, in the first Khazar triumph over the Muslim frontier.

Battle of Artsap (647)

Draft card for Battle of Artsap (647); its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Battle of Balanjar

Draft card for the Battle of Balanjar in 652, the Khazar clash with the Muslim forces; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Battle of Caesarea (654)

Draft card for Battle of Caesarea (654); its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Battle of Sufetula

Draft card for the Battle of Sufetula in 647, Abd Allah ibn Sa'd's victory over the exarch Gregory that opened Ifriqiya; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

Battle of the Camel

Ali set out for Basra after Talha and al-Zubayr had asked his leave; he camped at Dhi Qar and sent al-Hasan and Ammar ibn Yasir to Kufa to rouse the people. Then the Battle of the Camel took place, in which al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam was killed. Ali then entered upon Aisha, and the people of Basra gave him their allegiance. The index places the account of the battle in 36 AH. According to al-Suyuti, Talha and al-Zubayr went to Mecca, took Aisha with them, and went to Basra seeking vengeance for the blood of Uthman; Ali met them at Basra. The battle took place in Jumada II 36 AH; Talha and al-Zubayr were killed there, and the dead numbered thirteen thousand. Ali stayed at Basra fifteen nights and then returned to Kufa. Al-Mas'udi mentions that the dead of the Camel, from Basra and elsewhere, numbered thirteen thousand, and that Ali's side lost five thousand, though people disputed this: the one who minimized it said seven thousand and the one who maximized it said ten thousand, depending on each person's leaning toward one side or the other. Ali ordered that no wounded man be finished off, no captive killed, no fugitive pursued, no one's nakedness exposed, no corpse mutilated, and that no one approach their property except for the weapons, mounts, and male and female slaves in their camp. He went out bareheaded on the mule of the Messenger of God; al-Zubayr recalled the Prophet's words to him, 'You will fight him while you are wronging him', and turned back. Al-Zubayr was killed by Amr ibn Jurmuz while at prayer in Wadi al-Siba'. Marwan ibn al-Hakam shot Talha in the arm-vein and killed him, while Talha recited: 'The regret of al-Kasi, when I sought the pleasure of Banu Jurm, as I imagined'. Ali entered the treasury of Basra and said, 'O yellow one, deceive another than me! O white one, deceive another than me!' Then he ordered it divided among those with him, five hundred each, they being twelve thousand, and took for himself a single share like one of them. He appointed Abd Allah ibn Abbas over Basra and went to Kufa. In his analysis al-Sallabi holds that the hand of the Sabaiyya, the partisans of Ibn Saba, in fanning the fighting between the two camps is close to agreed among scholars; he quotes al-Baqillani that Uthman's killers feared exposure and plotted to open the war between the camps, and Ibn Hazm that the vicious among Uthman's killers fell on Talha's and al-Zubayr's camp by night; and that Ka'b ibn Sur, Basra's qadi, advanced bearing the mushaf and was shot down with it in his hand. In the academic account of the Encyclopaedia of Islam the battle was fought near Basra in Jumada II 36 AH, about November to December 656, between Ali and Aisha with Talha and al-Zubayr; it ended when the camel was hamstrung and Talha and al-Zubayr had withdrawn from the fighting and died. Aisha was sent back to Medina and Ali made Ibn Abbas governor of Basra.

Bay'a of Uthman ibn Affan

Uthman was given the bay'a three nights after Umar's burial. Before dying, Umar had sent Abu Talha al-Ansari to stand with fifty Ansar at the door of the house where the six-man shura met, letting none enter and giving them three days to name one of themselves. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, who had withdrawn his own candidacy, sounded each candidate in private — Uthman named Ali, Ali named Uthman, al-Zubayr named 'Ali or Uthman', Sa'd named Uthman — then consulted the notables and found most inclined to Uthman. He first offered Ali the bay'a on the Book, the Sunna and the conduct of Abu Bakr and Umar; Ali answered 'to the best of my ability', while Uthman answered 'yes'; so Abd al-Rahman took Uthman's hand and pledged, and the Muhajirun and Ansar pledged. Ibn Mas'ud said when Uthman was pledged: 'we have invested the best of those remaining, and we did not fall short'.

