It also amounts to misguiding the people in respect of the...

It also amounts to misguiding the people in respect of the basic truths on which history is based, because the object of such a futile attempt is that the responsibility for the events of a period, rather many periods, should be placed on the shoulders of one man who roamed about from area to area and the people of all those areas rose against the government owing to his vicious propaganda and not on account of anything else.

As regards the policies of the government, the deplorable condition of the economic and social system, the refractoriness of those associated with the government, misappropriation of public funds and adoption of dictatorial methods by Bani Umayyah and maltreatment of respectable personalities like Abu Dharr and Ammar Yasir, the author does not attach any importance to them and does not think that these things were the cause of general revolt of the people.

According to him all the uproar against Uthman was due to the activities of Abdullah bin Saba who restrained the Muslims from obeying the religious leaders of Islam and created disturbances and dissensions.

What a dangerous mentality it is that important events which were continuos and correlated with one another and had a great bearing on the society and the economic and social system of that time should be explained away by saying that the root-cause of all these things was the conspiracies of one man who according to Sa`id Afghani, roamed about from town to town and sowed the seeds of dissension and mischief in a pure society.

And by pure society he evidently means the society which was headed by Marwan bin Hakam. It deserves notice that Sa`id Afghani attaches such a great importance to Abdullah bin Saba or Ibn al-Sawda in his above mentioned book and he elevates Mu`awiya unconsciously and degrades Abu Dharr, though Mu`awiya was Mu`awiya and Abu Dharr was Abu Dharr. Afgani writes: “Abdullah bin Saba toured the Islamic territories and visited every place.

He commenced his nefarious activities in Hijaz and then went to Syria. At that time Syria was ruled by an experienced and far-sighted person namely Mu`awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, who sensed the danger immediately and expelled him from there. However, his mischief did cast some effect on him. Ibn Saba assessed the situation and sowed the seeds of mischief. He instigated a distinguished companion of the Prophet to rise against Mu`awiya. Abu Dharr was a man whose words were believed by the Syrians.