SCHISM 57uated to take out loans from the treasury. This khalifa also appointed his
relatives and "favorites" to many powerful political posts throughout the
empire, simply because they were the people he knew best and trusted
most. As a result, the Umayyads ended up acquiring disproportionate
clout, both economically and politically.
The third khalifa continued to practice an austere lifestyle but de-
manded no such austerity from his officials. Being a rich man, he took no
salary, but he did dole out grants to his favorites and spent lavishly on pub-
lic works. His administration built over five thousand new mosques across
the empire. Othman promoted a building boom that turned Medina into
a city of broad streets and imposing buildings paved with fine tile, includ-
ing a palatial mansion for Othman himself, a headquarters suitable to the
dignity of his powerful office (within this palace Othman lived on bread,
water, and prayer).
Throughout the empire, Othman demonstrated his business genius by
ordering improvements beneficial to commerce. Canals were dug, highways
built, irrigation systems improved. Ports got new facilities. Proliferating cities
got new wells and water systems, and new bazaars regulated by government-
appointed market officers. The Muslim enterprise didn't have quite the same
flavor as it had in Omar's day, but who could argue with prosperity?
On questions of personal morality such as drinking and sex, Othman's
asceticism put him beyond criticism. If piety consisted of penance and
prayer, he had to rank among the top ten most pious men of his time, but
Othman saw no ethical ambiguity in people making money, so long as
their moneymaking promoted overall well being.
One of Othman's great favorites was his cousin Mu'awiya. Omar had
appointed Mu'awiya governor of Damascus and its surroundings. Othman
kept adding bits to his cousin's territory, until Mu'awiya governed every-
thing from the headwaters of the Euphrates River down the Mediterranean
coast to Egypt.
Mu'awiya was the son of Abu Sufyan, the Meccan tribal aristocrat who
led the attack on Islam in two of those three iconic battles between Mecca
and Medina. Mu'awiya's mother, Hind, followed her husband to those bat-
tles, and at Uhud, after the Muslims fled, she reputedly ate the liver of
Mohammed's fallen uncle Hamzah in an act of triumphalist gloating. The
Prophet, however, was never one to hold a grudge: as soon as someone