included Sa'id ibn al-As and Abd Allah ibn Khalid ibn Asid. Among those who remained with the rebels were Marwan and Uthman's sons, namely, Aban and Walid. Demands and motives The opposition to Ali decried his leniency towards the rebels, and accused him of complicity in the assassination. They demanded that Ali punish those responsible for the assassination of Uthman. They also called for the removal of Ali from office and for a (Qurayshite) council () to appoint his successor. This removal of Ali was likely their primary goal, rather than vengeance for Uthman, against whom Talha, Zubayr, and Aisha had been active earlier. In particular, Talha and Aisha had likely written to the provinces to stir unrest. The caliphate of Ali perhaps frustrated the political ambitions of Talha and Zubayr, and the Quraysh in general. For these, Ali represented the Ansar and the lower classes of the society. Fearing that he would end their privileged status as the ruling class of Islam, the Quraysh thus challenged Ali to safeguard their entitlements. Their fears were soon confirmed as Ali opened the governorships to the Ansar. Ali was also vocal about the divine and exclusive right of Muhammad's kin to succeed him, which similarly jeopardized the future ambitions of other Qurayshites for leadership. In place of Ali, the opposition wished to restore the caliphate of Quraysh on the principles laid by Abu Bakr () and Umar (). Alternatively, Talha and Zubayr revolted after Ali refused to grant them favors. In particular, Ali did not offer the two any posts in his government, specifically the governorships of Basra and Kufa. There is, however, one report by al-Ya'qubi, according to which Ali offered the governorship of Yemen to Talha and the rule of al-Yamama and Bahrain to Zubayr, but the two asked for even more and Ali balked. For the Shia Tabatabai, the equal distribution of the treasury funds among Muslims by Ali antagonized Talha and Zubayr, while Hassan Abbas suggests that the two jumped ship when Ali began to reverse the excessive entitlements of the ruling elite during the caliphate of Uthman, under whom Talha and Zubayr had amassed considerable wealth. Veccia Vaglieri suggests that the triumvirate of Talha, Zubayr, and Aisha had opposed Uthman with plans for "moderate" changes after him which did not materialize under Ali. Then they revolted because apparently they feared the influence of extremists on him. Not