Uthman
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For other uses of the name, see Uthman (disambiguation).
Uthman ibn Affan (Arabic: عثمان بن عفان) (c. 574 - June 17 656) was the third Caliph, and is regarded by the majority of Sunni Muslims as one of the "Four Righteously Guided Caliphs." He reigned from 644 until 656.
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Biography
Uthman was born into the wealthy Umayyad (Banu Umayya) clan of the Quraish tribe in Mecca, a few years after Muhammad. He was an early convert to Islam, and is said to have spent a great deal of his wealth on charity. His conversion angered his clan, which strongly opposed Muhammad. During the life of Muhammad, he was also part of the first Muslim emigration to the city of Axum in Ethiopia, and the later emigration from Mecca to Medina. He frequently served as Muhammad's secretary.
Uthman became caliph after the assassination of caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab in 644. Prior to his death, Umar appointed a group of six men to choose his successor from among themselves. Included in this group were Uthman and Ali. The committee chose Uthman. Some accounts say that he was chosen because he promised to continue the policies of Abu Bakr and Umar, whereas Ali would make no such promise (Aslan, No God But God, 2005).
He reigned for twelve years, and during his rule, all of Iran, most of North Africa, the Caucasus and Cyprus were conquered and incorporated into the Islamic empire.
Uthman appointed many of his kinsmen as governors of the new domains. The kindest explanation for this reliance on his kin is that the Muslim empire had expanded so far, so fast, that it was becoming extremely difficult to govern, and that Uthman felt that he could trust his own kin not to revolt against him. However, many Muslims did not see this as prudence; they saw it as nepotism, and an attempt to rule like a king rather than as the first among equals.
Many of his governors were accused of corruption and misrule. Some of his kinsmen were also involved in the murder of a son of Abu Bakr, the first caliph, which further alienated many influential Muslims. Abu Bakr's daughter Aisha, Muhammad's widow, was particularly vehement in her denunciations of Uthman.
Uthman is perhaps best known for forming and heading the committe which established the basic text of the Qur'an as it exists today. Various Muslim centers, like Kufa and Damascus, had begun to develop their own traditions for reciting and writing down the Qur'an. Uthman feared that the nascent Islamic empire would fall apart in religious controversy if it did not have a sacred text recognized by everyone. Sometime during the end of his reign, the committee produced a text. Uthman had it copied and sent copies to each of the Muslim cities and garrison towns, commanding that variant versions of the Qur'an be destroyed, and only his version used. Many devout believers believed that his actions were high-handed and accused Uthman of tampering with the sacred book.
(Note that John Wansbrough and some Western historians believe that the Qur'an was completed later than Uthman's time; theirs is a minority opinion. See the article on the Qur'an.)
Anger at Uthman grew so general that soldiers from Egypt and Iraq traveled to Medina to present their grievances to Uthman directly. According to some accounts, Uthman is said to have promised to mend his ways, then, when the delegations had left, reneged on his promises. The soldiers returned and laid siege to his house for more than twenty days in 656. The siege ended when some of the rebels broke into Uthman's house and killed him. Tradition has it that he was reading the Qur'an when he was slain. Uthman was eventually buried in Medina.
He was succeeded by Ali, who was himself assassinated in turn and succeeded by Muawiyah I, Uthman's kinsman and the Umayyad governor of Syria. Some scholars therefore count Uthman as the first of the Umayyad dynasty, though the scholarly consensus is that Muawiyah is the first.
Sunni view of Uthman
According to the Sunni account of Uthman, he was married to two of Muhammad's daughters at separate times, earning him the name Dhun Nurayn or the "Possesor of Two Lights." In this he was supposed to outrank Ali ibn Abu Talib, who had married only one of Muhammad's daughters. However, some Western scholars have questioned this tradition, saying that the daughters were invented for polemic purposes. Nevertheless there is some early textual proof for Uthman's second marriage to Umm Kulthum.
The Sunni also say Uthman was one of the ten people for whom it was witnessed that they were destined for Paradise and one of the six with whom Muhammad was pleased when he died.
Shi'a view of Uthman
As the Shi'a believe that Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, should have been the first caliph, they regard Uthman as a usurper and an enemy of Ali (see Succession to Muhammad). They believe that he is guilty of all of which history accuses him: nepotism, corruption, double-dealing, and turning the empire over to Muhammad's old enemies, the Umayyads. Shi'as believe that Uthman, like many of the other early Muslims, was seduced by the pleasures of power and wealth, and strayed from the strict path of Islam as followed by Ali. They also question the tradition that Uthman married two of Muhammad's daughters, insisting that Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad were Muhammad's step-daughters.
Non-Muslims
One non-Muslim academic, Bernard Lewis, says of Uthman:
- "Uthman, like Mu'awiya, was a member of the leading Meccan family of Ummaya and was indeed the sole representative of the Meccan patricians among the early companions of the Prophet with sufficient prestige to rank as a candidate. His election was at once their victory and their opportunity. That opportunity was not neglected. Uthman soon fell under the influence of the dominant Meccan families and one after another of the high posts of the Empire went to members of those families.
The weakness and nepotism of Uthman brought to a head the resentment which had for some time been stirring obscurely among the Arab warriors. The Muslim tradition attribute the breakdown which occurred during his reign to the personal defects of Uthman. But the causes lie far deeper and the guilt of Uthman lay in his failure to recognize, control or remedy them." (The Arabs in History, p 59, Oxford University Press, 2002)
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See also
References
Levi Della Vida, G. and R.G. Khoury. "‘Uthmān b. ‘Affān." Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Eds. P.J. Bearman et. al. 12 Vols. Brill, 2004. 30 October 2005 <http://www.encislam.brill.nl/>.
External links
Views of various Islamic historians on Uthman:
Shi'a view of Uthman:
de:Uthman ibn Affan es:Uthman ibn Affan fr:Uthman id:Usman bin Affan it:'Othmàn ibn 'Affàn he:עות'מאן ms:Uthman bin Afan nl:Oethman ibn Affan ja:ウスマーン・イブン＝アッファーン pt:Otman ru:Осман (халиф) sv:Uthman ibn Affan wa:Otman (calife) zh:奧斯曼·伊本·阿凡
Categories: Arab people | Rashidun | 574 births | 656 deaths | Sahaba