Othman Ibn Affan The Third Caliph By Mohammad Redha Former Iibrarian of Fouad the 1st Library Interpreted by Mohammad Agha DAR al-KOTOB al-ILMIYAH Beirut - Lebanon In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, The Most MerciCul Introduction 01 Interpreter Othman: Man 01 leniency and tolerance Othman Ibn Affan, , for whom may Allah's good pleasure is prayed, is the third orthodox caliph known as «Zu- al- Nourain». He was the son- in- law of the Messenger of Allah, (to whom may Allah's Blessingsand peace be granted), and he was described by hirn as «a shy man from whom angels feel shy». Othman had many favours in Islam. Most important favour was the equipping ofal- O'sra Army. Allah, Be He exalted, said: «Who followed him in the hour of O'sra (Distress)», The Messenger of Allah, (to whom may Allah's Blessings and peace be granted), accepted Othman's great aid to al- O'sra Army. He said: «Nothing will harm Othman after today». And He added: «He who equipped al- O'sra army will be one of the inhabitants of Paradise», Othman was known for his generosity and piety. He bought the Romat well from a Jewish and offered it as a public utility for Moslems. He also was known for offering financial aid to Moslems. He, moreover; was the first to pay for Mu'azens (callers for prayer), the first to address Moslems at religious sermons before the prayers of al- Id (feast); the first to authorize people to allocate alms on their money; the first to be appointed as caliph at his mother's life, the first to appoint chief constable; the first to immigrate with his family, etc... In fact, Othman's favours are uncountable. His caliphate lasted for eleven years from 24 - 35 Hijra during which very significant events took place. He was assassinated on Friday, 18th of 'h al- Hejjah, 35 Hijra. 3 ~I ,1... Uö"';'" ~I.J 4!J'i1 ~,~ ~ --ß ..11J'..,-j..lr ~ ~ 3Ut1 - ~'JM ~l U.~r .)& ~..Ir 'I~ -" ')LJS .,...USII ~ iJI&!..I1 ..:..li'-,,"-I .,.la~.I! ..Ir.~~1 ..,..Lc. ~lä."!..Ir ~ .:~ ~U11 <101.". 'i! ~.,.:. Copyright © All rights reserved Exclusive rights by DAR al-KOTOB ... ILMIYAß Beirut • Lebuoa. No partof this publication may be translated, reproduced, distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ~1 . fiLH ~ 1b bü.....,J - ~~~ .:.;l$.l. ~~ '1j~1 t;L:. .~}JI Ja; : .;1,,>aJ1 ..( ~,\ 'l ,·m", - n111"~ - nmA : ~lAJ .JJiL .;~ - ':'J~ ,,- ~m ;~~ JJ..IW> DAR al-KOrOß al-ILMIYAH Beirut - Lebanon Address :Ramel al·Zarif, Bohtory st., Melbrt bldg., Ist Floore. Tel. &Fax: 00 (961 I) 60.2J.33 . 36.61.35 . 36.43.98 P.O.Box : 11 . 9424 Beirut· Lebanon ISBN 2-7451-2504-4 90000> I t82745 125040 http://www.aHlmiyah.com.lb/ e-mail: [email protected] [email protected] have become weak and biased to your relatives. Othman said: Do you know that Omar appointedMo'uawya along all his caliphate? So, I appointed him! Ali said: I appeal to you! Do you know that Mo'uawya was more frightened than Omar. He replied: Yes! Ali said: Mo'uawya behaves ashe likes without taking permission from you and you know this. He tells people this is Othman's order. And you know this and you don't do anything to prevent it. Ali, , for whom may Allah's good pleasure is prayed, explained the very crux of the problem. It is the infuence by those people on Othman, who was unable to get independent from them. Very catastrophic events took place in the aftermath of murdering Othman. And many victims fell as a result of inter-fighting among Moslems. Mou'awya was ambitious to be the Caliph. Sovhe used Othman's murdering as a cover to obtain what he wanted. He accused Ali 'Ibn Abi Taleb of helping «murderers» and used all gimmicks to rally Moslems behind him, Othman's presence after his death was stronger than his influence during his life. Thus, even those who used to ignite Moslems against Othman attempted to.play «his card» after his assassination. Aiysha, the Mother of Berlievers,Talha and al- Zubair demanded revenge for Othman's blood and they fought AlL But, they lost to hirn at al- Jamal Battle (the Battle of Camel). The three, Aiysha, Talha and al- Zubair, repented for pushing the developments to such a terrific battle which caused the death.of the best Moslems. Later, Seffin Battle and other bloody battles prompted by Mou'awya under the pretext of revenge for Othman's killing led to the weaknes of Islam and the fragmentation of Moslems. Othman's points of frailty might be a reason for the successive events that hit Islam and Moslems; but the frailties of