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Uthman's Assassination and the First Fitna: The First Muslim Civil War from Medina to Siffin and the Rise of the Umayyads
Paperback
General Middle Eastern History
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 24 2025
Pages: 188
Weight: 0.42
Height: 0.40 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
Uthman's Assassination and the First Fitna is a clear, source-critical history of the crisis that reshaped the seventh-century Muslim community-from the siege in Medina (35 AH / 656 CE) to the rise of Umayyad rule (41 AH / 661 CE).
Moving chapter by chapter, it reconstructs how local grievances in Egypt, Kufa, and Basra escalated into a general rebellion; how the killing of the caliph ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān unfolded and was remembered; why rival coalitions formed around ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; and how the battles of the Camel and Ṣiffīn, the arbitration, and the emergence of the Kharijites changed ideas of authority, justice, and communal order. The narrative then follows al-Ḥasan's settlement with Muʿāwiya and the consolidation of a Syrian-centered state.
What sets this book apart is its method. Reports from early Arabic chronicles are weighed against administrative habits, papyri, coin sequences, and non-Arabic notices; claims are presented in graded form-well-attested, plausible, contested, or unlikely-so readers can see what the evidence truly supports. Along the way, key terms such as bayʿa (public pledge), dīwān (pay register), baghy (armed transgression), and khutba/sikka (pulpit/coinage as emblems of rule) are defined in plain English.
Ideal for: general readers, students of Middle Eastern or religious history, book clubs, and anyone seeking a balanced account that neither sanctifies the past nor indicts it without evidence.
Inside you'll find:
- A verified timeline of the siege and assassination
- Clear coverage of the Camel and Ṣiffīn and the arbitration
- How legal and theological debates (justice, rebellion, responsibility) took shape
- How early statecraft-pay, roads, courts-made or broke legitimacy
A rigorous, readable guide to one of the most consequential turning points in early Islam.
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