Ashuraa and Men of Valor

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Uthman (r)His Khilaafah

• A.S. Hashim, MD
• From wikipedia.com

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Sources of Reference

• ibn Hisham,
• Uthman bin Affan, the Third Khalifa of Islam by,
  Abdul Basit.
• Hilya al-Awliya, Abu Nuaym,
• Uthman ibn Affan The Man With Two Lights (Part
  Two)
• The Murder of the Khalifa Uthman, M. Hinds,
• The Arabs in History, Oxford University Press,
  2002
• Encyclopædia Britannica
• The Early Islamic Conquests, Fred Donner,
  Princeton 1981
• A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims
  
• The Cambridge History of Islam, Bernard Lewis,
• The Succession to Muhammad
• Makers of Arab History By Philip Khuri Hitti.

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In this Slide Show

• Uthman and the Conquered Land
• Uthman, Omar, and Jerusalem
• The Great Famine
• At Omars Deathbed
• The Committee of Six
• Reign as a Khalifa (644656)
• Sahaaba as Personal Deputies
• Economic Reforms
• Public works
• Extending Al-Masjid al-Nabawi and al-haram
  al-Shareef
• Administration
• The Holy Quran

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Uthman close to Abu Bakr,

• Uthman had a close relationship with Abu Bakr,
• Who was the one who induced Uthman to convert to
  Islam.
• When Abu Bakr was elected as the Khalifa,
• Omar was the very first to offer his allegiance.
• Uthman was among the early ones to offer his
  allegiance.
• During the Ridda wars (Wars of Apostasy),
• Uthman remained at Medina,
• acting as Abu Bakr's adviser.
• On his death bed, Abu Bakr fainted but Uthman
  finished writing Abu Bakrs will by putting
  Omars name
• saying that his successor was to be Omar.

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Uthmans Allegiance to Omar.

• Uthman was the first person to offer his
  allegiance to Omar.
• During the reign of Omar,
• Uthman remained at Medina as his adviser,
• and as a member of his advisory council.
• Omar restricted the companions, including Uthman,
  from leaving Medina.
• The reason was that Omar didn't wish for the
  companions,
• to spread all over the Ummah and have their own
  followers,
• which would, he felt, result in unnecessary
  divisions in Islam.
• or leading to cult of personality
• The Sahaaba were already sufficiently valued by
  the Muslims,

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Uthmans Khilaafah
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Uthman Advises

• During the reign of Omar, considerable wealth
  flowed into the public treasury.
• Uthman advised
• that some amount be reserved in the treasury for
  future needs,
• instead of giving all of it as stipends to the
  Muslims,
• and this was accepted by Omar.

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Uthman and the Conquered Land

• A controversy arose about the land in conquered
  areas.
• The army was of the view that
• Lands in conquered territories should be
  distributed among the soldiers of the conquering
  army,
• but others thought that the lands should remain
  as the property of the original owners,
• and the lands without claimants should be
  declared as state property.
• Uthman supported the latter view (view 3 above)
  and this view was ultimately accepted.

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Uthman, Omar, and Jerusalem

• At the time of the conquest of Jerusalem
• the Christians demanded
• that Omar goes to Jerusalem to accept the
  surrender of the city.
• Uthman was of the view that
• it was not necessary for the Khalifa of the
  Muslims to go to Jerusalem
• and that the enemy, when defeated, would
  surrender the city unconditionally.
• Uthman's argument was attractive,
• Omar however did not agree, he decided to go to
  Jerusalem to accept the surrender of the city.
• in order to win the good will of the Christians,
• And prevent further blood shed

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The Great Famine

• In the year 638, Arabia fell into severe drought
  followed by a famine.
• Omar wrote to the provincial governors of Syria,
  Palestine and Iraq for the aid.
• State of emergency was declared in Medina and
  Arabia.
• And Omar dispatched his men to the routes of
  Iraq, Palestine and Syria
• to take the supply caravans to the desert
  settlements deeper into Arabia, to save people
  from annihilation.
• and a large caravan belonging to Uthman (carrying
  a supply of food grains) helped to serve the poor
  well.

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At Omars Deathbed

• Omar appointed a committee of 6 Sahaaba,
• He asked that, after his death, the committee
  reach a final decision within three days,
• and the next Khalifa should take the oath of
  office on the fourth day.
• If Talha joined the committee within this period,
  he was to take part in the deliberations, but if
  he did not return to Medina within this period,
  the other members of the committee could proceed
  with the decision.
• On the fourth day after the death of Omar, 11
  November 644, 5 Muharram 24 Hijrah, Uthman was
  elected as the third Khalifa,

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Alis Stand of the Stipulation

• Abdul Rahman bin Auf as chairman of the
  committee, made it a condition-precedent that
• a candidate for Khilaafah would obey
• not only the Book of God and would follow the
  Sunnah of His Messenger,
• but also, would follow the (Sunnah) regulations
  of Abu Bakr and Omar.
• Abdul Rahman thus put the deeds of Abu Bakr and
  Omar at par with the Sunnah of the Prophet. 
• Ali refused to equate the deeds of Abu Bakr and
  Omar with the Sunnah of the Prophet. But Uthman
  readily accepted.
• Ali refused to do so knowing that his refusal
  would cost him the throne of the empire of the
  Muslims.

