Word: othman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Othman's Shirt. To history-minded Arabs, the shirt-waving guerrillas recalled a major battle in Islamic history. Thirteen centuries ago, a Damascus governor named Mu'awiya, vowing to avenge the murder of the Caliph Othman, carried Othman's bloody shirt as a battle flag. Actually, Mu'awiya hoped to make himself Caliph. Ever since, Arabs have described self-aggrandizement in the guise of vengeance as "waving the shirt of Othman." As Hussein's neighbors leaped to the guerrillas' defense last week with words-but little else-that is what they seemed...