They returned to Kufa while they insisted on criticizing the then government.

They returned to Kufa while they insisted on criticizing the then government. They released their tongues to mention the defects of Sa’eed, Mu’awiya, and Uthman. Again Sa’eed wrote a letter to Uthman and asked him to banish these men from his city. Uthman responded and commanded him to banish them to Hams and al-Jazira, and he drove them away from their homeland. There, Abdurrahman bin Khalid bin al-Waleed, the governor of Mu’awiya over Hams, treaded them badly.

He tortured them, and said to them obscene and ugly words. When he rode (his horse), he ordered them to walk around him to display their humiliation and abasement and to urge the people to disparage them. When they saw such rudeness, they showed obedience and announced repentance. They asked him to forgive them their sins. He forgave them and wrote a letter to Uthman and asked him to be pleased with and pardon them. Uthman responded to him and commanded to repatriate them to Kufa.

Sa’eed went to Yathrib on a task and he found the people there complaining to Uthman of him and asking to depose him (Sa’eed). But Uthman refused to respond to them and command Sa’eed to go back to his work. Accordingly, the people had gone back home before him. They had occupied Kufa and sworn by Allah that Sa’eed would not enter it as long as they carried their swords. Then Malik al-Ashtar headed them and went to al-Jur‘a. There, they waited for Sa’eed.

When he came,they prevented him from entering the city. They forced Uthman to remove him from office and to appoint someone other than him. Uthman unwillingly responded to them.[^1] The important thing is that Uthman severely punished those who criticized Sa’eed bin al-Aas, while they were the reciters of the Qur’an and jurists of the city. He banished them from their homelands and went too far in exhausting them for the sake of a foolish young man who was among his relatives and family.

This affair brought about grumbling against him, displeasure, and hatred of the community toward his government. Abdullah Bin Aamir Uthman removed Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari from the authority over Basrah and appointed his cousin Abdullah bin Aamir bin Kurayz.[^2] He appointed him over it while he was twenty-four or five years old.[^3] Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari heard of that, and he said to the people: “The boy who spends lavishly will come to you. His grandmothers and aunts are highborn.