3 of 5 · Muharram 24 AH · November 644 CE · Madinah
'Uthman ibn 'Affan رضي الله عنه
Chosen by the Council
As 'Umar lay dying from his wounds, he would not name a single successor. Instead he named six men with whom the Prophet ﷺ had been pleased at his death — 'Uthman, 'Ali, Talhah, al-Zubayr, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf — and told them to choose one of themselves (Sahih al-Bukhari 3700).
'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf withdrew his own name so that he could act as the one to decide, and for three days and nights he consulted the council and went among the people of Madinah, the leaders and the ordinary folk alike. The choice narrowed to 'Uthman and 'Ali, and the people inclined to 'Uthman.
In the mosque, 'Abd al-Rahman took 'Uthman's hand and pledged to him; 'Ali pledged, and then the people came to pledge in turn. 'Uthman, now about seventy years old, became the third caliph.
Consultation (shura) took time and care; a decision of this weight was made by listening widely, not by force or haste.
In decisions that affect others, do you take the time to hear them before you decide?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3700 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 7207Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-NihayahHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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