ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM 43 above plunged the nascent Muslim community into civil war which began after 'Uthman (the third Caliph) assumed the reigns of power. He was accused by the rebels to have appointed relatives and members of his clan to all important governmental posts. State and Rebellion Mohammed had created a very primitive kind of state machinery. There were, in his lifetime, hardly any state functionaries paid from the state treasury. In other words, not the bureaucracy, but only the highly commited followers of Islam were in charge of the new-born state, their livelihood being their own responsibility. There was no standing army either. The committed followers of Mohammed banded themselves together to fight whenever the occasion demanded. But now it was a different matter. A new bureaucracy supported by the state treasury came into existence. There were few important posts to go round and a large number of senior companions to claim them. Moreover,, some companions got rich dividends and acquired large estates. All these created dissensions and led to civil war causing much bloodshed. The two last Caliphs were murdered by the Muslims themselves. The protest movement adopted two opposite channels: the Shiite movement (Shias were supporters of Alt) and the Kharijite movement (Kharljites were enemies oPUthman and Alt). The Shia protest movement had its origin in towns and found its supporters among poor crafismen, people of foreign origin and slaves. Kufa, the centre of Shia movement had half its population composed of Mawali (clients), who monopolized handicraft, trade and commerce. They were mostly Persians in race and language; they had come to Kufa as prisoners of war and converted to Islam. However, they remained dependents of Arabs and had no hope of freeing themselves from the status of clientship. The Kharijites on the other hand represented the nomadic reaction against the aristocracy of the rich town dwellers. The Kharijites were mostly drawn from the Bedouin soldiery who settled in Basra and Kufa after the Persian wars. Far from acknowledging the peculiar sanctity of a Qurayshitc, they desired a chief of their own blood whom they might obey, in Bedouin fashion, as he did not abuse or exceed the powers conferred upon him. Their two fundamental doctrines were 1) every free Arab was eligible as Caliph and 2) that an evil-doing Caliph should be deposed. Their nomadic outlook could not accept strict discipline of urban life and government. Their slogan was la imara (no government) which meant the anarchy of desert life. Future recruits for religio-political opposition either came from Kharijites or Shias, and some of the bitterest class wars were fought under the banner of the Shia movement. 1 Maxim Rodinson, Mohammed, p 236-37. 2 Philip K Hitti, History of the Arabs, p 14. 8 Joel Carmichael, The Shaping of the Arabs: A Study in Ethnic identity, George Alien and Unwin Ltd p 10.