History recorded the names of the killers of Uthman and...

History recorded the names of the killers of Uthman and their number did not exceed five: Soudan Ibn Hamran Al-Ghafiqi Qutairah Kinanah Ibn Bishr Al- Tajeebi and Amr Ibn Al-Hamiq.[^3] History records that three of them: Kinanah Ibn Bish Al-Tajeebi Soudan Ibn Hamran and Qutairah were killed at the same time Uthman was murdered.[^4] Thus only two of them survived Uthman. But the three leaders did not go after these two.

They considered all who attended the besiegement of the Third Caliph from Basra Kufa and Egypt to be of his killers. Yet most of these came asking the Caliph to make changes and did not come to kill him. They came only to pressure him to change his policy towards handling the public funds and towards his relatives. The few who killed him made their attack on him while the majority of the rebels were unaware of what the few did.

His death probably was a shocking surprise to most of those who besieged him. The three leaders considered all who attended the besiegement partners in his assassination because their presence was an assistance to the murderers.

If this logic is sound then it would have been the duty of the three leaders to go to the Imam and ask him to give them what they deserved of punishment because they were among the biggest agitators against the Caliph.[^5] A Sweeping Condemnation The three leaders were not satisfied to kill only the ones who besieged Uthman whose number did not exceed twelve hundred from Egypt Kufa and Basra. Evidently the three leaders considered every loyal person to the Imam a partner in the murder of Uthman.

They went to Basra and turned thousands of its inhabitants against the Imam then used them to fight whomever they could reach of the Imam's followers in Basra or Kufa. The participants in the siege of Uthman from the people of Basra did not exceed two hundred persons and none of them participated directly in killing the Caliph. The Qureshite war followed a pre-Islamic method. Its purpose was not to kill the killers of Uthman but to destroy the caliphate of the Imam.

How would they avenge the blood of Uthman when they were the ones who urged people to kill him? A Warning Prophecy Not Heeded The three leaders went to Basra accompanying three thousand persons including a thousand Meccans. Uthman’s former appointed governors supplied them with funds and means of transportation through what they stole from the public funds before they left their posts.