Correction

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that Uthman had been killed by slaves. Several books I'd read had stated this, don't remember which ones. I concluded from this, and by other subjects in those books, that it had been a result of some woman's revenge for having been enslaved. However, after having read a book on the history of early Islam from the late years of Mohammed to the martyrdom of Ali, and the deaths of his sons Hussan and Hussain, I realize this was completely wrong. After Mohammed, Abu Bakr had led, and then Omar-who was very intense and legalistic. Uthman had let his family acquire influential positions throughout the expanding empire. The capital had been moved to Damascus. The old families had lost a lot of control over things, and felt left out. He allowed a lot of materialism to creep into things, both in dress and living spaces.

Some who wanted to return to a more spiritual level opposed him. Those broke into his home, killing him. After that the division between which group's candidate would win brought about the rivalry over Ali's right to succeed as caliph. It seems that Mohammed's daughter Fatima had a candidate and Aisha had one. Fatima was married to Ali, so Mohammed had been his adopted father, cousin, and father-in-law, as well as having been one of the earliest believers. (She was also Hassan and Hussein's mom.) Mohammed's favorite wife, Aisha, had her own group whom she led in rebellion. She lost initially, and retired from the battle. But another group picked it up and ended up tricking Ali out of the position, and later killing him.
This is where the Shia's and Sunni's start in their division. Well, actually since they believe Ali should have had it to start with, as being his son-in-law, and father of Mohammed's grandsons, they question the right of Bakr, Omar, and Uthman to have been leaders at all. But Ali had submitted to those men, so it wasn't until the division and martyrdom that everything started separating so severely.
I need to get together a bibliography of all the books I've read, so that some idea of my sources will be available. I try not to just talk out of the top of my head, or make up stuff. I did read somewhere that Mohammed had been poisoned by some woman by feeding him poisoned goat, and for that reason, Muslims do not eat goat.
This book I read did not include anything about that, so I do not know if that earlier report was true. The main thing it dealt with about Mohammed's death was that he asked his other wives if they would mind if he stayed with Aisha while he was sick and didn't move to each one's room on their appointed night. And it discussed the various versions of whether Mohammed died in Ali's arms, or in Aisha's. And said both could be true-the Shia and the Sunnie version (as Aisha admitted there was a man in her rooom besides the prophet when he died. It is likely that they could have put aside their differences at that point.)
I also wrote a post for Easter that I have not included yet.