Who really killed ‘Uthman?

Page 36 of 43
14. Tareekh Asim Kufi page 147 “Dhikr Khilafath”
15. Rauzathul Ahbab Volume 2 page 229
16. Taufa Tadhreeya page 55
Let us begin with Sahih Bukhari, Vol.6, #510
"Narrated Anas bin Malik: Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to ‘Uthman at the time when
the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were waging war to conquer Arminya
and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq)
differences in the recitation of the Qur’an, so he said to ‘Uthman, ‘O chief of the
Believers! Set this people right before they differ about the Book (Qur’an), as the
Jews and the Christians did before’. Then ‘Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying,
‘Send us the manuscripts of the Qur’an so that we may copy the Qur’anic materials
in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you. Hafsah sent it to ‘Uthman.
‘Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, Abdullah bin az-Zubair, Sa’id bin Al-’As and
Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies.
‘Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, ‘In case you disagree with Zayd bin Thabit
on any point in the Qur’an, then write it in the dialect of the Quraish, as the Qur’an
was revealed in their tongue’. They did so, and when they had written many copies,
‘Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsah. ‘Uthman sent to every Muslim
province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur’anic
materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt”
Is this respect for the Word of Allah (swt)? In the same way that Muslims hearts are set ablaze
when they see images of Hindus setting the Qur’an on fire, there is no doubt that the Muslims
of that time were just as angered when Uthman set fire to the Qur’an. To those Pakistani Nasibi
groups such as Sipaa-e-Sahaba who often allege that the Shi’a ascribe to Tahreef and burn the
Qur’an in private, we suggest that they look carefully at this reference. These groups are even
responsible for inciting sectarian hatred, by falsely alleging that the Christians have set fire to
the Qur’an so that they can terrorise the minority Pakistani Christian community. What these
Nasibi Mullah’s fail to point out to their followers is that your great Khalifa had no qualms about
setting fire to pages of the Qur’an, and set out a campaign of collating copies and lighting
them.
5.5 The Salaf madhab deems setting fire to the Qur’an to be a
‘virtue’ of Uthman
We read in Al Sawaiq al Muhriqa page 68 “Khilafath Uthman”:
Amongst the objections raised against Uthman is one that he set fire to books that
included the Qur’an. Our reply to this is that Uthman’s burning these Qur’an is just
one virtue that can be counted amongst many of Uthman’s virtues. Our reply to these
Nasibi who loudly proclaim that the Shi’a ascribe tahreef to the Qur’an that they should clean
their own house first. You are the adherents of those Salaf Imams that deem their khalifas act
of burning the Qur’an to be one his virtues.
5.6 The people were outraged by Uthman’s campaign of Qur’an
burning and this was one factor that led to them killing him
We read in al Bidaya wa al Nihaya Volume 6 page 217 “Dhikr Uthman”
“Uthman introduced the Qur’an of his preference and then set fire to different
versions that people had in their possessions”.
We read in Tareekh Asim Kufi:
“When the Egyptians surrounded Uthman’s home, he asked them ‘On what grounds
Copyright © 2002-2003 Answering-Ansar.org. • All Rights Reserved