116 chapter three
central treasury to meet the needs of other local treasuries that had
deficits, or to receive instructions from the central treasury to trans-
fer from their surpluses what could meet others’ deficits.
Also, state registration, Dìwàn, was introduced by Umar, on the
advice of his council (ibid.) and perhaps influenced by state regis-
tration in conquered lands in Syria and Iraq. The most notable of
these were stipends registration and Kharàj registration. The first
included registration of the people, their names, tribes, places and
how much stipends they were allowed. The second included a sur-
vey of Kharàj lands, their occupiers, degree of fertility, products, the
amount of Kharàj levied and how much was spent on the land of
public money—a detailed register of the main source of state finance.
After ten years of his caliphate, the caliph who rendered great
services to the organisation of the Islamic empire tragically died. In
644 he was assassinated while leading congregational prayer by a
poisoned dagger of a Christian Persian slave. On knowing who
stabbed him he thanked God that he was not stabbed by a Muslim
(ibid.) for fear of schism among Muslims. Schism was to come how-
ever in a decade or so after him. The sudden death of Caliph Umar
ended a great period of a successful Muslim leader.
The Third Caliph Uthmàn (644 –656)Caliph Uthmàn ibn Affan was one of six men whom Umar man-
aged to name in the short time before his death as prospective caliphs
from whom Muslims would choose one. They were all the Prophet’s
companions who gained his approval and blessing and who were
renowned for their piety and tremendous support to Islam. The selec-
tion was narrowed down to that between Ali and Uthmàn but the
latter was eventually given the oath of allegiance. In his early sev-
enties, Caliph Uthmàn was probably too old to resist the political
greediness of his kinsfolk—an ingredient for later Islamic revolt.
Caliph Uthmàn, the Man
In terms of personal temperament, Caliph Uthmàn was much nearer
to Abù-Bakr than to Umar. He was known for his tolerance, approach-
ability, gentle nature and modesty with a touch of shyness. In terms
of precedence in embracing Islam, again Caliph Uthmàn was nearer