the spoils from the Persian court were sent to Medina,
Omar had not smiled with satisfaction as all had hoped.
Instead, he looked gravely at the piles of gold regalia, at
the jewel-encrusted swords and the lavishly embroidered
silks, and tears began to roll down his cheeks. “I weep,”
he’d said, “because riches beget enmity and mutual
bitterness.”
As the Arab empire expanded farther still under
Othman—across Egypt to the west, all of Persia to the
east, the Caspian Sea to the north—so too did its wealth,
and with that wealth came exactly what Omar had
feared. Muhammad had wrested control of Mecca from
Othman’s Umayyad clan, but with one of their own now
in the leadership of Islam, the Umayyads seized the
chance to reassert themselves as the aristocracy, men of
title and entitlement, and Othman seemed unable—or
unwilling—to resist them.
Nobody doubted his piety and devotion to Islam, but
neither could anyone doubt his devotion to family. Top
military positions, governorships, senior oɽces—all
now went to Umayyads. Capable men were passed over
for family cronies, and as might be expected when they
had achieved their posts through nepotism, the new
appointees were ɻagrantly corrupt. One senior general
seethed in anger as his hard work went unrewarded and
his authority was undermined by the greed of others.
“Am I to hold the cow’s horns while another man draws
off the milk?” he protested.