Note 434 — Chapter XXIX · ELECTION OF OTHMAN. DZUL HIJJ, A.H. XXIII.—MOHARRAM, A.H. XXIX. NOVEMBER, A.D. 644.

For the two rival families see Life of Mahomet, pp. xx. and xxviii. The Electors were, in reality, selected very evenly. Zobeir was cousin to Aly both on the father’s side and the mother’s. Sád and Abd al Rahmân belonged to the Beni Zohra, a distant branch of Coreishite descent. Sád, however, was likewise the nephew of Mahomet’s mother, Amina. Some say that he voted for Othmân; others that, being pressed by Aly, he went over to his side. Talha was of the Beni Taym, the clan of Abu Bekr. The impartiality of Abd al Rahmân is impugned by the partisans of Aly, as being the brother-in-law of Othmân, whose uterine sister he married; and this probably was the relationship hinted at by Aly in his appeal to Abd al Rahmân.

We are getting now into the full flood of Abbasside tradition, which becomes entirely partisan and untrustworthy, with the view of exalting the claims of the Prophet’s family and defaming the Omeyyads. Of this class of traditions is the following:—Aly complained to Abbâs that he was sure to be outvoted in the conclave because Sád would go with his kinsman Abd al Rahmân, and vote for Othmân, brother-in-law of the latter; and that then, the votes being equally divided, Abd al Rahmân would have the casting-vote. On this Abbâs reproached Aly for having neglected the advice, given by him now and on former occasions, to claim the Caliphate as his right, and to have nothing to do with electors or arbitration. He had told him years before to demand the Caliphate from Mahomet, and he had neglected to do so. ‘And now,’ said Abbâs, ‘the Caliphate will leave our family for ever.’ All this is patent fabrication.