Schism
24-40AH
644-661 CETHE THIRD KHALIFA (22-36 AH, 644-656 CE)
Othman was Mohammed's fifth cousin once removed, and he took office
as Islam's third khalifa at the age of sixty-eight. To understand his stormy
twelve-year term, it's useful to look at who the man was and how he came
to head up the community that ruled the Middle World.
Othman's father had been one of the richest men in Mecca, and Oth-
man inherited his father's millions when he was twenty. With a deft touch
for business, he managed to multiply that wealth many times over before
he was even in his thirties, earning the nickname of Othman Ghani, "Oth-
man the wealthy."
Chaste and modest even before his conversion, Othman never drank,
smoked, or chased women. Around Mecca, he was famous for his good
looks-people even went so far as to call him "beautiful"-yet an air of
anxious melancholy always surrounded this austere, soft-spoken man.
He converted to Islam about a year after Mohammed began his preach-
ing and nine years before the Hijra. His conversion story begins one
evening when he was on his way home from a successful business trip.
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