|
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. | 