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Reign as a Khalifa (644656)

• On assuming office, being 72 years old, Uthman
• issued a number of directives to the officials
  all over the dominion,
• ordering them to hold fast the laws made by his
  predecessor Omar.
• Uthman's realm extended
• in the west to Morocco,
• in the east to south-east Pakistan,
• and in the north to Armenia and Atherbaijan.
• During his Khilaafah, the first Islamic naval
  force was established,
• administrative divisions of the state were
  revised,
• and many public projects were expanded and
  completed.

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On Assuming Office

• When Uthman became Khalifa, the happiness of the
  Banu Umayya knew no limits.
• Life for them, they knew, would be all cream and
  peaches henceforth, and it was.
• Their leader, Abu Sufyan, now 90-years old and
  blind, came to congratulate Uthman, and gave him
  the following advice
• At last, the Khilaafah has come to us.
• Receive it and pass over to others like a ball,
  and use it to strengthen Benu Umayya.
• This new power which you just received, is
  everything. It is the only reality. Nothing else
  is real or important."

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Sahaaba as Personal Deputies

• Uthman sent prominent Sahaaba (Companions of
  Muhammad) as his personal deputies
• to various provinces
• to scrutinize the conduct of officials
• and the condition of the people.
• Uthman ruled for twelve years.
• The first six years were peaceful and condition
  in the Ummah was agreeable
• and he remained popular as a Khalifa
• but during the second half of his Khilaafah
  conditions changed dramatically, and a rebellion
  arose.

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Uthman and his Envoy

• Uthman worked for the expansion of Islam,
• and he sent the first official Muslim envoy to
  China in 650.
• The envoy, headed by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, arrived
  in the Tang capital, Chang'an, in 651 via the
  overseas route.
• The Hui people generally consider this date to be
  the official founding of Islam in China.
• The Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty recorded
  the historic meeting,
• in which the envoy greeted Emperor Gaozong of
  Tang and tried to convert him to Islam.

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Uthman and his Envoy, Continued

• The envoy failed to convince the Emperor to
  embrace Islam,
• However, the Emperor allowed them to proselytize
  in China
• and he allowed the establishment of the first
  Chinese mosque in the capital
• So as to show his respect for the religion.
• Uthman also sent envoys to Sri Lanka for the same
  purpose

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The Holy Quran

• Uthman is perhaps best known
• for forming the committee which produced multiple
  copies of the text of the Quran as it exists
  today.
• The reason was that various Muslim centers, like
  Kufa and Damascus,
• had begun to develop their own traditions for
  reciting the Quran,
• and writing it down with stylistic differences.
• By the time of Uthman,
• Islam had spread far and wide,
• differences in reading the Quran in different
  dialects of Arabic language became obvious.

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The Holy Quran
This copy of the Quran is believed to be one of
the oldest, compiled during Khalifa Uthman's
reign.
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The Holy Quran

• A group of companions, headed by Hudhayfah ibn
  al-Yaman, (who was fighting in the conquest of
  Armenia and Atherbaijan),
• came to Uthman and urged him to save the Ummah
  before it is entangled into disagreements about
  the Book,..".
• Uthman obtained the complete manuscript of the
  Quran from Hafsa, daughter of Omar
• who had been entrusted to keep the manuscript
• ever since the Quran was comprehensively compiled
  by the first Khalifa, Abu Bakr.
• To compile the Quran, Uthman sent for Ubayy ibn
  Ka'ba who dictated it to Zaid ibn Thabit, and
  Saeed ibn al-Aas gave grammatical inflections.
• So this copy is according to the dictation by
  Ubayy ibn Ka'ba and written by Zaid Ibn Thabit".

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The Holy Quran Continued

• As said, Uthman then again summoned the leading
  compiling authority,
• Zaid ibn Thabit, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Abdullah ibn
  al-Zubair, Saeed ibn al-Aas, AbdulRahman ibn
  al-Harth, to transcribe
• Ubayy b. Ka'ba was to dictate it to Zaid ibn
  Thabit, and Saeed ibn al-Aas was to give
  grammatical inflections
• The style of Arabic dialect used was that of the
  Quraish tribe of which the Prophet Muhammad
  belonged.
• Hence this style was emphasized over all others.