others, particularly those who were ambitious to reap the fruits of the tragedy were more dangerous!!! Developments during Othman's caliphate and following his assassination 5 show facts. These developments speak for themselves. In a word, Othman was the victim ofhis power- seeking relatives. He was, pious, lenient and tolerant; but they were greedy and ambitious to control the very state of atTairs!!! Let events show up facts. It is a real drama fraught with plots, fear and blood on the one side and telling lessons on the other!?! Mobammad Agba 6 In tbe Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, The Most Merciful Introduction Praise be to Allah, the God of all creatures and the wisest ruler; and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah (to whom may Allah's Blessings and peace be granted). So and so, Allah, to whom be ascribed all perfection and majesty, willed that I persist in what I started as I worked out books on the Islamic history in the service of Moslems in all the countries of the world. Hereinafter, I introduce to researchers and readers this book as one of the series of Islamic history. It is on «Othman Ibn Affan, for whom may Allah's good pleasure is prayed», By doing so, I filled aspace and completed a shortage. People did not find a book, which is independent, on each caliph. This book deals with his biography and the events that took place during his reign. Even foreign writers followed the suit of Moslem writers. They did not write a separate book for each caliph. Sir Moer's book «The Caliphate» and Sir Irving's book «Mohammed and His Caliphs» are both one volume. And others did the same. Undoubtedly, this is a shortage which must be completed. But, we should acknowledge that the scholar Rafiq Beck al- Azem had made up for this issue and allocated apart for each caliph from his book: The Most Famous Men of Islam. I did not find more than the first four parts inc1uding Othman. Thus, we do not find anything, but the general books of history such as al­ Tabari, who is trusted, as well as Ibn Khaldoun and Ibn al- Athir, who derived their writings from al- Tabari in general. This is addition to «The Annals» of Prince Rittani, who translated the Arabic texts into Italians. Noteworthy is that the Arabic books on the Orthodox Caliphs are only biographies. There also were the interpretations; such-as Assad al- Ghaba (The 7 Lion of Forest), (the Casualty), (Tabaqat Ibn Sa'ad), (The Comprehension), (The Perfection) and (The Refinement), etc... They are almost similar; but some of them are long and others are brief. Orientalists quoted them in the composition of the Islamic Encyclopedia. They did not add to it anything; but comments that aim at casting doubt without evidence as we mentioned in this book on the occasion of the demise of al- Abbas Ibn Abdul Muttaleb and Omar's reuqest to him to help perform rain prayers, during his life... As for the book (lslamic Nations History) by the late Mohammed al­ Khudari Beck, it is a summary of lectures delivered by hirn at the old Egyptian University. He was so precautious in these lectures for he did not go into details or into the discussion of various stories. So, he did not find it necessary for deliberation. At the reign of the caliphs, for instance, we have to review all the writings of the foreigners on the history of the Roman Empire collapse and the history of Egypt; and we have to review the encyclopedia as weIl. The historians of Arabs, for example, must remember al- Maqawqas as if he were alive when Amre Ibn al- Ass conquered Alexandria for the second time, through he had already died. But, I read some writings by al- Waqidi on Africa's conquests and I found them queer. They are not history or considered as history . The choice of Othman Ibn Affan was made through the authroization of the Shura (consultation) chiefs to Abdul- Rahman Ibn Aouf. The choice was between Othman and Ali Ibn Abi Taleb. Abdul- Rahman quit his candidancy for the caliphate because he had no wish for this. He also was the brother- in­ law ofOthman. Most ofMoslems wanted Othman as caliph after Omar. Omar was tough. He did not favour anybody or take a biased stand towards anyone. He did not fear ayone or take a loose attitude; not to mention his care for justice. Tey feared him and reckoned his rule. He even was tough upon hirnself. He was austere, hating luxuary in food and dress. But Othman was lenient, wise, gracious. He had strong ties with his family.