Bay'a of Ali ibn Abi Talib

Ali was given the bay'a the day after Uthman was killed, at Medina; all the Companions present pledged — though it is said Talha and al-Zubayr pledged unwillingly before leaving for Mecca, where they took Aisha and set out for Basra seeking vengeance for Uthman's blood. Ali had at first refused: 'that is not yours to give; it belongs to the men of Badr — whoever they approve is caliph'; every remaining Badri then came to him and pledged.

the first raid on al-Andalus (27 AH)

The first raid on al-Andalus: after Ifriqiya's conquest 'Uthman ordered 'Abdallah ibn Nafi' ibn al-Husayn and 'Abdallah ibn Nafi' ibn 'Abd al-Qays across the sea, writing to the volunteers: «Constantinople shall only be opened from the side of al-Andalus.« They went out with Berbers in their ranks and God granted them victory.

the conquest of Khurasan (30 AH)

Khurasan under 'Abdallah ibn 'Amir with al-Ahnaf ibn Qays in the van: the Tabasayn — Khurasan's gates — and Quhistan bought peace at 600,000 dirhams; al-Aswad ibn Kulthum the ascetic died at Bayhaq's breach and was left unburied by his own wish («raise me from the bellies of beast and bird«); Nishapur was let in at night through a quarter-master's treachery, its grand marzban ransoming all at a million dirhams; Herat a million, Marw 2,200,000. At Tukharistan al-Ahnaf made peace on condition a Muslim enter the fortress, give the adhan there and stay till he marched out — then wrenched the lance from the king of Sughaniyan's hand as he charged.

The Taking of Qaliqala and the Opening of Armenia

In al-Baladhuri: when Uthman ibn Affan acceded he wrote to Mu'awiya — his governor over Syria, the Jazira and their frontier — ordering him to send Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri to Armenia, Habib having a fine record in Syria's conquests and the Roman wars known to Umar then Uthman and after — or, it is said, and it is the sounder, Uthman wrote to Habib directly ordering the raid — so he marched with six thousand, or eight, of the Syrians and Jazirans to Qaliqala, camped on it, fought its sallying people and drove them into the city, whereupon they sought aman on evacuation and jizya, many departing for Roman lands; Habib stayed months with those with him until word came that the patrikios of the Armeniakoi had gathered a great host joined by auxiliaries of the Alan, the Abkhaz and Samandar of the Khazars, so he wrote Uthman asking him to send men of Syria and the Jazira desiring jihad and spoils, and Mu'awiya sent two thousand men whom he settled in Qaliqala with land-grants as its garrison; the Romans and their allies had come and camped on al-Fudhat — the reinforcements slow to Habib — so the Muslims struck them by night, overran them and killed their great man; Umm Abdallah bint Yazid al-Kalbiyya, Habib's wife, that night asked him 'where is your tryst?' — he answered 'the tyrant's pavilion or Paradise', and when he reached the pavilion he found her there; in al-Waqidi's chain — from Abd al-Hamid ibn Ja'far from his father — Habib besieged Dabil's people, sat on it, and the Roman Maurian met him, night-attacked and killed him and spoiled his camp, whereupon Salman came up — the sounder version with them being that he met him at Qaliqala; and after Qaliqala Habib marched to Mariyala where the patrikios of Khilat came to him bearing Iyad ibn Ghanm's writ — Iyad having given him aman on himself, his wealth and his lands for a tribute — and Habib conveyed it to him.