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The Holy Quran Continued

• Zaid ibn Thabit and his assistants produced
  several copies of the manuscript of the Quran.
• One of each was sent to every Muslim province
• with the order that all other Quranic materials,
• whether fragmentary or complete copies, be
  destroyed.
• When the standard copies were made available to
  the Muslim community everywhere,
• then all other (previous) material was burned
  voluntarily by the Muslim community themselves.

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The Holy Quran Continued

• This was important in order to
• eliminate variations
• or differences in the dialect
• from the standard text of the Quran.
• Uthman kept a copy of the Quran for himself
• and returned the burrowed manuscript to Hafsa.
• Both Shi'a and Sunni accept the same sacred text,
  the Quran, (for Allah has preserved it from any
  change).

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Economics

• Uthman was a shrewd businessman, and a successful
  trader from his youth,
• Omar had fixed allowances to the people according
  to their status
• and on assuming office, Uthman increased it by
  25.
• There was inflation and the prices became high.
• Omar had placed a ban on the sale or the purchase
  of agricultural lands in conquered territories.
• Uthman withdrew these restrictions,
• in view of the fact that the trade could not
  flourish.
• Uthman permitted people to draw loans from the
  public treasury.

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Economics Continued

• Omar decreed as his policy
• that the lands in conquered territories were not
  to be distributed among the combatants,
• but were to remain the property of the previous
  owners.
• The army felt dissatisfied at this decision,
• but Omar suppressed the opposition with a strong
  hand.
• Uthman followed the policy devised by Omar, but
  there were more conquests, thus increasing the
  revenues considerably.

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Economics Omar Versus Uthman

• Omar, was very strict in the use of money from
  the public treasury.
• Apart from the meager allowance that had been
  sanctioned in his favor, Omar took no money from
  the treasury.
• He did not receive any gifts, nor did he allow
  any of his family members to accept any gift from
  any quarter.
• But with Uthman there was relaxation of the
  rules.
• Uthman did not draw any allowance from the
  treasury for his personal use,
• nor did he receive a salary, he did not need to.
• but unlike Omar, Uthman was a very wealthy man
  with sufficient resources of his own,

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Economics Continued

• Uthman accepted gifts, with no objections,
• and he allowed his family members (Benu Umayya)
  to accept gifts too.
• Uthman felt that he had the right to utilize the
  public funds
• according to his best judgment,
• and no one criticized him for that.
• The economic boom was due to all the
  confiscations of the conquered land
• Huge revenues were pouring in and
• Muslims as well as non-Muslims of the Rashidoon
  Empire
• enjoyed this very economic boom during his era.

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Nepotism in the Khilaafah of Uthman

• Uthman loved the members of his own clan, the
  Benu Umayya,
• to a point where his love became an obsession.
• Benu Umayya were the arch-enemies of Islam, and
  they had fought against its Prophet for more than
  twenty years.
• Now suddenly, Uthman made them masters of the
  Ummah.
• He himself became helpless, for soon they took
  the reins of the government in their own hands.
• The real rulers of the empire, in the Khilaafah
  of Uthman, were
• Marwan (the cousin and son-in-law of Uthman)
• and Hakam bin Abul-Aas (Uthman's uncle and
  Marwan's father).

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Favoritism in the Khilaafah of Uthman

• Uthman opened the gates of the public treasury to
  his relatives.
• He gave them rich presents, vast estates and high
  ranks.
• Uthman also
• forbade the citizens of Medina to graze their
  camels and cattle in the pastures around the
  city.
• These pastures had been made a public endowment
  by the Prophet
• but according to Uthmans ordinance, the only
  allowed animals that could graze were those
  belonging to him or to Benu Umayya.

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The Grazing Land

• According to the Prophet
• The Grazing Lands (which were irrigated by rain),
• were the property of the whole Ummah,
• and therefore, the animals of all its members
  could graze in them.
• He had also told them that these lands could not
  be appropriated by anyone for private use as was
  done in the Times of Ignorance.

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Abdul Rahman ibn Auf Regrets

• Abdul Rahman ibn Auf, the head of the committee
  that elected Uthman, became despondent
• He saw craft spreading its tentacles like an
  octopus over the Ummah
• and he was shocked by so much nepotism
• and the ineptitude of the Khalifa he had chosen
• He declared that he would stop talking to him
• Sometime later, when Abdul Rahman lay dying,
  Uthman came to see him but he did not acknowledge
  Uthmans greetings and turned his face toward the
  wall.
• He died without exchanging a word with the
  Khalifa.
• Abdul Rahman bin Auf died in remorse at what he
  had done as the chairman of Omar's electoral
  committee.

