Fitna of Abdullah Ibn Saba

Islamic tax. The soldiers and other officials got raises in their salary and the stipends were also increased. Due to the progression in agriculture and trade, the country was prosperous. However, this provoked envy amongst people, the worldly desires sprouted and people wanted to gather more and more money through fair or unfair means. Resultantly, a rebellious group initiated sedition against Usman which created disorder in the system of caliphate. There were several causes behind this rebellion. Firstly, the prestigious Companions who truly served Islam had gradually begun to age and pass away. Many Companions could not practically serve now because they were elderly. The new generation had the lust of wealth. They had differences and envied one another which developed animosity among them. The second reason of mutiny was that in the era of Umar, the people of Quraish were not allowed to go out of Madina. Usman had taken off this restriction due to which the people of Madina were making large properties outside Madina. This nurtured lust for power in them. People who had embraced Islam just as a strategy keeping in view the need of time, were now openly opposing caliphate and involving in sedition. The biggest reason of rebellion was leniency and kindness of Usman. He often forgave the mistakes and blunders of people. Hence they started to take advantage of his leniency and under such circumstances Jews and Zoroastrians got the opportunity to take revenge from the Muslims.

The biggest enemy of Islam was a hypocrite Abdullah ibn Saba who in fact was a Jew but pretended to be a Muslim. Jews were the worst rivals of Muslims and were trying to erase the existence of Islam since the era of the Holy Prophet. When the caliphate of Usman begun to weaken, the Jews started bashing

him. Ibn Saba was cunning and conniving. He initiated propaganda against Usman and Umayyads that they usurped the right of Hashim tribe to the seat of caliphate. He corrupted the views of some Muslims by claiming that the Holy Prophet will return to this world just like Jesus Christ.

Ibn Saba and his group called “Saba‟iyya” had woven the web of their conspiracy in all major Islamic centers. Hence the whole Muslim Empire was vitiated. A group of Muslims was already criticizing Usman, therefore, Jews manipulated that group to join them in their conspiracy. In addition to the Jews, the non-Arabs who worshipped whosoever was the king of the time, also held animosity against the Muslims. The conspiracy of Ibn Saba was very successful in Iraq as over there the slogan of his movement was „support the People of Cloak‟ and animosity to the Companions. In fact he was enemy of both the People of Cloak and the Companions. He was notoriously wicked and wanted to destroy the unity and harmony among the Muslims. Some sincere and honest Muslims also fell in his trap and this was because Usman ibn Affan was not very intimidating like Umar ibn Khattab, rather was very compassionate and often pardoned the mistakes of the officials. This was why, opposers got the chance to defame him. To further sow the seeds of sedition, Ibn Saba went to Iraq and Syria and established secret groups to help him in his conspiracy. Abdullah ibn Amr, the governor of Basra was the first one to find out about his actions in 33 AH. Therefore, he evicted him from Basra. Ibn Saba then went to Kufa and was expelled from there as well. Eventually he settled in Egypt but left an impact of his wicked propaganda to some extent wherever he went. Since Iraq was culturally diverse, it became the centre of his sedition. People of Kufa and Basra had openly started to oppose Usman. Ibn Saba stated loud and clear that Ali ibn Abi Talib was the successor of the Holy Prophet and in his will the Prophet had

nominated Ali as the Caliph. He further said that Usman had usurped the rights of Ali and did not deserve the caliphate. He stated that it was unjust of Usman to not fulfil the will of the Prophet. The leader of agitators in Kufa was Ashtar al-Nakha‟i. The job of his people was to defame Usman. They initiated sedition on petty matters. Sa‟id ibn al-As and other noble Muslims of Kufa suggested Usman to throw such miscreants out of Kufa. Usman sent them to Ameer Muawiya in Syria and asked him to course correct them.

People had started criticizing Usman and his governors for quite some time but no one had dared to raise voice until the followers of Ibn Saba got strengthened in 34 AH. First of all, a rebel from Kufa, Yazid ibn Qays dared to openly condemn the Caliph. He went to Madina along with Saba‟iyya group with an intention to forcefully depose Usman but was arrested. He then changed his statement that his intention to visit Madina was to request the transfer of Sa‟id ibn al-As, the governor of Kufa. Thus he was released. Then Yazid ibn Qays reached out to the biggest leader of rioters Ashtar al-Nakha‟i and requested him to come to support him. As soon as Ashtar returned to Kufa from Syria, he started agitation and killed one of the slaves of Sa‟id ibn al-As. When Sa‟id noticed that the rioters were getting out of control and they were intending to dismiss him from his post, he went to Usman and said, “These people want to replace me with Abu Musa al-Ashari.” Therefore, Usman dismissed Sa‟id and appointed Abu Musa as the new governor of Kufa to maintain peace. He wrote a letter to the people of Kufa, “I have appointed the governor of your choice. By God! I will save my honour from you, will show patience in your matters and will try my best to course correct you.”