Firstly: Summary of Events of the Revolt against Othman:

1- It is written in historical accounts that the paternal uncle of Othman, Al-Hakam Ibn Al-As, was in exile under orders of Prophet Muhammad, but Othman urged him to return to Yathreb, and he made his son, Marawan Ibn Al-Hakam, the secretary of the caliphate and the second man after the caliph himself. Marawan had full control of Othman and indirectly caused his assassination because of his ill advice. Marwan gave leeway to the Umayyads to rule the whole region of the Levant, via Mu'aweiya the governor of it, of course. Marawan urged Othman to dismiss Amr the governor of Egypt from his post and to appoint another man and other governors in other countries. Othman never disobeyed Marawan in any consultation!

2- Othman appointed his half-brother, Al-Waleed Ibn Maeet, as governor of the city of Al-Kufa, in Iraq, but he later on dismissed him because of his corruption, to appoint Saeed Ibn Al-'As instead the son of Othman's paternal uncle. Ibn Maeet, the father, used to be among the famous enemies of Prophet Muhammad who used to harm him in Mecca; yet, Othman appointed his son, Al-Waleed, as governor of Al-Kufa! Al-Waleed used to abandon himself to excessive drinking sessions, praying as imam in congregational prayers while he was drunk, making errors in prayers and in preaching Friday sermons! This caused poets to recite verses to mock him because of that. Enmity grew between Al-Waleed the governor and the residents of Al-Kufa. News reached Othman of his excessive drinking sessions and growing mutual animosity and that he, drunk in bed, vomited on people who entered his house to sober him up. Furious, they took his ring from his fingers by force and sent it to Yathreb with a group of men from Al-Kufa, who told Othman the caliph all about what they had witnesses, asking him to dismiss such a sponge of a governor. Othman refused at first and insulted and drove them away from his house. Ali advised Othman to send for Al-Waleed for an interrogation. Later on, as the truth was affirmed, Ali tried to convince Othman to order the flogging of Al-Waleed, but Othman refused and just dismissed him from the post of governor of Al-Kufa.    

3- Othman appointed instead Saeed Ibn Al-'As, who refused to sit in the pulpit/rostrum of the mosque of Al-Kufa until it was washed and cleaned thoroughly to remove wine stains caused by Al-Waleed whom they deemed as the 'impure' governor. Despite this pretense of piety, Saeed declared that the whole agricultural land of Iraq was the private property of Qorayish alone, and he imposed heavy taxes on people. Al-Ashtar, an Arab leader from the days of Arab conquests, told Saeed that all Iraq belonged to the soldiers who conquered it, and he led a group of men to go to Othman in Yathreb to complain of such insults and heavy taxes, asking for the dismissal of Saeed, but Othman flatly refused to meet them, and their residence in Yathreb prolonged in vain, trying desperately to meet Othman!   

4- Othman sent for his relatives, i.e. among the appointed governors, to consult them about this group coming from Al-Kufa. Mu'aweiya, the governor of the Levant, based on his military and brutal nature, advised him to murder the all! Others advised him to dismiss Saeed to appease their anger. Others advised him to turn a deaf ear to them so as NOT to create a precedent of allowing people to choose their governors! Finally, Saeed himself advised Othman to send these oppositional men of Al-Kufa into military conquests away from Arabia to get rid of their annoyance.   

5- Amr, the dismissed governor of Egypt and whose hatred toward Othman knew no bounds, got wind of the results of Othman's meeting with other governors. Amr told Talha an Al-Zubayr, and the three of them told Al-Ashtar, the leader of the group of Al-Kufa, of the intention of Othman to send them to join the next military conquest to get rid of them, and the three of them gave Al-Ashtar and his group 100 thousand dirhams to organize a revolt against Othman in Al-Kufa.

6- Al-Ashtar and his group reached Al-Kufa before the return of its oppressive governor, Saeed, to the city, and Al-Ashtar preached the people from the pulpit to incite them into preventing Saeed by force from entering the city. Al-Ashtar sent a letter to Othman to tell him of this act, urging him to appoint another governor to avoid sedition. Eventually, Othman had nothing to do except to dismiss Saeed and to appoint Abou Moussa Al-Ashaary instead.

7- Oppositional movements against Othman grew with the passages of time in several cities because of Othman's total obedience to Marawan who controlled actually all affairs of the caliphate and received large sums of money by Othman. At one point, Othman ordered a severe beating in public for some persons for various reasons, thus incurring the hatred of each tribe of each man against him as caliph. Othman used to defend all stances adopted by Mu'aweiya, much to the consternation of other governors and Arabs of other tribes. Ali had to stop talking to Othman to signal his refusal and rejection of several decrees of Othman.

