They advised him to keep at arm's length all those persons...

They advised him to keep at arm's length all those persons who were considered to be his enemies although in fact they were not his enemies. A mischievous and ill-natured person, Marwan, was his chief adviser, but he did not consider Ali fit to be trusted, although if his views had been accorded weight he would have given Uthman sincere and far-sighted advice and would have stopped him from nepotism and showing special favour to his friends.

He would have set the government on a stable and profitable path, and preference would have been given to welfare of common people, who have been protected from oppression and tyranny. Marwan enjoyed such an influence on Uthman that he never acted then, went up to Uthman and told him that Ali and other distinguished companions were conspiring against him. He used to say: These people are instigating the public against you.

The only way to maintain law and order and to save the caliphate is that you should kill Ali and all other distinguished companions of the Prophet so that the affairs of the State should be set up according to the advice of Bani Umayyah. It is they who are your relatives and real well-wishers who would like your rule to continue. When general revolt against Uthman took place in all the cities he called a conference to consider ways and means to restore law and order.

Only Bani Umayyah and their supporters were invited to attend this conference. It was these very Bani Umayyah against whom the companions of the Prophet and the public had complaints and it was on account of them that the people had revolted. However, instead of calling the companions of the Prophet and holding consultations with them to improve the situation Uthman called those who were the root-cause of all troubles, and because of whom the people had became the enemies of Uthman.

All those who participated in the conference expressed their views and suggested ways and means of tackling the situation. It would appear that some of them wanted disturbances to continue because their interests could be served better by this. Others wanted the trouble to flare up for the same reason. Still others wanted improvement of the situation provided that their own influence and authority did not suffer. All those who participated in the conference were inimical towards Ali.