Uthman ibn Talhah

ProfileUthman ibn Talhah

Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Talhah, of the Banu Abd ad-Dar of Quraysh, the clan that kept the key of the Ka'bah and carried the banner of Quraysh in war. Sahih al-Bukhari calls him one of the hajabah, the keepers of the key. According to the early biographies, his father was Talhah ibn Abi Talhah, who carried the banner of Quraysh at Uhud.

According to the early biographies, the Quraysh used to open the Ka'bah on Mondays and Thursdays, and one day, before the Hijrah, when the Prophet ﷺ went to enter it with some of his people, Uthman pushed him back and spoke roughly. The Prophet ﷺ told him gently that perhaps one day he would see this key in his hand and place it where he wished. Uthman said that, if so, Quraysh would be ruined and humbled that day, and the Prophet ﷺ said that on the contrary, that would be the day they would flourish and be honoured. According to the early biographies, Uthman said that the words stayed in his heart.

According to the early biographies, at Uhud his father, several of his brothers and his uncle, who in turn took up the banner of Quraysh, were all killed, and his mother Sulafah bint Sa'd was the woman who had vowed to drink wine from the skull of Asim ibn Thabit. According to the early biographies, Uthman survived, and was still an enemy of the Prophet ﷺ.

According to the early biographies, when Umm Salamah left Makkah alone to join her husband in Madinah, with her small son, she met Uthman ibn Talhah at at-Tan'im, and he asked where she was going, and why no one was with her. She said that she had only Allah and her little son. He said, by Allah, that he would not leave her, and took her camel by the rein and led her. She said that she had never seen anyone among the Arabs more noble than him. When they stopped, he made her camel kneel, and went away, and did not look at her or speak to her, and when she was ready he brought the camel back. When they came to Quba, he told her that her husband was in that village, and to enter it with Allah's blessing, and turned back to Makkah. According to the early biographies, he was not yet a Muslim.

According to the early biographies, after Hudaybiyyah, in 8 AH, he came to Madinah with Khalid ibn al-Walid and Amr ibn al-As, and the Prophet ﷺ said that Makkah had thrown out to them the choicest pieces of its liver. He accepted Islam.

Abdullah ibn Umar told that the Prophet ﷺ came to Makkah in the year of the Conquest, with Usamah riding behind him on al-Qaswa, and Bilal and Uthman ibn Talhah, one of the keepers of the key, with him. When he made his camel kneel by the mosque, he told Uthman to bring the key of the Ka'bah. Uthman brought it, and opened the door, and the Prophet ﷺ, Usamah, Bilal and Uthman went in, and closed the door behind them (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, some of the Prophet's ﷺ family, who had the duty of giving water to the pilgrims, then asked him to give them the keeping of the key as well, and he gave it back to Uthman and the sons of his father, saying that it was theirs for good, and that only an unjust man would take it from them, and said that it was a day of righteousness and keeping faith. According to the early biographies, some commentators connect this with the verse that tells the believers to give back what is entrusted to them to their owners. The key has stayed with his family.

According to the early biographies, he came back to Madinah with the Prophet ﷺ, and after the Prophet's ﷺ death he went to Makkah, and lived there until he died, about 42 AH.

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