The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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44
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
52
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
58
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
125
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
126
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
146
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Uthman Ibn Affan (ra): The Possessor of Two Lights
He is the man who was so loved by the people that mothers sang lullabies to their children about him, and so loved by the Prophet (saw) that he would marry two of his daughters.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So welcome back to the firsts and inshallah ta'ala tonight we're going to be talking about a man subhanAllah who, you know you may have heard me say this in a different setting but he's actually the first person I ever gave a halaqa about and it is Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And there's a special connection that I feel to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. You know I remember thinking about the way that khulafa ar-rashideen are talked about, are spoken about and Uthman radiAllahu anhu kind of gets lost, right? You have Abu Bakr and Umar and Ali and sometimes Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu gets lost in there and is really not given his due right in terms of the honor that's due to him, the love that is due to him and the way that he contributed to Islam in such a beautiful way. Now obviously when we're talking about khulafa ar-rashideen we can't do a full biography of them in this particular series but we're talking about them in regards to how they come into Islam and really building out the story of the first, the people to come around the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam as this mission was developing around the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam. So there's a focus on that. So it's not going to be a full seerah of Uthman radiAllahu anhu through his khulafa but still just like we did with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu and Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, we'll talk about some of the qualities of them after we talk about their initial coming into Islam and what they meant for the story of Islam in the very beginning. So Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, his name is Uthman ibn Affan ibn Abil As ibn Umayyah. So he's from another powerful tribe, well-known tribe, Banu Umayyah and his lineage is like the Prophet
salAllahu alaihi wa salam from Abdi Manaf or all the way to Abdi Manaf. So once you get to Abdi Manaf, Ibn Qusay ibn Qilab, then that's where you find the lineage of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam and Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu actually meet. His mother is very interesting because she is not as well-known of a figure but she connects Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam in a very unique way. So his mother's name was Arwa bint Qurayz and the mother of Arwa bint Qurayz was Um Hakim bint Abdul Muttalib. So the maternal grandmother of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is Um Hakim al-Bayda bint Abdul Muttalib and she was the full sister of Abdullah, the father of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam. In fact some narrations even say they were twins. So his grandmother is the full sister, maybe even the twin sister of the father of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam which makes him the second cousin of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam as well. So that family connection between Uthman radiAllahu anhu and the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam is not very well known. Now his father passed away in Jahliya. His father passed away in the days of ignorance which is part of the reason why he had such a fortune to work with. He inherited a large amount of money from his father. His mother on the other hand would become Muslim and would live all the way until his Khilafah and would die during his Khilafah and he would lead the prayer on her. May Allah subAllahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them both. Before Islam people used to call him by the Kunya of Abu Amr and this was in anticipation of the child that he would one day have but he did not have any children before Islam. So we're gonna talk about Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in regards to his marriage and in regards to his family life which exists entirely after
the mission of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam begins. He was about six years younger than the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam. He was born in Ta'if and when you talk about his physical features it sounds like you're talking about the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam. Okay so the way he's described he was neither short nor was he tall. He was he had big bones broad shoulders. His skin was softer than silk. He had a huge thick beard. He had hair that came right below his ears. He had a strikingly handsome face. He had a small gap between his teeth. His teeth were the widest of white and he was the most handsome of people and he had the most beautiful of faces and what's narrated about him is that if your gaze landed on Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu you would not want to look away because of the amount of jamaal, the amount of beauty that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put in him. When he spoke he spoke eloquently and beautifully and there are narrations from the likes of Abdulhamman ibn Hazm who says that I never saw a man more handsome than Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now who does he look like most? He looks like the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam. Okay so his qualities, his characteristics, his physical resemblance is like the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam and there are a few sahaba that have that resemblance of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam but even the way that the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam would describe Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to his daughter Ruqayya that there is no person that resembles your father Mohamed salAllahu alaihi wa salam or your husband Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu like Ibrahim radiAllahu alaihi wa salam. Your grandfather Ibrahim radiAllahu alaihi wa salam. so Ibrahim looked like the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam or rather the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam looked like Ibrahim radiAllahu alaihi wa salam and Uthman radiAllahu alaihi wa salam looked like the Prophet salLallahu alaihi wa salam as well. So he resembles the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa salam. Physically
