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→The Caliphate of Uthman
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===The Caliphate of Uthman=== | ===The Caliphate of Uthman=== | ||
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/Suyuti p. 161 | 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/Suyuti p. 161.</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/Suyuti pp. 159-160.</ref> In 652 he standardised the Qur’an and burnt variant copies.<ref>Jarrett/Suyuti p. 170.</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/Suyuti p. 170.</ref> Above all, 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/Suyuti pp. 159-161.</ref> He built a navy to challenge that of Byzantium.<ref>Restatement of Islamic History</ref> None of this required help from Aisha. | ||
Above all, 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/Suyuti pp. 159-161.</ref> He built a navy to challenge that of Byzantium.<ref>Restatement of Islamic History</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/Suyuti p. 161.</ref> The residents of Medina were angry when he appropriated the common pastures around the city for the Umayya clan and forbade anyone else to graze their animals there.<ref>Restatement of the History of Islam.</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> The Caliph’s only economy he made was to reduce Aisha’s pension to the same sum allowed to Muhammad’s other widows.<ref></ref> This was tactless, and not only because the Islamic state, in both forbidding the widows to marry and making it difficult for them to earn a living, had a moral duty to provide for them. Aisha, who worked harder than any of the other widows in promoting Islam through her teaching, probably perceived her pension more in the light of a salary; and as she was the reverse of selfish in how she used her money, she could easily claim that her annoyance at the slight<ref></ref> was not greed but very much a matter of principle. | 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/Suyuti p. 161.</ref> The residents of Medina were angry when he appropriated the common pastures around the city for the Umayya clan and forbade anyone else to graze their animals there.<ref>Restatement of the History of Islam.</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> The Caliph’s only economy he made was to reduce Aisha’s pension to the same sum allowed to Muhammad’s other widows.<ref></ref> This was tactless, and not only because the Islamic state, in both forbidding the widows to marry and making it difficult for them to earn a living, had a moral duty to provide for them. Aisha, who worked harder than any of the other widows in promoting Islam through her teaching, probably perceived her pension more in the light of a salary; and as she was the reverse of selfish in how she used her money, she could easily claim that her annoyance at the slight<ref></ref> was not greed but very much a matter of principle. | ||