SCHISM 59ifa's signature to it. Poor Othman, nearly eighty at this time, might well
have been easy to manipulate.
In any case, the peaceful petitioners turned into an angry mob. First,
they demanded that the khalifa deliver Mu'awiya's brother to them. The
khalifa refused. Then they demanded that Othman step down and let
some better man take over. Othman indignantly refused this too. His
obligation was to God, he said, and quitting his office at the behest of a
mob would be an affront to God! He then retired to his private chambers,
where he lit a little lamp and settled in a corner to do what he always did
in times of turmoil and doubt: humbly read his Qur' an.
Outside his palace, the rioters worked themselves into a frenzy, broke
down palace doors, and burst in with a roar. They found the khalifa in his
study, and there in the flickering twilight of the old man's lamp, in year 34
of the Muslim era, they beat their own leader to death. Suddenly, the suc-
cession conundrum had turned into a horrifying crisis that threatened the
very soul of Islam.
For four days the mob rampaged through the city. The citizens of Med-
ina cowered in their houses, waiting for the violence to die down. Even
when the uproar faded, the leaders of the mob said they would not quit
town until a new khalifa was appointed, someone they could trust. Now,
at last, all thoughts turned to the one candidate who had been passed over
time after time, the man some had always called the Prophet's only legiti-
mate successor: Mohammed's son-in-law Ali.
At first, Ali refused the honor; but every other prominent member of
the Muslim community turned down the khalifate as well, and the rebels
threatened to launch a reign of terror unless Medina chose someone they
could live with and chose him fast, so leading Muslims crowded into the
mosque and begged Ali to take charge.
What a strange moment this must have been for Ali. For twenty-five
agonizing years he must have felt like he was watching the ship drift off
course. Three times, the Umma had rejected his leadership when he still
would have had the power to make things right. Each time, he had been a
good sport, because what else could he do? Trying to seize the helm would
have split the community. He had to choose between causing trouble or
watching the enterprise falter; killing it or letting it die. Only now, when
things had gone so off kilter that Muslims had murdered their khalifa, now