The Conquest of Qumm and Qashan

In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Musa and Abdallah ibn Qays al-Ash'ari returned from Nihawand they went to al-Ahwaz and settled it, then came to Qumm and stayed upon it days before taking it; al-Ahnaf ibn Qays — his name al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Tamimi — was sent to Qashan, took it by force, and joined them. It is also related that al-Ash'ari camped at Isbahan — or, Ibn Sa'd thinks, Qumm — offered them Islam which they refused, then jizya which they accepted by night, broke faith at morning, and he fought them until God gave him the mastery.

The Conquest of Shimshat

In al-Baladhuri: when Uthman ibn Affan acceded he wrote to Mu'awiya with Syria's governorship and gave Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari the Jazira, then removed him and joined Syria, the Jazira and their frontier to Mu'awiya, ordering him to raid Shimshat — the fourth Armenia — so he sent Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri and Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami, who took it days after arriving on the like of al-Ruha's treaty; Safwan settled it and died there late in Mu'awiya's caliphate — some say Mu'awiya himself raided it with the two and appointed Safwan, who made it home; Constantine the tyrant later camped on it after alighting at Malatya in year 133, gained nothing there, raided its environs and withdrew; Shimshat stayed kharaj-land until al-Mutawakkil made it tithe-land like the rest of the frontier.

The Death of Salman al-Khayl at Balanjar

In al-Baladhuri: the Khaqan met him with his horse beyond the river Balanjar, and he was killed among four thousand Muslims, the takbir heard in their defile; Salman ibn Rabi'a had been the first man appointed judge of Kufa — he sat forty days without a litigant coming to him — and had transmitted from Umar ibn al-Khattab; of Salman and Qutayba ibn Muslim, Ibn Jamana al-Bahili says: 'two graves are ours — a grave at Balanjar, and a grave in the lands of Spain's like (Transoxiana): that one whose conquests filled China, and this one watered by the rain-clouds' paths'; with Salman at Balanjar was Qurda ibn Ka'b al-Ansari, who brought word of his death to Uthman.

The Battle of Dhat al-Sawari (31 AH)

Dhat al-Sawari, 'the Battle of the Masts' (AH 31): the first great naval armament of Islam — Constans sailed in five or six hundred ships, the Muslims under Abdullah ibn Sa'd lashed their hulls together and fought sword to sword until the Byzantines broke and their emperor fled wounded, in the Arabic telling to be killed in a Sicilian bath; Ibn al-Athir notes the victory field was also where talk against Uthman began.

The First Raid on Cyprus

In al-Baladhuri from al-Waqidi and others: Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan led the first sea raid on Cyprus — the Muslims had never before sailed the Byzantine sea; he had asked Umar's leave to raid by sea and was refused, and when Uthman took office he wrote asking leave for Cyprus, noting its nearness and ease; Uthman wrote back 'you witnessed what Umar replied when you consulted him about the sea', and when year 27 opened Mu'awiya again made light of the crossing, so Uthman wrote 'if you sail, take your wife with you — else do not'; he sailed from Acre with many vessels, carrying his wife Fakhita bint Qaraza the Qurashite, and Ubada ibn al-Samit carried his wife Umm Haram bint Milhan the Ansari — in year 28; when they reached its shore — an island some eighty farsakhs square, it is said — its archon sent seeking terms, its people consenting, and he compounded with them for seven thousand two hundred dinars paid yearly, while the Byzantines compounded with them for the like — so they pay two tributes — stipulating that the Muslims not bar them paying the Byzantines, and the Muslims stipulating that they not be made to fight those who came from beyond them and that they warn the Muslims of Byzantine movements; so when the Muslims sailed they did not trouble them, and Cyprus's people neither aided them nor fought them; on this raid went Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Abu al-Darda', Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Ubada ibn al-Samit, Fadala ibn Ubayd al-Ansari, Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari, Wathila ibn al-Asqa', Abdullah ibn Bishr al-Mazini, Shaddad ibn Aws ibn Thabit — nephew of Hassan ibn Thabit — al-Miqdad, Ka'b al-Ahbar and Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Hadrami; Umm Haram left the ship and was brought a mount which stumbled and killed her — her grave in Cyprus is called the grave of the righteous woman; Mu'awiya afterwards compounded with them a lasting peace at seven thousand dinars, upon good counsel to the Muslims and warning them of their Byzantine enemy.