8- Matters exacerbated when Othman ordered many oppositional figures to roam from one city to another incessantly, within the Levant and Iraq, to scatter them to mitigate their influence, but ironically, this led to unifying of all oppositional figures by joining their forces against Othman to incite revolt everywhere. Hence, Arabs settled in Egypt and some cities in Iraq gathered their forces and went to Mecca under the pretext of performing pilgrimage, but they went from Mecca to Yathreb soon enough, pretending to submit their complaints to the caliph. Ali offered to be the mediator between Othman and the rebels who nearly occupied Yathreb. Othman had to promise to execute the demands of the rebels, especially by dismissing unjust tyrannical governors. Rebels felt victorious and returned to their respective cities in Egypt and Iraq.       

9- On their way home, the rebels from Egypt found out that Warsh, the man-servant of Othman, was accompanying their caravan with a sealed letter from Othman to the governor of Egypt. This letter contained the decree of the caliph, Othman, to the governor to kill all the rebels at once. Of course, these letters were written in the hand-writing of Marawan. Rebels of Egypt and Iraq returned to Yathreb to invade and occupy it by force, and the city dwellers felt terrorized by the swords of the rebels, who surrounded the house of Othman to prevent him from coming out of it. Negotiations went under such a siege for 49 days between Othman and the rebels, via mediators like Ali and Al-Ashtar. Othman denied that he was the one who sent such letters of murder. Othman refused to give them Marawan, as their captive, and every time he would promise them to apply reform, he would renege on his promise, as he was procrastinating and trying to win more time waiting for any military army of supporters coming to his aid from the Levant, Iraq, or Egypt. Yathreb dwellers hated Othman for being the cause of such havoc in and invasion of the city because of his stubbornness; and they felt that they were being insulted and disgraced because of one unwise man who refused to appease the anger of rebels by complying to their demands. Eventually, the rebels asked him to resign from his position as caliph, but he adamantly refused to do so. After 49 days of siege, they prevented food and water from being entered to his household, and Othman urged Ali and his sons to stop defending him, waiting for armies and troops promised by Mu'aweiya. Hearing rumors about Mu'aweiya sending troops, rebels broke into the house and murdered Othman. Such summarized story is mentioned by Al-Tabary and Al-Masoody.    

Secondly: Historical Accounts of the Death and Burial of Othman:

1- We tackle here the role of M. Ibn Abou Bakr in the assassination of Othman; all historical accounts assert that he was the first one to strike Othman with his sword; yet, some other contradictory accounts assert that he withdrew after breaking into the house without participating in murdering Othman after the latter reminded him how Abou Bakr used to respect him, and M. Ibn Abou Bakr let go of the beard of Othman that he clutched. It was rumored that Othman was killed while reading the Quranic Chapter Two, and that M. Ibn Abou Bakr clutched his beard and abused him verbally and reminded him of his name before Islam: Naathal. And when he was about to strike him with his sword, Othman reminded him how his father, Abou Bakr, loved him as a friend, but he stabbed him nonetheless.

2- There are even contradictory accounts in books of history about details of the assassination of Othman. Al-Tabary mentioned accounts about a black Moorish man killed Othman by strangling him, and another account about an unknown man about to kill Othman by the sword, and Othman told him that the Book of God was between them, but the unknown men cut off the hands of Othman who tried to shield himself with the Book of God. Another account asserts that M. Ibn Abou Bakr hesitated and went out of Othman's house, and two other men of Iraq struck Othman with their swords and his blood stained the copy of the Quran he was holding, and one of the men kicked this blood-stain copy with his foot. Another account asserts that man men struck Othman with their swords and kicked him with their feet. Other accounts tackle how he was stabbed: in the face, in the chest, in the belly, or his hands and neck were cut off. Another famous account asserts that Naela, Othman's wife, stretched her hand to shield her husband from the strike of the sword, and her arm was cut off as a result, but she wept bitterly as he husband was struck by at least nine swords in different parts of his body and he bled to death.     

3- Naela, Othman's wife, received a sort of verbal sexual harassment when she wept and cried while kneeling over the corpse of her husband, and one of the assassins remarked that her bottom was so big! They did not care to notice that her hand was cut off by a strike of one of the swords. Another similar account of this tragic event adds that before the offensive comment was uttered, the murderer poked and pinched the haunches of Naela!

4- All money and valuable items in the house of Othman, including the caliphate Treasury money, were looted by his assassins who killed him shortly before sunset, even all items of clothes, to the extent that one of them took the cloak of Naela and made a sexual remark about her big bottom! Even the two guards who used to guard the door to the Treasury threw the keys to the murderers and ran for their lives!