He is an extremely handsome person, very soft spoken, very pleasant to look at, very pleasant when he speaks, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he's very rich and very powerful as well, but not powerful in the sense of arrogance. And perhaps what's most endearing about Uthman, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, in that sense is that he has this quality of hayat, this quality of modesty that usually does not coincide with the circumstances of Uthman, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Okay, so think about it. He's from this powerful tribe of Banu Umayyah. In fact, his brother, through his mother, was Al-Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'id. Al-Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'id. And we know who these people are. Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'id, you know, his father was well known for his torture of the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. The one who poured guts on the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and collapsed his back, and mocked him along with Abu Jahl. So he comes from that family. And he has a lot of people around him that are very proud and very arrogant, but he's not proud and arrogant. He's richer than all of them. He's more handsome than all of them. Yet what is he known for? He's known for his hayat. He's known for his modesty, his shyness, his bashfulness. And the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, of course said that every deen has a quality, every deen has a khuluq. Every religion has a characteristic, a quality. The quality of Islam is hayat, is modesty. And the Prophet, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned that hayat is from iman, hayat is from faith. So the more that a person has hayat, the more they have faith. And this is something that we see with Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, that despite his beauty, despite his wealth, despite his prominence, despite all of these things, he's known not for anything more so than his quality of modesty. His quality of hayat, his quality of modesty.
This nobility plays out in many different ways in terms of his modesty. And the people loved him because of his accessibility, because of his modesty, despite those things. And everyone respected him. The poor person respected him, the rich person respected him, the person from a prominent tribe respected him, the person who had no tribe respected him because of the character that he had, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu also, despite all of that, never prostrated, never made sujood to an idol in jahiliyya, never committed zina in jahiliyya, never committed adultery. He never drank alcohol before Islam. SubhanAllah, he had all of these qualities before Islam. Refused to worship the idols, refused to commit zina, commit adultery, despite his handsomeness radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, did not engage in any form of fornication or adultery, refused to drink alcohol because he said, alcohol destroys reason and reason is a gift from God, so he would not drink alcohol even before the prohibition of alcohol. He would not look at the awrah of a person. He would not look at a person's nakedness even before Islam. Now remember, people used to do tawaf without clothes before Islam in the days of jahiliyya. And Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, that I never looked at a awrah before or after Islam. He would not engage in the partying of Quraysh or the songs and the entertainment of Quraysh. So he would refrain from all of those things and he said he has no interest in them whatsoever. So subhanAllah, not only does he resemble the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in his looks, but also in his character, because if I did not say the name of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, so much of what I just described describes the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, the refusal to engage in any form of immorality, the shyness, the bashfulness that he had radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And of course, this was also a quality
of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Some of these qualities were also qualities of Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. He was well versed, he was poetic, he knew the lineage of the Arabs, he knew history, he was well traveled radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, so he used to travel to Syria, to Ash-Sham, he traveled to Abyssinia, to Habesha, even before Islam, which is important because we'll talk about that. He learned their lives, he learned about their customs, he was successful in his trade routes, he had traveled to Yemen, he had traveled all over the world as a businessman before Islam. And when he used to come back from his trade routes, he used to always give charity to the people of Mecca. So Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu never returned from a trade route. All of this is before Islam, never returned from a trade route, except that the people of Mecca would feel the generosity of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And so you're talking about all of the good qualities. And because of those good qualities, he earned the love of his people and the respect of his people, to the point that a mother would say to her child the very famous words, wuhibbuka warrahman, hubba Qurayshan li Uthman. I love you by the most merciful, the way that Quraysh loves Uthman. A mother tells her child that I love you the way that Quraysh loves Uthman, to express the highest level of love to her child. And so he truly has it all radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And this speaks to the hadith of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, that people are like precious stones, khayarakum fil jahiliya khayarakum fil Islam. The best of you in the days of ignorance are the best of you in Islam, if you have knowledge, idha faqihu. And Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu already had all of these akhlaq,
all of these attributes and characteristics of Islam before he heard the message of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He inherited from his father, according to some narrations, over 30 million dirhams. So this is a man radiAllahu ta'ala anhu that was focused on his business, focused on being a merchant. And it seems like, and Allah knows best, that he did not get married before Islam. So there is some indications that maybe he did, but it doesn't seem like he had any marriages prior to Islam. So he was busy in his business, busy in his trade. And of course, as we said, well-loved by his people, known for his haya, known for his modesty, known for his beauty, both in terms of his outside and his internal being radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So what happened? How does a man like this, become amongst the first to accept Islam? How does he come into the story of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in the way that the others have come into the story of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam? Usually a person who has the most to lose, right? The most to lose would hesitate when the message of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would come. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is different from all of the rest, right? He would not hesitate when he heard of the message of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He was out on a trade route to Ash-Sham, to Syria. And according to a narration of Tabaqat ibn Sa'ad, he actually said that on his way back, or you know, that he had a dream. He went to sleep and he had a dream on his way back from Ash-Sham. And in that dream, it was said to the sleepers, to those that were asleep, to get up, qad kharaja Ahmad fee makkah. Ahmad has come out in Mecca.