The forged letter attributed to Uthman

Habib ibn Maslama's Circuit of Armenia

In al-Baladhuri: Habib camped at Khilat, whose patrikios came with the tribute-money and a gift he would not accept, then marched to al-Sasana where the lord of Muks — a district of the Busfurrajan — met him and compounded for his lands, and Habib wrote him a peace and aman writ; he sent collectors to the villages of Arjish and Bajunays whose people he held, taxing the jizya on their heads and assessing their notables the kharaj — as for Lake al-Tarikh he did not touch it, and it stayed free until Muhammad ibn Marwan governed the Jazira and Armenia, annexed its fishery and sold it as revenue, whence it passed to Marwan ibn Muhammad and was seized; then he came to Azdisat, the village of al-Qirmiz, crossed the Kurds' river, camped at Marj Dabil grazing his horses, advanced to its gate where the people fortified themselves and shot at him, so he set a mangonel on it and battered them until they sought aman and peace — which he granted — while his cavalry ranged to Jurni, Ashush, Dhat al-Lujum, al-Jabal and Wadi al-Ahrar, taking all Dabil's villages; he sent to Siraj Tayr and Baghrawand whose patrikios compounded for a tribute and for loyalty to the Muslims, quartering them and aiding against their enemies; the writ of Dabil's peace ran: 'This is a writ from Habib ibn Maslama to the Christians of Dabil and its Magians and its Jews, present and absent: I have given you security on yourselves, your wealth, your churches, your houses of worship and the wall of your city — you are safe, and it is on us to keep the covenant while you keep it and pay the jizya and the kharaj; God witnesses, and God suffices as witness — sealed, Habib ibn Maslama'; then he took Nashwa on Dabil's terms, the Busfurrajan's patrikios compounded for all his lands on a yearly kharaj, and at Sisajan the people fought him — he routed them, took Ways and compounded with the castles' folk for kharaj, then marched for Jurzan; the shaykhs of Dabil, Barmak ibn Abdallah among them, told me: reaching Dhat al-Lujum they loosed some beasts' bridles, and a band of the Aluj came out, hurried them off the bridles and fought them — the Aluj prevailed and took the bridles and what beasts they could, then the Muslims wheeled on them, killed them and took back what was taken, whence the place is called 'of the bridles'; and the messenger of Jurzan's patrikios and people came to Habib as he marched on it, asking a writ of peace and aman, and Habib wrote: 'Your envoy's report reached me and the believers with me, saying of you that you desire our peace; I have assessed your matter and reckoned it of your jizya, and have written you an aman stipulating a condition — if you accept and fulfil it, well; else be warned of war from God and His messenger — and peace be on whoever follows guidance.'

Reported advice to Ali by Ibn Abbas and al-Mughira on keeping or removing Uthman's governors

The book sets out reports that give Ibn Abbas and al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba opposing counsel to Ali after his pledge: keep Uthman's governors until they pledge, or remove them and give Basra and Kufa to Talha and al-Zubayr. Ali refused to keep them. The book rejects these reports for weak chains and confused texts and calls them hypothetical.

Ifriqiya's rising and reconquest (27 AH)

Ifriqiya rose: Heraclius's patrician landed at Carthage to reclaim the old tribute, and the Ifriqiyans answered «we pay what was always taken from us — he should have excused us after what the Muslims took.« Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj al-Sakuni marched into a burning land, camped at Qamuniya, and when the patrician hurled thirty thousand at him the Romans broke and Ibn Hudayj held Ifriqiya.

