ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān
The third caliph and twice son-in-law of the Prophet ﷺ — he married his daughters Ruqayya and then Umm Kulthūm, and so was called Dhū al-Nūrayn. He united the community on a single copy of the Qurʾān.
In brief
- His name
- ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, of Banū Umayya of Quraysh; his lineage meets the Prophet’s at ʿAbd Manāf.
- His Islam
- Among the first believers — he accepted at the hands of Abū Bakr, the fourth or fifth to do so.
- His migrations
- To Abyssinia and then to Medina — he made both migrations.
- His giving
- He equipped the army of hardship at Tabūk with nine hundred and fifty camels and fifty horses, and bought the well of Rūma and gave it to the Muslims.
- His caliphate
- From 23 AH to 35 AH — twelve years, the longest of the Rightly-Guided caliphates.
- His death
- Killed unjustly in his own house while fasting and reading the Qurʾān, in 35 AH, aged about eighty-two.
His story
He was a wealthy merchant of great modesty. The Prophet ﷺ said of him: “Shall I not feel shy before a man before whom the angels feel shy?” When Ruqayya died he gave him Umm Kulthūm, saying: “Had we a third, we would have married her to him.”
At Ḥudaybiya the Prophet ﷺ sent him to Quraysh, and word spread that they had killed him. So the Prophet ﷺ took the Pledge of Riḍwān from his Companions, and struck one hand upon the other saying: “This one is for ʿUthmān.”
Under him the conquests reached Ifrīqiya, Cyprus, and Khurāsān, and the first navy in Islam was built. His greatest work: seeing people differ over the recitation, he had a master copy made, sent it to the provinces, and burned the rest — so the community has held one text ever since.