About the year 646 `Amr was deprived of his government by the caliph Othman.
The reign of the third caliph Othman (644-656) was marked by the beginning of that internal strife which was to ruin Arabia; but the foreign conquests continued.
After the murder of Othman, `Ali (656-661) became caliph, but Moawiya, governor of Syria, soon rebelled on the pretext of avenging the death of Othman.
Othman was less careful, and allowed a fleet from Africa to help in the conquests of the aevant and Asia Minor.
The secondary position that Arabia was beginning to assume in the Arabian empire is clearly marked in the progress of events during the caliphate of Othman.