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Uthman ibn Affan, a son-in-law of Muhammad from the aristocratic Umayya clan,<ref>{{Tabari|15|p. 254}}.</ref> was elected the third caliph.<ref>{{Tabari|14|p. 95}}</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>{{Tabari|15|p. 7}}.</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> 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> In 652 he standardised the Qur’an and burnt variant copies.<ref>Jarrett/Suyuti p. 170.</ref> He built a navy to challenge that of Byzantium.<ref>Restatement of Islamic History</ref> Above all, Uthman continued the policy of military conquest, making forays into Cyprus and Spain, and adding 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> None of this required help from Aisha.

Aisha directed her troops from an armour-plated red ''howdah'' on a red camel named Al-Askar (“soldier”).<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 124, 156}}.</ref> Talha was one of the first to be killed, by an arrow to his knee.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 111, 127, 150}}.</ref> However, since most of the warriors were wearing armour, arrows killed inefficiently, so both sides concentrated on sword-work and cutting off one another’s limbs. It was said that there was never a battle “in which there were more cut-off arms and legs whose owners were not known than this one.”<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 135}}.</ref> “Never did I see a day when more men hastened to fight with only a left hand because they had lost their right.”<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 171}}.</ref> Al-Zubayr lost the desire to fight and left the battle, but he was followed and killed while at his prayers.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 111-112, 116, 126, 158-159}}. He said that Ali had talked him out of it on the grounds that they were cousins, but his son accused him of fearing Ali’s army. Neither motive seems very plausible, especially as Al-Zubayr made no effort to dissuade his allies from fighting; but if he had some other reason, it is not known to history.</ref> The battle was long and bloody, and 13,000 were slain.<ref>Jarrett/Suyuti p. 177. {{Tabari|16|pp. 164}} records one tradition that it was only 10,000 and another that it was 10,000 Syrians and 5,000 Mesopotamians.</ref> After losing both Talha and Al-Zubayr, Aisha’s men felt obliged to protect the Mother of the Faithful by keeping close to her camel. One by one, forty men (some say seventy<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 153}}.</ref>) took turns to hold its nose-rope,<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 138-139}}.</ref> chanting, “''Fear not, O Aisha our Mother! All your sons are heroes brave; none is fearful or cowardly. We will not flee until our skulls tumble, until boiling red blood pours from them! Fear not, O Aisha, wife of the Blessed!''”<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 138, 149}}.</ref> None of Ali’s men who failed to wound the camel made a second attack.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 153}}.</ref> Al-Askar held steady amid the battle until Aisha could no longer hear the chanting because Ali’s forces had cut down every man.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 136}}.</ref> By this time both camel and ''howdah'' “looked like a giant hedgehog” because they were so stuck with arrows.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 156}}.</ref> Finally someone managed to cut off Al-Askar’s right leg, whereupon “it threw itself down on its side and growled,” and the ''howdah'' fell to the ground. Ali’s men cut the ''howdah'' from the dying camel’s girth, and Aisha’s men fled.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 149-150}}.</ref>

Aisha, at Ali’s command, was extracted from her ''howdah'' by her own brother Muhammad and brought to Ali.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 157}}. Muhammad was Ali’s stepson; he had been very young when Abu Bakr died and his mother, Asma bint Umays, remarried to Ali (Bewley/Saad 8:197-198).</ref> It would have been foolish to subject a Mother of the Faithful to judicial execution, so Ali staged a public show of reconciliation. He addressed Aisha as “Mother,” and they each said to the other: “May Allah forgive us and you!”<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 158}}.</ref> Then he gave her a new camel and plenty of food and servants, and they took public leave of one another, assuring their audience that there was no further quarrel between them. Ali sent her to Mecca, where she remained for several months until the next ''Hajj'', as if to demonstrate that she was free to go where she wished. But then she returned to Medina,<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 167, 170}}.</ref> where Ali kept her under house-arrest in the mosque complex for as long as he lived. She was to play no further part in public affairs.<ref>Muir (1924) p. 251.</ref>