Ahmad has appeared in Mecca, has emerged in Mecca. So Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said that he had this dream. And when they got back to Mecca, then he heard that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had called to Islam and right away Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would accept the message of Islam. Who would invite him to Islam? And this is of course, something to think about. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Abu Bakr did not just, as we said, when we were talking about him, embrace Islam, but he immediately became the ultimate ambassador of Islam. He immediately went and started bringing in some of the luminaries of Islam. And so the ajr of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, all the good that Uthman is going to do is to the credit of Abu Bakr. All the good that AbdurRahman ibn Auf is going to do is to the credit of Abu Bakr. All the good of Talha ibn Zubair is to the credit of Abu Bakr. Can you imagine if you just took Uthman and AbdurRahman ibn Auf and all of the charity that they have done, some of which we benefit from till today. Like we're not even gonna talk about their contributions to the making of the story of Islam, but if we just took the sadaqah of Abu Bakr, Uthman ibn Auf, and all of that is to the credit of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu because he was the one that called these luminaries to Islam. And he knew how to approach them because Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was of the same class as Uthman radiAllahu anhu, not as wealthy as him, but Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is a man who is known for his nobility, who is known for his qualities that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is known by as well, does not worship idols, does not drink alcohol, shuns some of the practices of the Arabs at the time, of Quraysh at the time, to focus on things that were of more importance, was known for his benevolence, and so on and so forth. So Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu goes to Uthman radiAllahu anhu as he returns back from Ash-Sham and he invites him to Islam, Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
immediately goes to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and embraces Islam. And he is, according to Ibn Ishaq, the fourth male to accept Islam. So he is the first person after Abu Bakr, Ali, and Zayd ibn Haritha, may Allah be pleased with them all, the fourth man to accept Islam. According to these narrations, is Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, they say that he even became Muslim before Dar al-Arqam. Before Dar al-Arqam, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam went to Dar al-Arqam and started to teach the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So subhanAllah, despite all of the implications of his Islam, he didn't think about it. And wealth is what a lot of people see in Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, right? Is his wealth. It's not just the tribe and what his tribe is going to think, but wealth, his money. And Uthman radiAllahu anhu knows very well, he's a smart man, that he can go from being the most beloved of people to the most hated of people very quickly. But that's not going to stop him radiAllahu ta'ala anhu from accepting the message of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as articulated to him initially by Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he embraces Islam. And when he embraces Islam, as we said early on, that the powerful people in Mecca were tortured by their tribes privately. They tend to be tortured privately. It's not that they weren't tortured, but they were tortured by their tribes privately because the tribes wanted to save face, even as they wanted to deter their own from becoming Muslim. So he was taken by Al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As, who would torture him, you know, with all sorts of torture and tell him to leave Islam, tell him to give up the companionship of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would respond. And he would say, I will never give up Islam
and I will never part ways from Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And so it was a routine type of torture that would come towards Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And Al-Hakam basically gave up when he saw that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was not going to give up this message. It's not that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was a political person. He wasn't someone that used to get involved in some of the tribal affairs of Quraysh or from Banu Umayyah in specific. He didn't used to get involved in many things. He was just known for his nobility, for his richness, for his beauty, for his eloquence, for these types of things, for his modesty. But of course, coming from a tribe like Banu Umayyah and someone who's that well loved, someone who's that well loved, if people find out he becomes Muslim, then that's going to naturally lead people to become Muslim. What happens to that child that grew up hearing, I love you the way Quraysh loves Uthman and looks up to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu for his qualities. And now they know that Uthman is Muslim. So the threat of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was not like the threat of Umar bin Khattab or some of the more powerful people that would give that strength to Islam. The threat was how beloved he was and how much he was worth, right, primarily, to that society and what the implications of Islam would be. So anyway, he underwent torture privately the way that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would undergo torture privately. And he goes on to support the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in any way that he could, playing really a different role, right? Not doing some of the things that, again, we'll see from some of the physically more powerful people or those that were more political at the time, but supporting the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam as he could, and of course,
