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Uthman ibn Affan, a son-in-law of Muhammad from the aristocratic Umayya clan, was elected the third caliph.<ref>{{Tabari|15|p. 252}}</ref> Aisha, who was now 30, had no ties of kinship or friendship with him. He began his reign by increasing the salaries of his officials<ref>Muir (1924), p. 198.</ref> and continued to make extravagant gifts to his personal friends.<ref>Restatement of the History of Islam.</ref> Uthman was well-liked in the early years, for “he treated them with leniency and was attached to them.”<ref>Jarrett/Puyuti p. 161.</ref> As Medina prospered under his rule, “the fatness of men reached its height,” and “lax” people could be seen betting on flying pigeons and shooting with crossbows – until Uthman cut the wings of the pigeons and broke the bows.<ref>Jarrett/Puyuti p. 170.</ref> He expanded the mosque at Medina to a size of about 67m x 71m by buying up most of the adjoining buildings, though not the houses of Muhammad’s widows. Aisha therefore exchanged most of her old neighbours for carved stone walls, stone pillars and a teakwood roof.<ref>Jarrett/Puyuti pp. 159-160.</ref>

Uthman continued the policy of military conquest, adding Cyprus and Spain as well as the remaining provinces of North Africa, Anatolia (modern Turkey), Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, most of modern Afghanistan and parts of western India (modern Pakistan) to the Islamic empire.<ref>Jarrett/Puyuti pp. 159-161. He built a navy to challenge that of Byzantium.<ref>Restatement of Islamic History</ref> In 652 he standardised the Qur’an and burnt variant copies.<ref>Jarrett/Puyuti p. 170.</ref> None of this required help from Aisha.

But Uthman was elderly,<ref>{{Tabari|15|p. 252}}</ref> and his competence declined with his age. After 650 the people became disillusioned by his nepotism and his embezzling of the state treasury.<ref>{Tabari|16|p. 100}}; Jarrett/Puyuti p. 161.</ref> Abu Dharr al-Ghifari preached against Uthman’s opulent lifestyle: “Your gold and silver shall burn red-hot in Hellfire and brand your foreheads!” Uthman exiled Abu Dharr to the desert, where he died,<ref>Muir (1924), pp. 211-213.</ref> and the only economy he made was to reduce Aisha’s pension to the same sum allowed to Muhammad’s other widows.<ref></ref> He appropriated the common pastures around Medina for the Umayya clan and forbade anyone else to graze their animals there.<ref>Restatement of the History of Islam.</ref> A group of his detractors composed a letter criticising his “un-Islamic” policies, which was delivered by Ammar ibn Yasir, an early convert to Islam<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117.</ref> who had fought at Badr.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 329.</ref> Uthman reacted to the criticism by ordering the octogenarian Ammar to be flogged. At this point, Aisha interrupted Friday prayers to address Uthman in public: “How soon indeed you have forgotten the ''sunna'' of your Prophet, when his hairs, a shirt and sandal have not yet perished!”<ref>Abbott, N. (1942, 1998). ''Aishah: the Beloved of Muhammad''. London: Saqi Books.</ref> When Uthman’s brother Walid ibn Uqba, Governor of Kufa, turned up drunk to lead the prayers,<ref>Jarrett/Puyuti p. 159</ref> Uthman overlooked it and withheld the customary punishment. Aisha complained to Uthman, who responded with a remark that she had no right to approach him since she had been “ordered to stay at home.”<ref>Abbott (1942, 1998).</ref> At this suggestion that a woman should not be involved in public affairs, some people “demanded to know who indeed had better right than Aisha in such matters.”<ref>Abbott (1942, 1998).</ref> Uthman belatedly sentenced his brother to 80 lashes, which Ali delivered.<ref>{{Bukhari|5|57|45}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|212}}.</ref>

Matters came to a head when Uthman’s governor in Egypt committed a murder, and 700 Egyptians arrived in Medina to petition for a new incumbent. Aisha supported the delegation: “You have refused the request of Muhammad’s Companions to remove this man, yet he has killed one of their people. Therefore do them justice against your governor.” After similar urgings from Talha ibn Ubaydullah and Ali, Uthman promised to appoint Aisha’s brother Muhammad as the replacement governor. But on his journey to Egypt, Muhammad intercepted a letter bearing Uthman’s seal that ordered the old governor to kill him. He returned to Medina to show the letter (which Uthman then denied writing), “and there was not one of the people of Medina but was wroth against Othman, and it increased the wrath and anger of those who were enraged on account of Ibn Masa’ud, Abu Darr, and Ammar-b-Yasir.”</ref>Jarrett/Puyuti p. 163.</ref> Aisha was among many who now claimed that Uthman was a “dotard”<ref></ref> who had “become an unbeliever”.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 52-53}}.</ref> Letters signed with her name called for his assassination, though she later claimed they had been forged:<ref>Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 3 p. 60; Baladhuri, ''Ansab al-Ashraf'' vol. 5 pp. 596-597.</ref> “No, by the One in whom believed the believers and disbelieved the disbelievers, I did not write to them with the black [ink] on the white [paper]!” Even if, as her friends chose to believe,<ref>Baladhuri, ''Ansab al-Ashraf'' vol. 5 p. 597.</ref> she was telling the truth – even if her real desire was only to depose Uthman and not to kill him – she did nothing to help him.  

In April 656 rebels from Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt converged in Medina and demanded that Uthman abdicate.<ref>Muir (1924), pp. 224-227.</ref> They besieged him in his house and cut off his water supply</ref>Jarrett/Puyuti pp. 162-163.</ref> while the citizens of Medina watched. Leading Muslims like Ali, Talha and Al-Zubayr made only token efforts to assist their Caliph.<ref>Muir (1924), pp. 230-231.</ref> Seeing that the rebels were likely to prevail, Aisha departed in June for the annual ''Hajj'' in Mecca so that she would be far from the crime-scene. She urged her brother Muhammad to accompany her, but he declined.<ref>Muir (1924), p. 231.</ref> During her absence, he was the leader of the besiegers who broke through the roof of Uthman’s house and stabbed him to death.<ref>{{Tabari|15|pp. 165-185}}; Jarrett/Puyuti pp. 165-167.</ref>