فَإِنْ أَبَوْا أَعْطَيْتُهُمْ حَدَّ السَّيْفِ...

Alternative Sources for Sermon 22 (1) Ibn Qutaybah, al-'Imamah, I, 154; (2) al-Thaqafi, al-Gharat, see Ibn Abi al-Hadid, II, 35; (3) al-Tabari, al-Mustarshid, 95; (4) Ibn Tawus, Kashf, 173; (5) al-Tusi, al-'Amali, I, 172; (6) al-Khwarazmi, al-Manaqib; 117; (7) Ibn al-'Athir, al-Nihayah, I, 171, II, 167; (8) al-Mufid, al-Jamal, * 129; see Sermon:26 and Sermon:171 below.

[^1]: When Amir al-mu'minin was accused of `Uthman's assassination he delivered this sermon to refute that allegation, wherein he says about those who blamed him that: "These seekers of vengeance cannot say that I alone am the assassin and that no one else took part in it. Nor can they falsify witnessed events by saying that they were unconcerned with it. Why then have they put me foremost for this avenging? With me they should include themselves also.

If I am free of this blame they cannot establish their freedom from it. How can they detach themselves from this punishment? The truth of the matter is that by accusing me of this charge their aim is that I should behave with them in the same manner to which they are accustomed. But they should not expect from me that I would revive the innovations of the previous regimes. As for fighting, neither was I ever afraid of it nor am I so now.

Allah knows my intention and He also knows that those standing on the excuse of taking revenge are themselves his assassins." Thus, history corroborates that the people who managed his (`Uthman's) assassination by agitation and had even prevented his burial in Muslims' graveyard by hurling stones at his coffin were the same who rose for avenging his blood.

In this connection, the names of Talhah ibn `Ubaydillah, az-Zubayr ibn al-`Awwam and `A'ishah are at the top of the list since on both occasions their efforts come to sight with conspicuity. Thus Ibn Abi'l-Hadid writes that: Those who have written the account of assassination of `Uthman state that on the day of his killing Talhah's condition was that in order to obscure himself from the eyes of the people he had a veil on his face and was shooting arrows at `Uthman's house.