accompanying the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in Dar al-Arqam. And there is something to be said about the morale of the companions when you walk into Dar al-Arqam and you see that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is sitting with this diverse group of people across class, across all of these different levels and demarcations and so on. And you see the people that are well-loved and they're sitting with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and listening to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam teach them the Quran. Now, we mentioned last time, I'm talking about Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, that she was already married before Islam. You have Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum, who we mentioned, were married but they had not consummated the marriage yet, to the children of Abu Lahab. And when Abu Lahab curses the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and seeks to punish the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in every way, Abu Lahab orders his two sons to divorce the two daughters of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum, their engagement, if you will, because of course as we said they hadn't consummated the marriage yet, their engagement is broken off by the children of Abu Lahab, and look how beautiful the replacement is for Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha. It doesn't get better than this, right? So Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha, of course, was hurt obviously by what had happened, but as soon as this had happened, Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who we said again, there's nothing to really solidify that he'd ever been married before, comes to propose to Ruqayya. And what a gift, right? Man taraka shay'an lillah, awaduhu Allahu khayra minhu, whoever leaves something for Allah, Allah will give them something better. You go from the son of Abu Lahab to Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, the most
beloved, the most beautiful, the most wealthy, the most noble man known to Quraysh, and he comes to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam to propose to Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And of course the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha were ecstatic, right? You don't get a better suitor for your child, for your daughter than Uthman radiAllahu anhu, and Ruqayya was ecstatic as well. And subhanAllah we find that when Ruqayya was getting married to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he came to Ruqayya and he said to Ruqayya, oh my daughter, take good care of Abu Abdullah. So his kunya would change from Abu Amr to Abu Abdullah. Take care of Abu Abdullah, fa innahu ashbahu ashaabi bi khuluqa, for he is the closest of my companions to me in his character. Remember the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was known for his shyness and his modesty, his haya, and as we said all these qualities are present in Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is saying he is the closest of my companions to me in regards to his akhlaq, in regards to his character, so take good care of him, my daughter. And subhanAllah we find that these two, this couple became the most blessed couple known to the people. Uthman radiAllahu anhu and Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha, they're the best looking couple, they're the most beloved couple, they are in love with one another. And so the ihsan, the character, the quality that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was most beloved to the people for, look at how he's bringing that to his house. And we're gonna talk about this later on as well. What makes these people so blessed is that they were not just loved, or they were not loved by the people for qualities that they used to display out of fame or out of some
sort of desire for social status. But those qualities were even more prominent when they were in their homes. So all of these wonderful qualities that Uthman radiAllahu anhu was known for, he brings it to his home as well and he showers Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha, the daughter of none other than the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, with those beautiful qualities and those beautiful characteristics. Now the torture of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as we said was taking place privately. And Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu strategically, there are some reasons that the scholars mentioned that strategically it would be beneficial for Uthman radiAllahu anhu to be amongst those that would migrate to Abyssinia, that would migrate to Habesha. So you're not going to see Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu play much of a role in Meccan Sira, in the early Mecca Sira because he is amongst those that would migrate to Abyssinia. As we said he has been to Abyssinia on trade routes before, he knows the people of Abyssinia, he knows the land of Abyssinia, he knows the culture and customs of Abyssinia. There's also something to be said about the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam dispatching his own daughter to be amongst those that migrate. So there's a level of trust, there's a level of being with the community in different ways so as they're going to make this hijrah, they have amongst them, you know, none other than the daughter of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Uthman radiAllahu anhu and Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha were not just amongst those that migrated to Abyssinia but they were the first family to go forth to migrate, to do the hijrah to Abyssinia, to make the hijrah to Abyssinia. And there's a narration and though there's a weakness in the chain, it's a powerful, beautiful narration that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is the first one to do hijrah,
