2 of 5 · c. 615 CE – 9 AH · Makkah, Abyssinia and Madinah
'Uthman ibn 'Affan رضي الله عنه
The Possessor of Two Lights
'Uthman married Ruqayyah, the daughter of the Prophet ﷺ, and when persecution in Makkah grew heavy, the two of them were among the first Muslims to emigrate to Abyssinia. They later returned, and then emigrated again — this time to Madinah.
When the Muslims marched out to Badr in 2 AH, Ruqayyah lay gravely ill, and the Prophet ﷺ told 'Uthman to stay and nurse her. He told him: "You will have the reward of a man who was present at Badr, and his share" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3698). Ruqayyah died while the army was away; the news of victory reached Madinah as she was being buried.
The Prophet ﷺ then married his daughter Umm Kulthum to 'Uthman. She lived with him until her death in 9 AH. Because he was married to two daughters of the Prophet ﷺ, one after the other, the Muslims called him Dhu al-Nurayn — "the possessor of the two lights."
Staying behind to care for a sick wife, at the Prophet's ﷺ instruction, was counted with the reward of the greatest battle; service in the home can be worship of the highest kind.
Is there someone at home whose care you treat as lesser work, when it may be your Badr?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3698 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-NabawiyyahHistorical report
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-Isti'ab fi Ma'rifat al-AshabHistorical 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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