'Uthman's expansion of the Prophet's Mosque (29 AH)

'Uthman's enlargement of the Prophet's Mosque at Medina in year 29.

Muawiya's demand that the killers of Uthman be surrendered

Qarin's revolt in Khurasan (32 AH)

Qarin's rising in Khurasan (AH 32): forty thousand from Tabasayn, Badghis, Herat and Quhistan — against them Abdallah ibn Khazim marched with four thousand, wrapping spearheads in oiled cotton and firing them in a midnight feint until the host broke; the ruse won him Ibn Amir's confirmation over all Khurasan.

Salman al-Khayl's Reinforcement and the Spoils Dispute

In al-Baladhuri: when Habib ibn Maslama's letter reached Uthman with word of the Armeniakos patrikios's host, he wrote to Sa'id ibn al-As ibn Sa'id ibn al-As ibn Umayya — his governor of Kufa — ordering him to reinforce with an army under Salman ibn Rabi'a al-Bahili, that is Salman al-Khayl, a good, virtuous raider, who marched to him with six thousand Kufans; the Romans and their allies had come and camped on al-Fudhat — the reinforcement slow — and the Muslims night-attacked and overran them; then Salman arrived when the Muslims were done with their enemy, and the Kufans asked to be given a share in the spoils, which was refused until Habib and Salman exchanged hard words and some Muslims threatened Salman with death, the poet saying 'if you kill Salman we kill your Habib, and if you march home the son of Affan's affair marches too'; he wrote of it to Uthman, who wrote that the spoils were cold — free — for the Syrians, and wrote to Salman ordering him to raid Arran; some also relate that Salman ibn Rabi'a went to Armenia in Uthman's caliphate, took captives and spoils, and returned to al-Walid ibn Uqba at Hadithat al-Mawsil in year 25, where Uthman's letter reached him: Mu'awiya had written of a great Roman massing, asking aid and ordering eight thousand sent under Salman ibn Rabi'a al-Bahili, while Mu'awiya dispatched Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri with a like number — the two took fortresses and captives and disputed the command, the Syrians threatening Salman, whence the same verse — but the first report is sounder, transmitted to me by several shaykhs of Qaliqala and written to me by al-Attaf ibn Sufyan Abu al-Asbagh its qadi.

Salman al-Khayl's Campaign in Arran and the Caucasus

In al-Baladhuri: Salman ibn Rabi'a al-Bahili marched when Uthman ordered him to Arran, taking the city of al-Baylaqan by treaty — securing their blood, wealth and city walls on condition of jizya and kharaj — then came to Bardha'a, camping on the al-Tharthur river less than a farsakh out; its people shut their gates against him, and he strove against it days, launching raids into its villages while its crops stood harvested, until they compounded on the like of al-Baylaqan's treaty, opened the gates, and he entered and stayed; he sent his cavalry who took Shafshin, al-Masfuwan, Awz, al-Misriyyan, al-Harhilyan and Tabar — these being rustaqs — and other forts of Arran, and called the Kurds of al-Lasjan to Islam — they fought him, he overcame them, some submitting to jizya and a few paying sadaqa; then Salman marched to the confluence of the al-Rass and the Kurr beyond Bardha'a, crossed the Kurr, took Qabala, and the lord of Shakkan and al-Qamiran compounded for tribute, as did the people of Khizan, the king of Shirwan, the rest of the mountain kings, and the people of Masqat, al-Shabiran and the city of al-Bab.

the Prophet's seal lost in Bi'r Aris (30 AH)

The Prophet's seal-ring slipped from 'Uthman's hand into Bi'r Aris, a well two miles from Medina; they bailed it out and never found it — an omen people long remembered.