the first to migrate with his family for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala after Nabi Lut alayhi salam. So he's the first one to make the hijrah with his family for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Uthman radiAllahu anhu embarks on this journey to Abyssinia along with Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha and we'll talk about Abyssinia inshallah ta'ala probably in the episode about Ja'far ibn Abi Talib and some of what would transpire there in Abyssinia. So he doesn't spend much time with the prophets like some in Mecca. He spends time there in Abyssinia and you don't really start to see the story of Uthman radiAllahu anhu in Islam unfold until you get to Medina. So he was amongst those that made hijrah both to Abyssinia and to Medina. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu makes his way to Medina with Ruqayya and now their son Abdullah. So Allah has blessed them with a child and they named their son Abdullah. And as Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu got to Medina the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa salam he paired him off with Abu Talha ibn Thabit. Uthman being one of the wealthier people of Mecca who took his trade with him who succeeded in his trade even in Abyssinia who managed to hold on to some of his wealth you know did not need much help and so it was only a short amount of time that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was able to purchase his own home and was able to make his way into the marketplace in Medina and continue with the trends that he was known for of building up his business and being able to spend that fortune for noble things. So Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu he knew how to work in different types of markets. Some of the Muslims you know were limited in their scope and what they could do. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu already had prior business relationships.
He knew how to maneuver and how to work things in the best of ways so he established himself quickly as a merchant in Medina and Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu had a reputation for his honesty in trade making him a person that people wanted to do business with. And of course that's the long route and you know a lot of people you know were not known for that. They would take the short route and they would cheat. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was known for his honesty in trade and so people loved to work with Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. They had a prior relationship with him, they knew him and so his character allowed him to flourish in that way as well. So then you find in Medina as Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu settles with his family with Ruqayya and with their son Abdullah you find that any time the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam makes a call, any time the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam makes a call and he attaches to it alayhi salatu was salam the reward of al-jannah. You find this man run forward to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And it's really beautiful because the stories are countless in this regard. As we said we can't get through all of them especially when talking about a person like Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. The first mawqif, the first place that Uthman shows this is when they get to Medina and the Muslims are having a hard time with their water supply because they don't own the wells of Medina. So especially those that have migrated, they're not able to have access to water the way that other people are able to have access to water. So there is this particular well of Rumah and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said man hafara rumah falahu aljannah that whoever buys the well of Rumah I will guarantee jannah. I will guarantee jannah for that person. Rumah was owned by a man from Banu Ghaffar and he didn't want to sell it.
Why because he had a monopoly on it, he was able to make use of it and the people needed water so at the end of the day even though he's charging high amounts of money for the people they're still paying him so he's getting wealthy off of that well. So Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu hearing the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam say that whoever purchases it will have jannah. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu goes to him and he says listen what's the price of this well? So he told him 40,000 dirhams. So he said look what if I buy half of the well? How much would you sell it to me for? He said 20,000. Now what is half of the well? Does that mean literally half of the well? No what it means is one day for you, one day for me. One day for you, one day for me. So he told him okay fine, he negotiated because he's a smart businessman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and he's making the most of the situation. Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu agrees to purchase one day of the well so half of the well and that they would alternate days and he gives him 20,000 for that. Now what ends up happening is that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu then tells the people of Medina, especially the muhajirun who had a hard time getting water, that on his day the water from the well is free. It's a waqf. It's an endowment so you can come and take as much water as you want. So what does that do to the other man, the owner who had set this ridiculous price for the well in the first place? Everyone would come on the day of Uthman, they would fill their jugs, they'd take all the water that they need and so he wasn't able to make any money from the other day. So it backfired. The high price that he set backfired. So he goes to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu at that point and he says look you want to buy the other day now as well? How about you just go ahead and buy the other day?
So Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says, look what use do I have for it for the other day if everything is working out on my day, if the people are able to benefit from it on my day. He negotiates him down to half the price, half the price for the second day to have complete ownership of the well and in that SubhanAllah you have from this well, from this bi'r that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu purchased a guarantee, one of the multiple guarantees that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would give of Jannah to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Not only that but until this day, until this day that well has produced gardens, it's a waqf, it's an endowment to the Muslims. Till that day the bank account from that well which has irrigated gardens throughout Medina has been used to increase more awqaf, more endowments for the Muslims and there's still a bank account in fact from that particular well that has built some of the hotels in Medina and all of the money then goes back to being circulated towards charity and SubhanAllah there's, you know, the amounts that you find in what is known as the waqf of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu from that well, they vary but you know hundreds of millions of dollars that Uthman radiAllahu anhu is still getting the ajr from today as he made that initial, you know, that initial stand with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So he purchased his place in Jannah as the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned and at the same time until today the sadaqa of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is working, the sadaqa jari of Uthman radiAllahu anhu is at work and people are benefiting from that initial jump to respond to the call of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam comes out again another day and he says, you know, who's going to buy the land of so and so near the masjid? Fayaziduha fil masjidi bi khayrin lahu minha fil jannah. So they can increase that in, you know, add that space to the masjid, they can expand that space for the masjid in return for something good for that person in Jannah. Uthman radiAllahu anhu says, Ya Rasulullah, I've got it. How much is it going to be? 20,000 dirhams. Uthman radiAllahu anhu purchases that land, 20,000 dirhams and that's where the masjid is expanded. He financed the expansion of the masjid immediately when the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said so and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said that that person will be rewarded with something better in Al-Jannah. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said that whoever frees a slave, that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala would free the entirety of their bodies from the fire. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam when he talked about the freeing of the slaves and he said it's a protection from the fire. Uthman radiAllahu anhu from the day he heard that narration, or he heard the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam say that, until the day where he could no longer do so, the day of his death for all the years was known that every Yawm al-Jum'ah, every Friday he would take some of his wealth and he would purchase the freedom of multiple slaves and they say that we don't know how many people, that if you were to count how many people were freed from slavery through the donations, through the charity of Uthman radiAllahu anhu, we would not be able to count all of the people that Uthman radiAllahu anhu freed. So this was not just some initial action but it became the habit of Uthman radiAllahu anhu to purchase the freedom of those that were enslaved. And then you have Tabuk, what's known as Jish al-Usra, this difficult expedition of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam he says who will finance this expedition, this army, and they have Jannah.
Uthman radiAllahu anhu hears the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam say this, Uthman radiAllahu anhu stands up and he says Ya Rasulullah, a hundred camels fully equipped for this journey. And the Sahabah are looking at Uthman radiAllahu anhu like this is amazing. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam calls out again and he says who will finance and support this expedition, Uthman radiAllahu anhu stands up and he says Ya Rasulullah, another one hundred camels. So this is the fundraiser that's taking place with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the companions of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Because who's going to finance the expedition, Uthman radiAllahu anhu stands up again, a hundred camels Ya Rasulullah for this cause. Until Uthman radiAllahu anhu had donated at the end of this all 940 camels and 60 horses all fully equipped for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for Tabuk. SubhanAllah when you have Allah talking about the munafiqun, the hypocrites that held back, Uthman radiAllahu anhu is the complete opposite of that. Giving all that he could so that when the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam asks, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is responded to. And then the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam goes home, I mean Uthman radiAllahu anhu goes home and he grabs all the dirhams that he can and he comes after equipping the army of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he comes and he starts to place the dirhams, these thousands of dinars and dirhams, gold coins in the lap of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam he picks up these things and look at what he says radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he says, ما ضرر Uthman, nothing can harm Uthman, ما فعل بعد اليوم, after what he has done today. Nothing can harm Uthman after what he has done today. We talk about the firsts and you know the quality of jumping at the opportunity, it's a small window sometimes that Allah presents you with an opportunity. And Uthman has taken advantage radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam of that opportunity multiple
