Part 50

Official Manuscript of the Glorious Quran:

One of the magnificent services ~ Uthmaan did to Islam was to safeguard any possible change in the codex of the Quran, After the conquests by the Muslims, hundreds of thousands of non-Arabs, whose mother tongue was not Arabic, accepted Islam because of its teachings. Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, one of the prominent Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, went for Jihad during that time, and noticed many differences in the manner of recitation (Qira‘aat) of the Quran. The Syrians recited in a way different from that of Kufis while the Kufis differed from Basris and so on. As a matter of fact these differences were due to the differences in the way of writing Arabic. Seeing this condition, Hudhayfah reported the matter to Caliph ~Uthmaan on his return from the Jihad, and suggested that the codex of Madeenah should be regarded as authentic, i.e. the Glorious Quran which was written and compiled in Book form during the time of Abu Bakr As-Sideeq, may Allah be pleased with

him, and was kept with the Mother of the Believers, Hafsah, may Allah be pleased with her.

*Uthmaan took that Book from Hafsah and canonized the codex of Madeenah. He asked Zayd Ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with her, the person who wrote it during the time of Abu Bakr, to make copies of the same with the help of some other Companions like ~ Abdullaah Ibn Az-Zubayr and Sa* eed Ibn Al-* Aas and others. Then he ordered all other copies to be burnt and destroyed throughout the State.

Those people who carned their living in the provinces as the receptacles and expositors of the sacred text were not pleased with this act. It has been discussed before that such persons criticised *Uthmaan for burning inauthentic texts, However for this great service ~*Uthmaan_ is famous as the Jaami*ul-Quran (the compiler of the Quran).

Extension of the Prophet's Mosque:

The mosque of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was too small for the increasing Muslim population. “Uthmaan bought a big plot of land in the neighborhood of the mosque, but some of the persons living in the nearby houses did not want to leave their places even for reasonable compensation. For four years no new construction was built. One day he gave an effective lecture after Jum* ah prayer, and the people agreed to donate their places. Then . the mosque was extended in the year

Despite the fact that discussing the issue of internal strife that happened during and after the era of * Uthmaan fills every

Muslim and true believer, with disgust and utter resentment, we eel it necessary, in the course of shedding light on that early period of Islamic Call, to reveal facts about this strife that shook the entire Muslim community.

Though many have been written on this subject, they are wrapped up in contradiction that mar their authenticity. Nonc heless, we will try to deal with all these materials with objec ivity in order to know the real cause of this strife and its negat*ve effects on the image of Islam and Muslims.

First of all, we must admit the fact that this strife did not materialize all of a sudden: it can't be described as a fortuitous event, rather it was a product of different kinds of incidents and occasions accumulated and later became interwoven. The starting point is the insemination of certain ideas in minds, then they transformed into devilish schemes which posed as a time bomb whose explosion at a later stage wreaked havoc on the innocent lives.

It was very unfortunate of *Uthmaan that his caliphate era witnessed the end of the glorious decade of Muslim Nation and the beginning of a new era in the history of Muslim community. This period, almost thirty years — starting from the Prophet's Hijrah till the half of ~Uthmaan's caliphate’s ere ~ witnessed overwhelming change in the structure of the society; generation passed by to be replaced by a new generation lower than the previous one in terms of faith, in grasping the sense of Islamic creed, showing compliance with Islamic teachings and in performing all religions ordinances. But the most surprising point is that this decline coincided with glory and blessing galore pouring on Muslim Nation form here and there in addition to the spread of Islam across the globe, covering Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the Levant, Egypt, the whole Africa, Persian land, Armenia and some Mediterranean Islands. How could such a powerful Muslim Nations, with all its vast lands and immense population (Arabs and non-Arabs) suffered such a setback which was nothing to be hair-raising in the previous two golden eras of Abu Bakr and “Umar, who were characterized

with resolution and decisiveness.

