Philip K. Hitti

In his book History of the Arabs, Philip K Hitti observes as follows:

"Uthman who committed the words of Allah to an unalterable form, and whose reign saw the complete conquest of Iran, Azarbaijan and Armenia was a pious and well meaning old man, but too weak to resist the importunities of his greedy kinsfolk. His foster brother Abdullah formerly the Prophet's amanuensis who had tampered with the words of the revelation and who was one of the ten proscribed by Muhammad at the capture of Makkah, he appointed Governor over Egypt. His half brother Walid b Uqbah who had spat in Muhammad's face, and had been condemned by the latter, he made the Governor of Kufa. His cousin Marwan b al Hakam, a future Umayyad Caliph he put in charge of the Diwan.

Many important offices were filled by the Umayyads, the Calph's family

Charges of nepotism became wide spread. The feeling of discontentment aroused by his unpopular administration was fanned by the three Quraishite aspirants to the caliphate, Ali, Talha and Zubair."