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By Habtoor Information & Research Department


  To the world at large Othman bin Affan is the man who regularised and fixed the recorded version of the Quran.  He was also the husband of two of the Prophet Mohammed’s daughters - Ruqayyah and Umm Kalthum - and is, consequently, widely known as ‘the man of two lights’.  He lived a long and eventful life from 574-656 CE and was the third of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs ruling for 12 years from 644 CE until he was assassinated in 656.

  He was a controversial figure, both at the time and ever since, but it undeniable that he has been highly influential in the development of Islam and the growth of its influence.

  Extensive conquests were made during his tenure as Caliph when Armenia, Caucasia, Khurasan, Kirman, Sijistan, Cyprus and much of North Africa were added to the dominions of Islam.

  Othman was six years younger than Mohammed and was a member of the wealthy Umayyad clan of the Quraish tribe in Mecca.  He was among quite a small group of successful merchants in Mecca who had learned to read and write and was highly successful.  He was known in the community for his modesty and honesty.

  He became a cloth merchant and he became wealthy but he was also known for his generosity and willingness to help others with his riches.

  Most notably though, he was a very early convert to Islam - only the fifth person to convert. He and Abu Bakr (another companion of the Prophet) were close friends and it was through his help that Othman embraced the Muslim faith.

  Some years later Othman married Mohammed's daughter, Ruqayya. In spite of his wealth and position, intertribal politics coupled with his enthusiastic adoption of Islam forced him to escape to Ethiopia to free himself from attacks.  He was probably the first to give up his worldly position in support of his faith.

  In due time, he returned to Mecca but soon migrated to Medina with the other Muslims.

  In Medina his business again began to flourish and he regained his former prosperity. Othman was also well-known for his limitless generosity. On various occasions he spent a great portion of his wealth on the welfare of the Muslims, for charity and on equipping the Muslim armies.  He is said to have bought a well in Medina for the Muslims who had difficulty finding water and he spent a lot of money buying arms and transport for the troops:  reportedly he bought a thousand camels, fifty horses and gave a thousand pieces of gold to aid the preparations for battle against the Byzantine Emperor planning to attack Medina.

  Shortly before the Battle of Badr, Othman's wife, Ruqayya, became seriously ill and he was excused by Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) from participating in the battle. Ruqayya died and Othman married Umm Kalthum, another of Mohammed’s daughters. When Umm Kalthum died Mohammad told him: "If I had third daughter I would wed you to her."

  The Prophet said: "The most compassionate of my Community is Abu Bakr; the staunchest in Allah’s religion is Omar; and the most truthful in his modesty is Othman."

  He particularly praised Othman for his modesty and said: "Shall I not feel bashful before a man when even the angels feel bashful before him?"  He was also a humble man and was seen, even while Caliph, sleeping alone in the mosque, wrapped in a blanket with no one around him or riding a mule with his son Na’il behind him.

  He would often spend part of the night in prayer, fast every second or third day, performed Hajj every year and supported and cared for the needy of the whole Islamic community.

  He was one of the ten Companions that were given the good tidings of Paradise during their lifetimes.  It was Othman who is referred to in the Quranic verse "It is he who pays adoration in the watches of the night, prostrate and standing, bewaring of the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord."

Othman’s Caliphate

  Othman’s succession to the Caliphate was not without its difficulties.  Caliph Omar had set up a six-man committee to choose a successor from among the members and included in this committee were both Othman and Ali, the Prophet’s other son-in-law.  In the end these were the only candidates who mattered and long discussions took place immediately after Omar’s death that ultimately saw Othman take the role of 3rd Caliph, promising to continue the policies and work of his predecessors.  The decision was accepted and Ali also declared his loyalty to the new Caliph.

  And so during Othman's rule the characteristics of Abu Bakr's and Omar'sCaliphates – impartial justice for all, mild and humane policies, striving in the path of God and the expansion of Islam - continued.  Muslim conquests extended West to Morocco, East to Afghanistan and North to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

  He also built a navy, reorganised the way the state was run and fulfilled an extensive programme of public projects designed to improve the lot of the ordinary people.

  The second half of Othman’s rule was marred by a terrible civil war and today many feel that it may have been a result of some of Omar’s gentler tendencies and the fact that he was already an old man when he took over.   He well remembered hearing the Prophet (pbuh) say: "Once the sword is unsheathed among my followers, it will not be sheathed until the Last Day."

  He had come to rely very heavily on his kinsmen, appointing many to senior positions all over the expanding Empire.  Charges of nepotism were rife and not without merit.  But the tribal rivalries between the Banu Umayya and Hashim played a large part too.  And the revised policy of allowing commanders and governors to own property outside their original cities helped ease the way for the spread of control by Quraish.  The growing power and repressive rule of some military commanders and the increasing spiritual distance between some of them and the Prophet himself led to dissatisfaction and rebellion leading eventually to the assassination of the Caliph who was held responsible.

  After a long siege, the rebels broke into Othman's house and murdered him. When the first assassin’s sword struck he was reciting the Quranic verse: "So if they believe in what you believe, then they would be guided, but if they turn away they are averse to the Truth, and God is sufficient to deal with them, He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing."

History’s assessment

  It is hard sometimes to interpret Othman’s legacy because it is so thoroughly embroiled with politics and clan rivalry. 

  Shia writers have been very loud in their criticism of Othman. Many of them have condemned Othman as an old man, feeble in character and quite unequal to the task of Government. But of course they do not recognise him as a Rightful Caliph. 

  You would expect kinder treatment at the hands of Sunni writers but as most history books were written during the Abbasid period, and the Abbasids were opposed to the Umayyads, the tendency was to suppress the achievements of the caliphate of Othman simply because he was an Umayyad. 

  On the other hand some Sunni writers have gone to the other extreme and become apologists.  The whole blame for the rebellion and dissatisfaction is shifted to those around Othman especially his kinsman Marwan, who was unpopular even at the time.  Othman is left looking whiter than white but naïve.  Some have seen the anti-Othman campaign as a conspiracy from outside intended to foment dissatisfaction and lead to destruction of the young but growing faith.  Modern historians, including Sir William Muir, see this as disingenuous and simply a reflection of partisanship.

  It is pretty well agreed, though, that as a person Othman is beyond reproach:  a good, kind and pious man helping his people and supporting the growth of his religion, a devout Companion of the Prophet who suffered personally for his beliefs.  As a ruler there is more dissent.  Some define his gentleness as weakness and his reliance on his family as nepotism.  Others day his democratic tendency was simply too soon for a growing Empire and a new faith.

  It may be that with the hindsight afforded by nearly 1400 years we see that Othman’s major achievement was how he pulled together the Quran in its standard written form making it accessible to all and incorruptible by the weakness or man’s memory or political chicanery.

  Othman died on the afternoon of Friday, 17 Zul Hijja, 34 H, 656 CE. He was eighty-four years old.

   

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