At the moment, they are in your midst and could harm you if they wish to!

At the moment, they are in your midst and could harm you if they wish to! Have you thought of a way to control the situation?” The picture that `Ali (a.s) drew of the circumstances at that time, the history upholds as facts. The rebels were ruling the roost in al-Madinah and they had their influence everywhere. They did what they wished and none could open his mouth against them.

If Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s) initiated steps for the qisas , it was not possible that the culprits would bow down their heads meekly to the executioner’s sword. They would have resisted the move with full force at their command that the lanes and by lanes of al-Madinah would have been gored with unnecessary bloodshed. They were not so meek and weak that they would easily surrender themselves.

If it was so, the same claimants of the qisas could have overpowered them during the long siege that they held of `Uthman’s palace prior to his assassination. But at that time, they meekly surrendered their arms and, after the act were done, they were claiming for revenge. These champions of qisas themselves, overtly and covertly, acknowledged that the strength of the rebels was much more than their own.

Therefore, they decided to battle with `Ali (a.s) and `A’ishah advised them to attack al-Madinah because the killers of `Uthman were boldly going around the streets of the city. Talhah, al-Zubayr and some others said: “O Umm al-Mu’minin! Forget about al-Madinah. Because those who support us cannot fight the rebels.

You must come with us to al-Basrah!”[1] These people, despite having all the paraphernalia of war and men, were unable to start hostilities in al-Madinah, and made an excuse that they were not in a position to face the rebels. If they were really, and truly, seeking qisas , there was no need to shift their theatre to al-Basrah. Their purpose was something else and the qisas was just a ruse.

Their aim was to open a front against `Ali (a.s) and overturn his rule and pave the way for their own hunger for power. It was not possible to pin the responsibility for the killing of `Uthman on, one, two or a few persons. The populations of al-Madinah, Egypt and al-Basrah were fed up of the oppressive measures of `Uthman, and his coterie, and they had turned mortally against him.

Those who instigated the killers were Muhajirūn, Ansar and even the senior who wrote letters to the miscreants to teach him a lesson.