At a glance
Companions- Dates
- c. 576 CE to 35 AH (656 CE)
- Who
- Wealthy merchant and the third caliph, remembered for his modesty and his giving
- Stages
- Treaty & Victory
ProfileUthman ibn Affan
Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was a wealthy merchant of the Umayyad clan of Quraysh, known for his modesty and shyness. He accepted Islam early, after talking with Abu Bakr, and he migrated to Abyssinia and later to Madinah with his wife Ruqayyah, a daughter of the Prophet ﷺ. After she died, the Prophet ﷺ married him to another daughter, Umm Kulthum. For that reason he is called Dhun-Nurayn, the one of the two lights.
His generosity was famous. He bought the well of Rumah in Madinah and made it a gift for all Muslims to drink from, and he helped pay for the army that marched to Tabuk. At Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet ﷺ sent him to speak with Quraysh. When rumours reached the camp that he had been killed, the Muslims gave a pledge under the tree to stand together, and the Prophet ﷺ sealed it for Uthman with his own hand.
As the third caliph from 23 AH, he sent out the standard copies of the Quran and built up the Muslim fleet. Rebels besieged his house in 35 AH, and he was killed there while reading the Quran, at an advanced age.
Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah
SourcesSources for this profile
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