*Uthmaan Ibn ~ Affaan, in his period, with due respect to his overrated virtues of piety and religiousness in addition to his great role in the course of spreading the message of Islam, had different approach to politics and administration. Most people believe that the way he handled many challenges that faced him led to escalation of problems and the aggravation of turmoils that shook the entire populace. In fact, what we can say here is that it was very unfortunate of *Uthmaan to find himself at the helm of the nation during that turbulent period in the history of Muslim Nation.

Part of what the people cite as the main causes of the strife was the easy-going attitude adopted by ~Uthmaan in his dealing with peopic. This gave some people of weak faith a golden chance to express sigh of relief after ~Umar's era, characterized by toughness, leaving no room for concession or dispensation.

However, at the time of ~Uthmaan, he showed too much leniency that made people got enslaved by material allurement, and this led to having among Muslims some segments that have no relation to Islam whatsoever. This signaled the starting point of having seed of dissension sprout and the soil fertile for plant'1g discord among Muslims.

In this regard At-Tabari says: "No sooner had ** Umar passed away than Qurayshi Emigrants (some of them) began showing signs of relation, whereas during the time of ‘Umar, people were not allowed to leave Madeenah. He used to say: “What worries me most is dispersion of Muslims across the border". Even in participating in battles, they would not venture that without seeking the permission of *Umar (especially for the erudite among the Emigrants). He would say to anyone of them: "You are well aware of the virtuous nature of the Prophetic battles. Nowadays, in fighting in Allah's Cause, you need to forsake worldly materials". However, when *Uthmaan got at the helm of power, people forgot about all these noble teachings; hence problems ensue and *Uthmaan's era became more enjoyable to some people of hidden motives”.

Thus, notable Companions left Madeenah to regional towns and settled there to form money-oriented religious aristocracy, and most of these important figures gained fame and ground the moment they set their feet on the new soil. Thus, they gained supporters among people hunting for any chance to seize power or gave influential image in the sight of the Caliph. Had *Uthmaan followed the same pattern laid down by *Umar, those people would not be able to poke their nose into the affairs of the Caliphate and pose threat to the Caliph himself. This threat reached its peak when hundreds of delegates rushed to the capital shouting slogans for the Caliph, *Uthmaan, to be ousted and be replaced with other people who also had interest in the post. For instance, people of Basrah called for Az-Zubayr Ibn Al--Awwaam to be made Caliph, while people of Kufah called for Talhah Ibn * Ubaydellaah ...

Part of what people took against ~Uthmaan is his absolute and unchecked giving in to the persistent demand raised by people in several governorates for their Emirs to be removed without any tangible reason save their desire to quell flames of dissension. This exaggerated lenient approach led people to have no more respect for their leaders; this, of course, was an alarm bell for the danger lying horizon for the Caliph himself. Eventually they called upon him to step down, For instance, to show to how extent ~Uthmaan tried all what he could to please his opponents, He once said to the people of Kufah: "Now I have chosen for you as a ruler a person of your choice after dismissing Sa“ eed (Sa* eed Ibn Al-* Aas). By Allah T will do whatever I can to reform you, to the last drop of my patience".

But despite this amicable gesture from the Caliph to rectify their erring or rather reshape their manners, these people persisted in their naughtiness and seemed hell-bent on making the situation worse for the Caliph.

Moreover, ~Uthmaan, given his old age, also gave in to the pressures levied on him by his family by appointing them into many key posts, especially by making them governors of many Islamic provinces like Egypt, Kufah, Al-Basrah in addition to the Levant which had been already occupied by Mu awiyah, since the time of ‘Umar. To compound matters, he did not introduce some sort of checks on them as was the situation in his predecessors' era. They enjoyed so much privilege that some of them would deliberate important matters and issue decision on them without even notifying the Caliph. To all this, ~Uthmaan showed strange acquiescent nature that exposed him to the danger of being challenged by the public, as clear in the following dialogue:

*Uthmaan said to * Ali: "Why blaming me for appointing

Ibn * Aamir, one of my relatives?”