Four False Accounts Inserted into the History of Uthman ibn Affan’s Appointment as Caliph

JAKARTA — Many fabrications and falsehoods have been inserted into Islamic history by those hostile to Islam. Among them are accounts of the shura (consultation) and the appointment of Uthman ibn Affan as caliph.

Orientalists later accepted and spread these reports. As a result, many modern historians and thinkers were influenced by them without first examining and verifying their isnad (chains of transmission) or matn (content). Ultimately, the reports spread among Muslims.

Various inaccurate accounts of the shura and Uthman ibn Affan’s appointment as caliph were infiltrated with fabrications and falsehoods.

Some people even wrote books specifically about the event. Abu Mikhnaf, for example, wrote a book about the shura, as did Ibn Uqdah and Ibn Babawayh.

Ibn Sa’d, meanwhile, cited nine accounts through al-Waqidi concerning the shura, the bay’ah (oath of allegiance) to Uthman, and the history of his appointment as caliph.

He also transmitted, through Ubaidullah ibn Musa, an account covering the killing of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the restriction of the candidates for caliph in the shura to six people, and Umar’s instructions to Ali and Uthman should either of them be chosen as caliph. The account also includes Umar’s instructions to Shuhaib on the matter.

Al-Baladhuri transmitted an account of the shura and the bay’ah to Uthman from Abu Mikhnaf and Hisham al-Kalbi.

Some of the accounts he cited came from Abu Mikhnaf; others were reports he presented on his own, while some derived from al-Waqidi and Ubaidullah ibn Musa.

Al-Tabari also based his account on several reports, including one from Abu Mikhnaf.

Ibn Abi al-Hadid, meanwhile, cited several episodes in the account of the shura through Ahmad ibn Abdul Aziz al-Jawhari. He also said that he had consulted al-Waqidi’s book, Al-Shura.