Taysir al-Karim al-Mannan fi Sirat Uthman ibn Affan

Taysir al-Karim al-Mannan fi Sirat Uthman ibn Affan: Shakhsiyyatuhu wa-'Asruhu is a study by Dr Ali Muhammad Muhammad al-Sallabi of the life of Uthman ibn Affan, the third volume of his series History of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. ¹ In his introduction he calls it a continuation of his books on Abu Bakr and Umar, written to draw out lessons and the divine patterns at work in societies, state-building and the formation of leaders. ² Dar al-Tawzi' wa-l-Nashr al-Islamiyya in Cairo published it in a publisher's first printing in 1423/2002 and a second in 1424/2003. ³

The author writes from the perspective of Ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jama'a and says so: he holds that shaping Islamic history on that method is a necessity, and warns against what he regards as false reports spread by Orientalists and by the "Rafida" that belittle the Companions and portray their history as a struggle for power. ⁴ He says he did not rely only on al-Tabari, Ibn al-Athir, al-Dhahabi and the well-known histories but went back to works of tafsir, hadith and its commentaries, creed and sects, biography, narrator criticism and law, in which he found abundant historical material. ⁴ He closes the introduction by saying he made his effort "claiming no infallibility and disowning no slip". ⁵

The book has seven chapters, which begin in the copy used as follows:

• Chapter 1: Dhu al-Nurayn between Mecca and Medina (p. 17): his name, lineage, kunya, family and standing before Islam; his life with the Qur'an; his companionship of the Prophet ﷺ in Medina, his part in the campaigns and his social life; the hadiths about him; his standing under Abu Bakr and Umar. ^{6 7}
• Chapter 2: His accession, his method of government and his main qualities (p. 59). ⁸
• Chapter 3: The financial and judicial institutions (p. 113). ⁹
• Chapter 4: The conquests in the East, Syria and Egypt, with a section titled "Uthman's greatest glory: uniting the community on one codex" (pp. 167, 225). ^{10 11}
• Chapter 5: The governors, including "The truth about Uthman's governors" and "The truth about the relationship between Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may God be pleased with him) and Uthman" (pp. 241, 294). ^{12 13}
• Chapter 6: The causes of the strife that led to Uthman's killing (p. 305). ¹⁴
• Chapter 7: The killing of Uthman — the outbreak of the strife, the occupation of Medina, his martyrdom and the Companions' positions (p. 345). ^{15 16}

The shura and the succession. The author says he set out the story of Uthman's accession and the work of Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf in managing the shura, that he rebutted what he calls Rafidi falsehoods inserted into its story, and that he quoted the scholars on Uthman's right to the caliphate and the consensus on it. ^{17 18}

Finance and building. Among the public expenditures of his reign he lists the salaries of governors and soldiers, spending on the pilgrimage, the rebuilding of the Prophet's Mosque and enlargement of the Sacred Mosque, the creation of the first navy, the moving of the port from al-Shu'ayba to Jeddah, the digging of wells and the pay of muezzins, and discusses Uthman's relations with his kinsmen and grants from the treasury. ¹⁸

The sea and Cyprus. He reports that Umar refused naval warfare after Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) described the sea to him, and that Mu'awiya renewed the request under Uthman, who allowed it on condition that Mu'awiya took his own wife with him and forced no one to go. ¹⁹ He tells of the departure from the port of Acre for Cyprus in 28 AH with Umm Haram bint Milhan, who died there, and of the peace terms, including 7,200 dinars a year. ^{20 21 22} He gives a biography of the fleet's commander, Abdullah ibn Qays al-Jasi. ²²

Conquests and commanders. He arranges the conquests of Uthman's reign by the movement of the armies in the East, Syria, Egypt and North Africa, and gives biographies of commanders such as al-Ahnaf ibn Qays, Abd al-Rahman ibn Rabi'a al-Bahili, Salman ibn Rabi'a and Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri. ¹⁸

The codex. He treats the stages of writing down the Qur'an, the motive for its compilation under Uthman, his consultation of the Companions and the number of copies sent to the provinces. ¹⁸

Abu Dharr. A section addresses the claim that Uthman banished Abu Dharr to al-Rabadha; the author argues that Abu Dharr settled there by his own choice after his dispute with Mu'awiya over the verse on hoarding. The disagreement is set out in the card Did Uthman banish Abu Dharr to al-Rabadha?. ^{13 23}

The strife. He lists its causes in separate paragraphs: prosperity and its effects, the nature of social change, Uthman's coming after Umar, the departure of senior Companions from Medina, tribal partisanship, the halt of the conquests, "ignorant scrupulousness", the ambitions of the ambitious and the plotting of the resentful, and he assigns a role in it to the Saba'iyya. ⁵ He describes Uthman's responses — commissions of inquiry, a general letter to the provinces, consultation of the governors — and draws from them "rules for dealing with strife" such as verification, justice, forbearance and holding to what unites. ⁵

The killing and burial. In his account of the killing of Uthman the author prefers the view that al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam led the funeral prayer, on a report in Ahmad's Musnad, and that he was buried at night between the sunset and night prayers; he judges weak in chain and content the report that the body lay unburied for three days. ²⁴

The author finished it at two o'clock before dawn on Wednesday 8 Rabi' II 1423, corresponding to 18 June 2002. ⁵