The Second Raid on Cyprus

In al-Baladhuri: in year 32 the people of Cyprus aided the Byzantines against the sea-raiders, giving them vessels, so Mu'awiya raided them in year 33 with five hundred ships, taking Cyprus by force — killing and making captives — then restored them to their treaty, sending there twelve thousand men all of the diwan who built its mosques, and transferring companies from Ba'labakk; he built a city there and they dwelt drawing stipends until Mu'awiya died and his son Yazid succeeded, who disbanded that force and ordered the city demolished — some transmitters place the second raid in year 35, and Muhammad ibn Musaffa was told Yazid was bribed with great wealth to withdraw the Cyprus garrison, whose people then demolished their city and mosques once they had gone; al-Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik exiled a body of them to Syria on a charge which the people disapproved, and Yazid ibn al-Walid returned them to their land; Hayy ibn Ma'yuf al-Hamdani raided them in al-Rashid's caliphate for an offence and took captives, and when they straightened to the Muslims al-Rashid ordered the captives returned; the people of Cyprus remained on Mu'awiya's treaty until Abd al-Malik added a thousand dinars, which ran until Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz remitted it, Hisham restored it, and Abu Ja'far al-Mansur declared 'we are worthier of being just to them and did not profit by wronging them', returning them to Mu'awiya's treaty.

Siege of Uthman

Draft card for the siege of Uthman's house in 35/656, the rebels' blockade of the caliph that ended in his killing; its sources are not yet checked on the page.

The Nubian Peace

In al-Baladhuri via al-Walid ibn Kathir via Yazid ibn Abi Habib via Abu al-Khayr: when the Muslims opened Egypt Amr ibn al-As sent the cavalry to the villages around it to trample them, sending Uqba ibn Nafi' al-Fihri — Nafi' being al-As's maternal brother; their horses entered Nubia like the Romans' summer raids, the Muslims met fierce fighting and were showered with arrows till most were wounded, returning with many wounds and gouged eyes — called 'eye-bleeders' — until Abdallah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh governed Egypt; they asked him for peace and truce which he granted not on jizya but on a truce of three hundred heads yearly, the Muslims gifting them equal food. A Himyari shaykh who twice witnessed Nubia under Umar: no people sharper in war — one would ask a Muslim 'where would you like me to place my arrow?' and not miss; they lined up one day and shot till eyes were gone — a hundred and fifty gouged eyes counted — so they said nothing better than peace with them, their spoil little and their vexation severe; Umar never made peace with them and kept harassing them until he died, and Abdallah ibn Sa'd made peace with them. At Nubia Mu'awiya ibn Khudayj al-Kindi's eye was lost — he was one-eyed.

Sa'id ibn al-'As's Tabaristan campaign (30 AH)

Sa'id ibn al-'As led the first Muslim campaign into Tabaristan in year 30.

The Treaty with the People of Tiflis

In al-Baladhuri Habib ibn Maslama reached Tiflis and wrote its people a peace whose text runs: 'This is a writ from Habib ibn Maslama to the people of Tiflis of Manjalis, of Jurzan al-Qirmiz: aman on yourselves, your houses of worship, your monasteries, your prayers and your religion — on your acknowledgment of subordination and a jizya of one dinar per household; you may not join households to lighten the jizya, nor may we divide them to multiply it; we have your counsel and your back against the enemies of God and His messenger as you are able; the quartering of a needy Muslim for one night with the lawful food of the People of the Book that is ours; and if a man of the Muslims is stranded among you, it is on you to convey him to the nearest band of believers unless harm is between them; if you repent and keep the prayer you are our brothers in religion, else the jizya is on you; and if the Muslims are distracted from you and your enemy overcomes you, you are not held to blame for that, nor does it break your covenant — this is yours, and this is upon you; God and His angels witness, and God suffices as witness'; and al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami wrote the people of Tiflis a writ whose copy runs: 'This is a writ from al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah to the people of Tiflis of Rustaq Manjalis, of the district of Jurzan: they brought me Habib ibn Maslama's writ of aman for them acknowledging the jizya's subordination, and his treaty with them over lands of theirs — vineyards and water-mills called Awari and Sabina of Rustaq Manjalis, and Ta'am of Rustaq Quhuyt of Jurzan's district — on their paying for these mills and vineyards a hundred dirhams yearly, no second term; so I have executed their aman and their treaty for them and have ordered the revenue-officers that whoever resists my writ shall not exceed it against them, God willing.'