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In Sermon 3, page 49 Ali sermon of
Shiqshiqiyah, Part 3
As such, one of them turned against me because of his rancor, the other inclined the other way due to his in-law relation, Till the third of these stood up heaving his breasts between his dung and fodder. And with him stood up the children of his clan, (Benu Umayya), devouring Allah's wealth as a camel devours the foliage of spring. Till his rope broke down, and his actions finished him off and the gluttony forced him down prostrate. ??????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ???????? ?????????? ???? ??? ?????. ????? ???? ????? ??????? ????????? ????????? ?????????? ?????? ???????? ??????????????? ??????? ?????? ????? ??????? ??????????? ????? ????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ??????????? ????? ???? ????????? ???????? ????????? ?????????? ???????? ????????? ???????? ???? ??????????
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Public works

• Under Uthman
• There was massive need to build mosques over the
  vast domain of the Ummah
• the people had become economically better off,
• and they invested their money in the construction
  of buildings.
• Many new and larger buildings were constructed
  throughout the empire.
• It is claimed that during the Khilaafah of
  Uthman
• as many as five thousand new mosques were
  constructed, yet the need was for much more.

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Extending Al-Masjid al-Nabawi

• Uthman enlarged, extended, and
• embellished the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi at Medina
• and of the Ka'ba as well.
• With the expansion of the army, the cantonments
  were extended and enlarged,
• more barracks were constructed for the soldiers
  and
• stables for the cavalry were extended.
• Uthman provided separate pastures for state
  camels.

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Public works Continued

• During the Khilaafah of Uthman,
• guest houses were provided in main cities
• to provide comfort to the merchants coming from
  faraway places.
• More and more markets were constructed and
  Uthman
• appointed Market Officers to look after them.
• In Iraq, Egypt, and Persia
• numerous canals were dug, which stimulated
  agricultural development.
• In the cities, particular attention was directed
  towards the provision of the water supply.

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Public works Continued

• In Medina, a number of wells were dug to provide
  drinking water for the people
• and in Mecca the water supply was also improved.
• Water was brought to Kufa and Basra by canals.
• Shuaibia was the port for Mecca but it proved
  inconvenient,
• so Uthman selected Jeddah as the site of the new
  seaport,
• and a new port was built there.
• Uthman also reformed the police departments in
  cities.

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Administration

• In his testament, Omar had instructed his
  successor not to make any change in the
  administrative set up for one year after his
  death.
• For one year Uthman maintained the pattern of
  political administration as it stood under Omar,
  later he made changes and some amendments.
• Under Omar, Egypt was divided into two provinces,
  Upper and Lower Egypt.
• Uthman made Egypt one province and created a new
  province for Africa.
• Under Omar, Syria was divided into two provinces
  but Uthman made it one province.

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Administration

• During Uthmans reign the empire was divided into
  twelve provinces as such
• 1. Medina
• 2. Mecca
• 3. Yemen
• 4. Kufa
• 5. Basra
• 6. Jazira
• 7. Faris
• 8. Atherbaijan
• 9. Khurasan
• 10. Syria
• Egypt
• N. Africa

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Administration

• The provinces were
• further divided into districts
• (more than 100 districts in the empire)
• and each district or main city had
• its own Governor,
• Chief judge and Amil (tax collector).
• The governors were appointed by Uthman and every
  appointment was made in writing.
• At the time of appointment, an instrument of
  instructions was issued with a view to regulating
  the conduct of the governors.

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Administration

• On assuming office, the governor
• was required to assemble the people in the main
  mosque,
• and read the instrument of instructions before
  them.
• Uthman appointed his kinsmen as governors in
  provinces
• Egypt,
• Syria,
• Basra,
• Kufa, and
• Yemen
• These governors then appointed members of Benu
  Umayya into other administrative but lucrative
  positions

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Administration Continued

• A possible explanation for this reliance on his
  kin is
• that the Rashidoon 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 Shi'a did not see this as prudence
• they saw it as nepotism, it was to promote his
  clan, Benu Umayya
• and it was an attempt to rule like a king, a
  monarch
• rather than as the first among equals.

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Uthmans Rule
Autocratic
Benign
Collection of the Quran
Easy going compared to Omars
Nepotism and favoritism
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Empire Uthman versus Omar
Omar's empire at its peak, 644.
Uthmans empire at its peak, 656.
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In Conclusion

• Uthman as the Khilaafah
• Discussed in this slide show are
• Uthman and the Conquered Land
• Reign as a Khalifa (644656)
• Sahaaba as Personal Deputies
• The Holy Quran
• Economic Reforms
• Public works
• Extending Al-Masjid al-Nabawi Administration
• Administration

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Finally we quote the Quran
By the Token of Time Verily Man is in loss, Except those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to Truth and exhort one another to patience. ?????? ????? ?????????? ????????????????????? ????? ?????????? ????? ?????? ???? ????????? ??????? ?????????? ????????????? ???????????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????????
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THANK YOU

• Be in Allahs Care
• Dr. A.S. Hashim