The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

‘Uthman b. ‘Affan (ca. 579–656)

The third of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs, ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan’s caliphate began after his election by a shūrā (consultative) council of six Qurashi Companions, whom his predecessor, ‘Umar b. al-Khattab (ca. 580–644), appointed as he lay dying. ‘Uthman was an early Companion of the Prophet, and his personal wealth, meticulous dress, and graceful manner garnered him a reputation as a man of finesse rather than a man of hard-boiled military grit and religious austerity like his peers and rivals. ‘Uthman’s caliphate lasted 12 years (644–56) but ended traumatically when he was assassinated in Medina. His death marks both the first regicide of a Muslim leader at Muslim hands and the inauguration of the First Islamic Civil War (fitna). The civil war ensuing after his death was largely between the faction that considered ‘Uthman a martyr killed unjustly (maẓlūm) and the faction that reviled ‘Uthman as a lax ruler who had forfeited his right to the leadership of the community by his many misdeeds (aḥdāth) or as the usurper of ‘Ali b. Abi Talib’s (d. 661) right and, therefore, was justly killed as a wrongdoer (ẓālim). These two warring factions, the pro-‘Uthmanis (represented by Mu‘awiya [d. 680] in Syria and Talha b. ‘Ubayd, Zubayr b. ‘Awwam, and ‘A’isha bt. Abi Bakr in the Hijaz) and the pro-‘Alids/Hashimids, or Shi‘at ‘Ali (represented by ‘Ali and his supporters in Iraq and Egypt), are the earliest ancestors of three major sectarian divisions of Islam: Sunnism, Shi‘ism, and Kharijism/Ibadism. Mu‘awiya’s victory over the Hashimid party in 661 marked the dynastic ascendance of ‘Uthman’s clan, the Umayyads, who dominated the caliphate until 750.

Historians have often interpreted ‘Uthman’s election by the shūrā as rooted not so much in his proven capacity for leadership in relation to the other candidates—for in this quality he was lacking—but rather his status as the Prophet’s son-in-law. ‘Uthman had married two of the Prophet’s daughters, Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum (hence his nickname Dhū al-Nūrayn, “the possessor of the two lights”). ‘Uthman’s marriages thus rendered him the most capable counterweight to ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, the figurehead of Muhammad’s clan, the Banu Hashim, whose influence the other participants in the shūrā sought to mitigate. His victory over ‘Ali accorded him unparalleled status as the first caliph chosen by a consensus of his peers—Abu Bakr’s so-called election was regarded as just but, nonetheless, an ad hoc maneuver (falta) hardly worth repeating—and this status seems to have instilled within him a profound sense of divine election as well. This notion comes to the fore in the subsequent attribution to him, almost certainly after his death, of the title of God’s caliph (khalīfat Allāh) and his belief that the caliphate was a garment (qamīṣ) with which God had clothed him.

Commensurate with ‘Uthman’s high conception of his caliphal office were his numerous efforts to effectuate a modicum of centralized authority as the Medinan polity adapted to the postconquest phase of consolidating its holdings in the provinces in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. The contradictions this entailed, balancing centralized authority and the Arab tribemen’s desire for local autonomy in the provinces, embroiled his caliphate in conflict. Most emblematic of this was ‘Uthman’s codification of the Qur’anic text, from which all present-day Qur’ans ostensibly derive, whereby he established a Medinan codex (muṣḥaf) and ordered for rival codices, particularly those in Iraq, to be burned and eliminated. Although he did so at the cost of alienating the Qur’an readers (qurrā’)—the new piety-minded Islamic elite who would later lead the call for his abdication—this achievement, if it is indeed to be accorded the historical weight given to it by the Muslim sources, certainly proved to be his most important contribution, inasmuch as it has provided the perennial basis for Muslim identity and faith across sectarian divides until this day.

Traditionally divided into two six-year divisions, one good and the other bad, ‘Uthman’s caliphate initially enjoyed prosperity and success in the first Muslim naval defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of the Masts, the conquest of the final Sasanian province, and the execution of their last shah, Yazdegerd III (d. 651). However, the era of sweeping conquests came to an end, and the second half of ‘Uthman’s caliphate, rife with internal dissent, entered a downward spiral. Although tradition attributes this decline to certain legendary incidents (e.g., ‘Uthman’s loss of the Prophet’s signet ring in the well of Aris and the feigned conversion of the Jew ‘Abdallah b. Saba’ who plotted his downfall), the actual causes of political dissent during ‘Uthman’s caliphate emerged from policies and actions that alienated nearly every sector of the early umma to some degree.

Although the list of ‘Uthman’s misdeeds is long, the most controversial among them is the allegation of nepotism. The provincials’ main grievances were directed against what seems to be ‘Uthman’s reversal of ‘Umar’s Islamic meritocracy, which had fostered leadership on the basis of Islamic precedence (sābiqa). In contrast, ‘Uthman used the strength of tribal notables and appointed unscrupulous Umayyad kinsmen to positions of power across the empire. Exacerbating this reversal of policy, ‘Uthman instituted a land exchange in which prominent Qurashi landholders granted their ancestral Hijazi properties to ‘Uthman for the conquered crown lands of Iraq. The provincials opposed these measures insofar as these crown lands had, under ‘Umar, served as the basis of their salary—‘Uthman’s land policy effectively converted their communal property into the private estates of tribal sharifs to whose largesse and good graces the provincials would subsequently be beholden. The Medinans, already separated by rival groups among the Companions of the Prophet, aligned themselves with various factions of the disaffected, and their opposition to the caliph deepened as a result of what they perceived to be ‘Uthman’s squandering of monies of the treasury on his personal interests and kinsmen, his laxity in religious observances, his severe beating and exile of outspoken critics, and his appointment of an uncle exiled by the Prophet as overseer of the markets in Medina. When the provincials from Iraq and Egypt marched on Medina to call for ‘Uthman’s abdication, these factors combined to form the perfect storm. The Egyptian faction, led by the first caliph’s son Muhammad b. Abi Bakr (631–58), besieged the caliph’s house on June 17, 656, and murdered him virtually unimpeded.