The murder of Uthman ibn Affan

مقتل عثمان بن عفان

35 AH

Uthman was killed in 35 AH; al-Tabari's table of contents for the fourth volume lists the heading 'An account of the killing of Uthman' ¹. After his killing people came to Ali, who at first refused; then the common people gave him their allegiance after al-Ashtar took his hand ². In al-Suyuti's detailed account of the siege: the people of Egypt complained of their governor, Ibn Abi Sarh, and advised Uthman to appoint Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, and he wrote his commission. Then on the road a boy leading a camel was seized; in his waterskin was a letter under Uthman's seal to the governor of Egypt, ordering him to plot the killing of Muhammad and his companions, to void his commission and to imprison the complainants. They returned; Muhammad sealed the letter and opened it before Talha, al-Zubayr, Ali and Sa'd. Uthman swore that he had neither written it nor ordered it, nor sent the boy; they recognised the hand as Marwan's and demanded him, but Uthman refused to hand him over, fearing he would be killed. They besieged him and cut off his water until Ali sent three waterskins; in bringing them, some clients of Banu Hashim and Banu Umayya were wounded. Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba advised him on three courses: fight, leave for Mecca, or join Syria; but he refused to be the first successor of the Messenger of God ﷺ to shed blood, or to leave the house of his emigration ³. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr and two men with him climbed over the wall; he seized Uthman by the beard, but his hand slackened out of memory of his father, and the two men went in and struck him down while he was reading his codex. He was killed in the middle of the days of tashriq in 35 AH; some say on Friday, the eighteenth of Dhu'l-Hijja. He was buried on the night of Saturday in Hush Kawkab in al-Baqi', the first to be buried there, and al-Zubayr led the funeral prayer; he was eighty-two years old by the well-known account ⁴. In al-Mas'udi's account, Malik ibn al-Harith al-Nakha'i set out from Kufa with two hundred men, Hakim ibn Jabala al-Abdi with a hundred from Basra, and six hundred from Egypt under Abd al-Rahman ibn Udays al-Balawi, who had pledged under the tree. They halted at Dhu Khushub, where Ali agreed to their demands, and they withdrew. But when they reached Hasma they seized Warsh, Uthman's servant, carrying a letter in Marwan's hand to Ibn Abi Sarh with orders to cut off hands and to kill. They returned and besieged him for forty-nine days, cutting off his water; Ali sent him three waterskins. The sons of the Companions guarded the door: al-Hasan was wounded, Qanbar was wounded in the head, and Muhammad ibn Talha was wounded. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr seized him by the beard, and Uthman said, 'By God, were your father to see where you stand, it would grieve him'; his hand slackened and he went out. Two men entered and killed him while the codex lay before him; some say they were Kinana ibn Bishr and Sa'd ibn Humran. He was buried at Hush Kawkab, and the funeral prayer was led by Jubayr ibn Mut'im, Hakim ibn Hizam (may God be pleased with him) and Abu Jahm ibn Hudhayfa ⁵.