When after swearing allegiance on the hand of Amir al-mu'minin, az-Zubayr ibn al-
`Awwam broke the allegiance, then sometimes he put forth the excuse that he was forced to
swear allegiance and that forced allegiance is no allegiance, and sometimes he said that
allegiance was only for show. His heart did not go in accord with it.
As though he himself admitted with his tongue the duplicity of his outer appearance and inner
self. But this excuse is like that of the one who reverts to apostasy after adopting Islam and to
avoid penalty may say that he had accepted Islam only by the tongue, not in the heart.
Obviously, such an excuse cannot be heard, nor can avoid punishment by this argument. If azZubayr
suspected that `Uthman was slain at Amir al-mu'minin's insistence, this suspicion
should have existed when he was taking oath for obedience and stretching his hand for
allegiance, not now that his expectations were getting frustrated and hopes had started
dawning from somewhere else.
