economic thought of the rightly guided caliphs 117to the first caliph than to the second; he was one of early Muslims
and above all he was one of few people chosen by the Prophet to
write Qur"ànic verses when they were revealed. But the third caliph
had something which none of his predecessors had: wealth. Wealth
to Uthmàn the Muslim was a blessing but to him as caliph it was,
nevertheless, otherwise. When the Islamic movement was poor,
Uthmàn spent on the Islamic cause generously, so much so that he
is reported to have financed as much as one third of the cost of an
Islamic expedition on his own (Al- ̨abarì). The wealth turned into
a curse, however, after Uthmàn became a caliph. He was accus-
tomed to good living and he continued to do so and perhaps more
after he was selected as a head of state. When comparing his style
of living with that of Caliph Umar whose food and dress were scanty,
the Muslim community had many questions and objections. Caliph
Uthmàn’s defense was that it was from his own wealth he spent on
himself not from Muslims’ money in the state treasury. But the effect
Caliph Umar left on Muslims and his incomparable example of self-
denial was too deep to eradicate. At least it was much too soon to
change the style of leadership. The weakness of the old caliph in
facing his kinsfolk who were eager to be appointed to elevated polit-
ical positions as province governors did not help the matter either.
Caliph Uthmàn was accused of nepotism (ibid.). But despite all that,
the third caliph had the opportunity to complete the compilation of
the Qur"àn and to administer further Islamic expansion. By the time
of his death, the Islamic state extended to Sigistan in the east, Georgia
between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea in the north and fur-
ther in the North African coast in the west. Further expansion pro-
duced further wealth for the Empire.
Caliph Uthmàn and Financial Administration
The third caliph was not particularly innovative. He was, as he
affirmed, a follower of those before him. His general economic poli-
cies, therefore, were a continuation of those of his immediate pre-
decessor. Indeed, Caliph Umar left after him a solid body of economic
and financial policies that would be difficult to change without
justification. It is not surprising therefore to know that the general
policies of Caliph Uthmàn coincided with those of Caliph Umar.
To Caliph Uthmàn’s credit, it should be pointed out that as a mem-
ber in Caliph Umar’s council Caliph Uthmàn must have participated