In response to the demand for avenging Uthman

After swearing of allegiance to Amīr al-mu’minīn, some people from among the companions of the Prophet said to him. “You should punish the people who assaulted ‘Uthmān,” whereupon he said:

O my brothers! I am not ignorant of what you know, but how do I have the power for it while those who assaulted him are in the height of their power. They have superiority over us, not we over them. They are now in the…

This demand is certainly that of the pre-Islamic (al jāhiliyyah) period and these people have support behind them. When the matter is taken up, people will have different views about it. One group will think as you do,…