the whole, Madelung suggests that there is less evidence for any violence here than in the case of Abu Bakr, even though many broke with Ali later, claiming that they had pledged under duress. At the same time, that the majority favored Ali in Medina might have created an intimidating atmosphere for those opposed to him. Opposition to Ali in Mecca Talha and Zubayr Talha and Zubayr, both companions of Muhammad with ambitions for the high office, offered their pledges to Ali but later broke them, after leaving Medina on the pretext of performing the (lesser pilgrimage). Some early reports suggest that the duo pledged to Ali under duress. Ibn Abi Shayba () writes that Talha told some in Basra that he pledged to Ali with a sword over his head in a walled garden. Hasan al-Basri () too said that he saw Talha and Zubayr pledging to Ali with a sword over their head in a walled garden. Alternatively, a report by al-Baladhuri implies that Talha voluntarily paid his allegiance to Ali, while other reports by Ibn Sa'd (), al-Tabari, al-Ya'qubi (), al-Kufi (ninth century), and Ibn Abd Rabbih () place Talha and Zubayr among the first who voluntarily pledged to Ali. Laura Veccia Vaglieri () views the claims about coercion as an invented justification for the later violation of the pacts made by Talha and Zubayr. Gleave similarly dismisses the (Sunni) reports that Talha and Zubayr did not pledge or did so under duress, saying that these reports reflect their authors' attempts to provide a fuller context for their subsequent rebellion against Ali in the Battle of the Camel. Madelung argues that the election of Ali could have not happened without the pledge of Talha, as the main rival of Ali, but he also suggests that Talha did not come to the ceremony voluntarily and was dragged there by al-Ashtar. Alternatively, Hamid Mavani refers to a letter in Nahj al-balagha where Ali rebukes Talha and Zubayr before the Battle of the Camel for breaking their oaths after voluntarily offering them. Madelung also dismisses as legendary the report by al-Tabari about Zubayr's refusal to pledge. Aisha Shortly before the assassination of Uthman, Aisha had called for the death of the caliph, as reported by al-Baladhuri. She was already in Mecca at the time of the assassination, having left Medina earlier for the , despite the pleas by Uthman, who