5- Many Yathreb dwellers and the rebels prevented the burial of the corpse of Othman in the Muslims' cemetery, and they prevailed on others who sought to bury him there. Thus, those who buried his corpse did so at night and secretly within an old Jewish cemetery abandoned later on as Jews left Arabia, and this cemetery was used as a type of public toilet! The corpse of Othman remained unburied for three consecutive days until he was buried secretly at night, just as was done with the Corpse of Abou Bakr by Othman and Omar in their plot against the first caliph. The only difference in both cases is that the corpse of Abou Bakr was buried hastily allegedly beside the tomb of Muhammad to appease the fury of the family of Abou Bakr, whereas Othman's corpse had to wait for three days to be buried beside a ruined wall of a ruined cemetery used as toilet! Those who buried the corpse used Ali as a mediator to take permission of Othman's family (his progeny and his wife, Naela) before they do so. It is rumored in history books that some people who saw the coffin of Othman between sunset and night threw stones at it in contempt. Later on, when Mu'aweiya appointed himself as caliph, he ordered Yathreb dwellers to bury their dead in a land between the Jewish cemetery and the Muslim one to unify them as one big cemetery. Of course, no funeral ceremony was held, and it is rumored in history books that no one attended the burial except Marawan Ibn Al-Hakam and three servants and one of Othman's daughters, who wept and bemoaned him and people tried to stone her and the coffin. Later on, Marawan prayed funeral prayers over the dead Othman with few men with him.

6- Al-Tabary asserts in his history that Othman was assassinated in the sacred month of Zu Al-Hijja; Arab conquests never stopped in the four sacred months and we tend to think that God had punished Othman by being killed in a sacred month as well, as happened before to Omar, of course.

Lastly:

1- Within the pre-Islamic era, Arabs used the lunar calendar, on which all religious rites like pilgrimage and honoring the four sacred months of it by never indulging in acts of violence in them, as per teachings of the traditional Abrahamic faith passed on by his son Ishmael in Arabia. When Muhammad was asked about the moon and the lunar calendar, as usual and typical of him, he waited until the Quran would provide the answer: "They ask you about the crescents. Say, "They are timetables for people, and for the Hajj."…" (2:189). This means that Arab used the lunar calendar, before the advent of Islam, in their lives to verify the timing of the four sacred months of pilgrimage and non-violence, as the pilgrimage season would begin in Zu Al-Hijja and go on for the duration of the four sacred months; until the last day of Rebei Awwal. That is why the Quran describes pilgrimage as follows: "Pilgrimage is during specific months…" (2:197).

2- Even the Arab tongue, or language, in Arabia used to call ''years'' as ''pilgrimages'' as a type of metonymy, indicating that the lunar calendar year used to begin by the month of Zu Al-Hijja. Let us remember this expression of 8 pilgrimages to mean 8 years in the speech of the father-in-law of Moses to Moses in the Quran: "He said, "I want to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine, provided you work for me for eight pilgrimages..." (28:27).

3- Yet, the crimes called Arab conquests that violated the sacred months caused another violation: the month of Zu Al-Hijja that used to be the very first month of the lunar calendar has been made, centuries ago, to be the last month of it, and the month of Muharram has been made to be the first one in the lunar calendar year instead.

4- The venomous hatred, enmity, and animosity of Persians toward Abou Bakr, Omar, and Othman knew no bounds; as these three men crushed and wiped out the existence and glory of the Persian Empire. This is why the Shiite creed, originating in Persia and Iraq, is based mainly, past and present, among other ideas, on disowning and hating Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, Mu'aweiya, Aisha, Abou Hurayrah, etc. and on deifying and worshiping Ali and his progeny. On the contrary, Egyptians felt safer with the Sunnite Sufism that deify and worship most, if not all, of the so-called companions, especially the four pre-Umayyad caliphs. Thus, instead of Sunnite Egyptians hating Omar, the Arab conqueror of Egypt, they worship and deify him instead! Thus, Persians felt keenly the loyalty and pride taken in their tongue, ethnicity, civilization, identity, and culture and imposed all that as a religion (the Shiite one) adhered to by millions of Persians, whereas most Egyptians of the same period and until today worship and deify the one who invaded their country, enslaved their women, looted their money and possessions, occupied their lands, effaced their culture and identity, put an end to the glory of their previous centuries-old cultures, and mocked and belittled their ancient civilization.

5- With the emergence of the high wave of the Wahabi, Salafist, Sunnite, Ibn Hanbal religion in Egypt more than 40 years ago, Egypt has been a subservient country to the KSA that re-conquered Egypt in the 1970s with the riyal and the petro-dollars, and bought into her alliance Mubarak and the terrorist Mb group members, with the latter thinking of themselves as conquerors of Egypt in 2012: they wanted to re-create the ties of Omar and Amr by looting Egypt and enslaving its citizens; if it had not been for the June 2013 Revolution in Egypt, their diabolical schemes would have been realized. Thus the terrorist Salafists and the terrorist MB members in Egypt are mere tools of the Wahabism of the KSA, and their loyalty will never be to Egypt, but to their Wahabi creed which is contrary to Islam, of course. Thus, Salafists, Wahabis, and the terrorist MB group members regard Egypt as a fat cow to be milked until it would bleed to death! Shame on them all!

6- We have written enough here about Othman, and other details will be mentioned and discussed in another research of ours to be published online later, titled "Othman: A Corrupt Caliph Assassinated within the Rules of his Era".