Uthman ibn Affan
Married two daughters of the Prophet ﷺ in succession, earning the epithet Dhun-Nurayn. Purchased the well of Rumah with his own wealth and gave it to the Muslims. Compiled the standard mushaf of the Quran. Assassinated at 84 while reading it.
- Lived
- c. 576 - 656 CE
- Read next
- Meaning of the name Uthman
Who was Uthman ibn Affan? Married two daughters of the Prophet ﷺ in succession, earning the epithet Dhun-Nurayn. Purchased the well of Rumah with his own wealth and gave it to the Muslims. Compiled the standard mushaf of the Quran. Assassinated at 84 while reading it.
Life
Uthman ibn Affan was born into the Umayyad clan of Quraysh, one of the wealthiest merchants of Mecca. He was among the first men to accept Islam through Abu Bakr's da'wa. He married Ruqayya, daughter of the Prophet ﷺ, and after her death he married her sister Umm Kulthum, earning the unique epithet Dhun-Nurayn, "possessor of two lights."
He funded the Muslim community through years of persecution. He purchased the well of Rumah in Medina from a Jewish merchant and endowed it as a permanent charity for the Muslim community. He financed a third of the army at Tabuk out of his own purse. He was among the ten Companions promised paradise.
He became the third Rashidun caliph in 644 CE after Umar's assassination. His twelve-year rule saw the Islamic empire push into Cyprus, Rhodes, North Africa, and the Caucasus. His singular administrative act was the compilation of the Uthmani mushaf, the standardised written Quran that every Muslim reads today.
He was assassinated in his home in 656 CE by rebels while reading the Quran. His blood is said to have fallen on the very page he was reading. He was 84 years old.
Stories
Each story below is drawn from the classical Islamic historical sources.
The well of Rumah
The Muslims of early Medina had no reliable well of their own. A Jewish merchant owned the sweetest well in the city and sold its water by the skin. The Prophet ﷺ said whoever purchased Rumah for the Muslims would enter paradise. Uthman heard him and bought half the well the same afternoon.