times, multiple times and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying, nothing, nothing can harm Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam after today. And so this becomes the quality of Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, anytime the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam asks Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam comes forward to support the Messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in these moments. And SubhanAllah, this also shows you that some of the Sahaba contributed in different ways. Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was not known as a man of the battlefield. But SubhanAllah, look at what he was able to do for the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, look at how he was able to come forth for the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now he would witness all of the battles of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam except for one in particular, and it's a very unique story to be told about Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in this battle. This was the battle of Badr. How is it that Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, who accepted Islam as the fourth male, who went out to Abyssinia, who migrated to Medina, who went through all of this alongside the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, how is it that Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would not attend Badr? The story of that is that Ruqayya radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam became sick. And she was so sick that when Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam went out, Uthman who loves his wife dearly, when Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would go out, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam gave him permission to stay back and to care for Ruqayya. So he stays back, he cares for Ruqayya radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he watches Ruqayya die before his eyes. His young wife, the mother of his child, die before his eyes. And this was crushing to Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And SubhanAllah, truly a person like Uthman radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam who gives his heart to the people that he loves. I mean, again, all the nobility, the way that this couple became this model couple, not in physical appearance, no, this model couple, the love that they have for one another. The ihsan, the excellence that he showed to Ruqayya radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And that's why the day of Badr, the victory of Badr was known as the day of great joy and the day of great sadness. Because on the same day that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave the good news. Of the victory of the Muslims over the Mushrikeen in Badr, where they were expected to be wiped out, is the same day that Allah took the daughter of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam back to him, and the wife of Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu back. And the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam, he knew how badly Uthman wanted to be with the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam. And so, this is a very special manifestation as well as of innama al-a'malu binniyat, that verily actions are by intentions. We know that the veterans of Badr have a special place in Islam. Uthman radiAllahu anhu was given all of the reward of being from the veterans of Badr. He was considered by the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam to be from the veterans of Badr, even though he did not physically attend. Because he had the intention, and the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam told him instead that he could stay home and he could care for his wife and the daughter of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam, Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So this tragedy strikes Uthman. And it leaves Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in a very difficult place. And this is where you see some of the human side of the sahaba as well. A man like Uthman radiAllahu anhu who loved so intensely, who loved so intensely. That subhanAllah, after Ruqayya passed away,
his son Abdullah, his baby boy also would pass away shortly after when he was pecked in the face by some sort of a bird or a rooster, and he had an infection near his eye. The infection spread until it covered the whole face of Abdullah. So it was a very difficult infection. And his face swelled up until he stopped breathing only at the age of six years old. So Uthman radiAllahu anhu has now lost his wife, and he's lost his son, Abdullah, his six year old son, Abdullah. His wife, who was the daughter of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam, his son, Abdullah, who was the grandson of Muhammad ibn Abdullah rasulAllah salAllahu alaihi wasallam, and now that's gone too. So you can imagine the great sadness of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he visibly changed. He became very sad. He did not look the same. His devastation was noticeable. And the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam cares about Uthman radiAllahu anhu. He loves Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he goes to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, and he asks him, he says, what's wrong? What's keeping you so down? And he knows the answer, but this is his way of consoling Uthman radiAllahu anhu, going to talk to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he says to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam, Ya Rasulullah, it's the death of Ruqayya and something else. The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam said, what is the something else? Now, if it's, you know, this could be many different things, right? The something else could be something quantifiable that maybe the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam can do for him, right? So what is the something else? He says, Ya Rasulullah, inqataAAa sayri wa qurbi minka bimawtiha. He said, O Messenger of Allah, my connection to you, my closeness to you has been severed by her death as well. So I'm not just grieving the death of Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
