The third caliph, `Uthman ibn `Affan (2)

Samples from `Uthman's sermons:

Al Hasan of Al Basry said: The emir of the believers, `Uthman, delivered a speech: He praised Allah and showed gratitude then said:

O people: Fear Allah (may He be Exalted) for the fear of Allah is something attainable. The wisest of people is the one who accuses himself of negligence then works for what is beyond death [i.e., reckoning], and acquired from the light of Allah for the darkness of the grave. A person should fear to be resurrected blind after he had been sighted. Let it be known that whomever is in the company of Allah shall not fear anything, and whomever Allah is against him, who else he can seek?! Mujahid commented on the sermon of `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) when he said: O son of Adam, know that the angel of death, who was entrusted with you, did not miss you to someone else nor missed someone else to come to you, so take your caution, get ready and do not be neglectful because he does not neglect you. From his sermons that he said: Indeed, Allah gave you the world to seek the Hereafter, so do not lean to it because the world shall end and the final destination shall be to Allah (may He be Exalted), So, fear Allah because fearing Him is a shield from His Torment.

Mentioning something of conquests in the time of the emir of the believers, `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him):

When the emir of the believers `Uthman assumed caliphate, he continued fighting for the cause of Allah as it was in the time of the two caliphs before him. Biographers mentioned that from the countries that were opened for Islam in his time were: Tabaristan, Turkey, Khurasan, and Nishapur which were opened for Islam in the time of `Umar, but its people rebelled and wanted to restore these countries. `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) commanded the armies that were in Basra and Kufah to invade Persia and fighting the rebels. So, Jihad continued in Persia and Amorium, Tartus, Antioch, and North Africa. `Uthman commanded `Amr ibn Al `As to go with his army to Tripoli and Tangier until they reached Algeria.  In his time, Mu`awiyah asked the emir of the believers, `Uthman to invade the Romans with his army. Thereupon, he carried his army on fleet and opened Cyprus for Islam until he invaded Byzantine lands. The deputy of the caliph `Uthman, `Abdullah ibn Abu As-Sarh, marched with his army to Africa, and defeated all his encounters, and gained tremendous booties.  The summary is: Muslims in the time of `Uthman and during these battles controlled more than twenty cities that is before the disputes and seditions that took place in his time,

Sufficient is Allah for me and the best of Trustees!

Some actions done by the emir of the believers `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him):

1- He commanded that the Qur'an is copied, written, and collected in Mushafs (copies of the Qur'an) according to the recitation of Quraysh after it had been scattered in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in palm-leaves, scraps, and in peoples' memories. Abu Bakr collected the Qur'an in sheets then in one copy of the Glorious Qur'an, then copied it and sent a copy to every country. The reason for that is: When Islam spread and non-Arabs embraced it in masses, the recitations of the Qur'an were different and distortion came upon the diacritics of the Qur'an.

Al Bukhari reported in his Sahih on the authority of Anas ibn Malik that Hudhayfah ibn Al Yaman came to `Uthman at the time when the people of Sham [the Levant] and the people of Iraq were Waging war to conquer Armenia and Azerbaijan. Hudhayfah was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said to `Uthman: "O Emir of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (Qur'an) as Jews and the Christians did before." So, `Uthman sent a message to Hafsah saying: "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsah sent it to `Uthman. `Uthman then ordered Zayd ibn Thabit, `Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr, Sa`id ibn Al As and `Abdur-Rahman ibn Harith ibn Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. `Uthman said to the three Qurayshi men, "In case you disagree with Zayd ibn Thabit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraysh because the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." Therefore, it was called, the Mushaf of `Uthman.

2- Of the actions of the Emir of the Believers, `Uthman is: Continuation of opening countries for Islam particularly in Iraq, the Levant, and Egypt.

3- Organizing some state actions and their completion, as he set salaries for muezzins and statesmen.

Some narrations about the rebels in the time of `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and how he was killed:

Historians and biographers mentioned that the ignition of the rebellion against `Uthman was `Abdullah ibn Saba', the Jewish, from Sana. He embraced Islam outwardly during the time of `Uthman then started to move in the Muslim countries to incite the people to rebel against `Uthman. Moreover, he tried to mislead Muslims and spread seditions among them: He started with Hijaz, Basra, Kufa, then he went to the Levant. People responded to him except the people of the Levant who expelled him, then he went to Egypt and started to spread his rumors and seditions. He could gather some people from Egypt led by Ibn `Udays and `Amr ibn Al Hamaq, Basra led by Hakim ibn Jablah, and kufa led by Al Ashtar An-Nakh`y and headed to Medina to remove `Uthman from the caliphate under the pretext that he is not liable for power. `Utman (may Allah be pleased with him) sent some Companions to negotiate with them, but they refused, besieged him, withheld water from him, and prevented him from offering Salah in the Masjid. The army of sedition and falsehood surrounded him, whereas Companions like Abu Hurayrah, `Abdullah ibn Salah, Al Hasan and Al Husayn, the children of `Ali ibn Abu Talib, Muhammad ibn Talhah, `Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr, and others defended him and exerted efforts to guard him day and night but they were outnumbered.

It was reported that `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) forbade anyone to defend him and said: I do not like that the blood of a Muslim is spelled because of me.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul) reported in his Musnad from authentic ways that `Uthman freed 20 slaves and wore trousers which he neither wore in the Pre-Islamic Period nor in Islam and said: Yesterday, I saw the Messenger of Allah, Abu Bakr, and `Umar in my dream, and they said to me: Observe patience for you shall meet us soon. Then he asked for a Mushaf (A copy from the Qur'an) and opened it to recite but he was killed while reciting the Qur'an. [Reported by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, and Ahmad Muhammad Shakir graded it as authentic].

Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: If the people gather to kill `Uthman, they should be stoned to death as the people of Lut were stoned.

Ibn Ishaq said: `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was killed in the age of 86 and was buried in a place called "Hush and Kawkab" in Baqi`.

Al Waqidy said: `Uthman was killed on 7th or 8th of Dhul-Hijjah in the year 35 AH, and spent in Caliphate 11 years and some days.

May Allah be pleased with him, and Allah (Alone) is Sufficient for us, and He is the Best Disposer of affairs.