Umar's last pilgrimage and Ali left as deputy in Medina

The last pilgrimage Umar led in 23 AH, taking the Prophet's wives with their guardians who did not cover from him; Ali ibn Abi Talib was left as deputy over Medina. The book also records Umar appointing Ali as his deputy in Medina during the campaign of Ajnadayn and Jabiya.

Uthman's Expansion of the Two Mosques

In year 26 Uthman enlarged the Sacred Mosque and bought adjoining plots for the extension; in year 29 he enlarged the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, rebuilding it in carved stone with stone columns and a teak roof, fixing its length at one hundred and sixty cubits and its breadth at one hundred and fifty.

Uthman's Land-Grants in Iraq

In al-Baladhuri via Musa ibn Talha: the first to make land-grants in Iraq was Uthman ibn Affan, granting qata'i' from Khusraw's safaya and the Jalandima land — Talha's al-Nashastaj, Wathil ibn Hujr al-Hadrami's land adjoining Urara, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt's Istiniya, Adi ibn Hatim al-Ta'i's al-Rawha', Khalid ibn Urfuta's land by Hammam A'yan, al-Ash'ath ibn Qays al-Kindi's Tizanabadh, Jarir ibn Abdallah al-Bajali's land on the Euphrates bank, Abdallah ibn Mas'ud's land at al-Nahrayn, Ammar ibn Yasir's Istiniya, Khabbab's Sa'naba, Sa'd's village of Hurmuz, Talha ibn Ubayd Allah's al-Nashastaj, and Usama ibn Zayd's land which he sold; Ibn Mas'ud and Sa'd let their lands at a third and a quarter crop-share.

Uthman's settlement with the provincial delegations at Dhu al-Marwa

Uthman's standardization of the mushaf

Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman, alarmed at the readers' divergence during the Armenia-Azerbaijan campaign, pressed Uthman to save the community before it split over the Book; Uthman borrowed Hafsa's codex, commissioned Zayd ibn Thabit and three Qurashis to copy it into masahif — 'write it in the tongue of Quraysh' — sent a copy to every garrison city and ordered all other codices burned.

al-Walid ibn 'Uqba's dismissal from Kufa (30 AH)

Al-Walid, governor of Kufa for five beloved years, was dismissed after two chains of scandal: the execution of Ibn al-Haysuman's killers on the palace gate made enemies who watched him, and witnesses bore that he drank wine — one account has him lead the dawn prayer with four rak'as then ask «shall I give you more?«, Ibn Mas'ud answering «we have been with you in increase since today.« Carried to 'Uthman he was flogged forty; 'Ali held the count: «the Messenger and Abu Bakr flogged forty, 'Uthman eighty — both are sunna, and this is dearer to me«; when al-Hasan was told to do the flogging he said «let him who took the cool side of it take the hot,« so 'Abdallah ibn Ja'far struck the blows and his Khamisa was stripped off.

the Turks' victory at Balanjar — the killing of 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Rabi'a (32 AH)

Balanjar: the Turks and Khazars, after testing that Muslims could bleed, turned on the invaders; 'Uthman's letter — «the flock has grown fat with ease; do not lead them into peril« — came too late or went unheeded, and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Rabi'a, called Dhu'l-Nur after his sword, was killed before the town, his body kept by its people in a coffin they prayed with for rain. The army split in flight — one part reaching Salman ibn Rabi'a at the Bab, another Salman al-Farisi and Abu Hurayra in Yilan and Jurjan. When the Kufans and Syrians nearly came to blows over command, the Kufans answered the Syrians' threat to strike Salman: «then we shall strike Habib and jail him«.