and the loss of that family. I'm grieving my loss of a connection to you in that sense, right? He got to be the son-in-law of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam. SubhanAllah, because of that, or rather what Allah had decreed for this special man that no other person would be decreed, is that Jibreel alaihi salam comes to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam and tells him to marry Um Kulthum, his next daughter, to Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. But not just that, with a similar mahr, with a similar dowry, and ala mithli suhbatiha, with the same type of kindness and love that used to treat Ruqayya. SubhanAllah, with similar kindness. Because his love and his treatment of Ruqayya was exemplary. And so Jibreel alaihi salam comes to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam and says to marry Uthman radiAllahu anhu to Um Kulthum with the same mahr and upon the same type of kindness, the same character, that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was known for in the way that he would treat his wife, Ruqayya radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And this is why you have the nickname, Dhun Nureyn, the possessor of two lights. Because there is no person who would have the honor, the distinction of marrying, not just one, but two daughters of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam, than Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. There's actually a very beautiful and funny story about this with Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Where Umar radiAllahu anhu went out and he wanted to marry his daughter Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala anha to someone noble. So he was being a good dad. He was going out looking for a suitor. So who did he go to first? He went to Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu. And he told Abu Bakr that he wants to marry his daughter to, you know, he asked Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu if he'd be interested in Hafsa. And the Prophet, I'm sorry, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu told him,
you know, let me think about it, come back and meet me at this time. And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu did not meet him again. He basically avoided seeing Umar al-Khattab again. So Umar was upset, okay, with Abu Bakr. Then he goes to Uthman radiAllahu anhu to ask Uthman if he wants to marry Hafsa radiAllahu anha. And Uthman radiAllahu anhu, he told Umar to come back another time and to meet him. So Umar radiAllahu anhu came back and he found Uthman radiAllahu anhu in Salah. Uthman did not want to tell Umar, no. So what did he do? He prolonged his Salah. He prolonged his prayer until Umar radiAllahu anhu got tired of it and left. And Umar got a hint, got a message, that wow, both my companions, both my friends, Abu Bakr and Uthman, are treating me this way. So who does he go to to complain? He goes to the Prophet radiAllahu anhu. And he says to the Prophet radiAllahu anhu, you know how upset he is with Abu Bakr and Uthman. What happened to my friends, to my companions? You know, they could have been honest with me. They could have told me no. And the Prophet radiAllahu anhu says to Umar that your daughter Hafsa will marry someone better than Uthman and Uthman will marry someone better than your daughter. What was the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam talking about? The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam was better than Uthman. He would marry Hafsa and Uthman would marry someone better than your daughter, being Um Kulthum, the daughter of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam. And then you find that Abu Bakr and Uthman came to Umar and they told Umar radiAllahu anhu that we hope you were not upset, or we know you were upset, but the reason why we did not just outright say it is because the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam had mentioned Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala anha and we didn't want to disclose that secret of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam to you. SubhanAllah, years go on and Um Kulthum also would pass away in the lifetime of both the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam
and Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And you find some of the sad narrations, just like the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam had to bury Ruqayya and Zaynab. And here you have the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam also, the narrations of him radiAllahu ta'ala anhu sitting at the graveside of his daughter Um Kulthum and weeping radiAllahu ta'ala anhu as he bids farewell to his daughter salAllahu alaihi wasalam, six of seven children that he would bury in his own lifetime radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he sees the sadness of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. I mean, Uthman now, think about this devastation, right? He married Ruqayya and lost her. He married Um Kulthum and lost her. So he has married and lost two daughters of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam in the lifetime of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam. And what does the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam say to Uthman radiAllahu anhu when he sees him sad? He says, wallahi Uthman, if we had a third, we would marry her to you. If there was any other daughters left, we would keep on marrying our daughters to you. They would die one after the other and subhanAllah, he's such a noble person. He's so beloved to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam. We continue to marry our daughters to you because of the position that he has radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. InshaAllah ta'ala, I'm gonna go ahead and stop there and we will continue. We'll do one more inshaAllah ta'ala halaqan Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, speaking about some more of his qualities and contributions. Again, not necessarily going through the seerah of Uthman but really talking about some more of those qualities that sometimes go underestimated when we're talking about the story of this man, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. May Allah be pleased with him. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala send his peace and blessings upon our messenger Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wasalam, his family and companions. Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran.
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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