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Uthman Ibn Affan (radiallahu anhu) belonged to the Umayyad family. He was Abu Bakr's friend and it was Abu Bakr (RA) who had introduced Islam to him. Uthman accepted Islam without questioning. He was the only member of the Umayyads to become Muslim when the Muslims were being persecuted.
Uthman (RA) was married to the Prophet's daughter, Ruqayya. On seeing the enmity of the Quraysh due to his conversion, he asked the Prophet's permission to migrate to Abyssinia, the land of the kind Christian king, Najashi (Negus). Thus, he and his wife, Ruqayya (RA) were among the first to give up their home in Allah's cause. When Muslims began to emigrate to Madinah, Uthman too, along with his wife, came to Madinah and settled there.
Ruqayya took ill in Madinah and died thereafter. Uthman was very sad. So the Prophet  married his second daughter, Umm Kulthum (RA) to Uthman. This was a great honour. Uthman came to be known as "Thun Noorain," i.e. the possessor of two lights.
Uthman (RA) took part in most battles with Prophet and he acted as the Prophet's messenger during the Hudaybiyya peace treaty. He was also one of the scribes of the Prophet . He wrote portions of the Qur'an on revelation. He was also one of the ten companions whom the Prophet had given the good news of the kingdom of heaven.
Uthman was the first among the Prophet's Companions to spend his wealth in Allah's cause. He alone financed the Muslim army for the battle of Tabuk in the 9th year A.H.
The second Caliph Umar (RA) had nominated a six-man council to choose a Caliph from among its members. These members were Ali, Uthman, Abudr Rahman ibn Auf, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Az-Zubair ibn al-Awam, and Talha ibn Obaidullah. After great deliberations ultimately Uthman was offered the Caliphate.
In Uthman's Caliphate, which extended from 644 to 656 A.H., several battles were won by the Muslim armies. Vast areas of the world came under the Islamic rule both in the East and the West. It was definitely the widest conquests in the Islamic history. Mu'awiya (RA), Governor of Syria with the help of Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh, the Governor of Egypt invaded Cyprus and brought it under Islamic rule. Cyprus served as a military base for the Muslims.
Uthman's most important contribution to the cause of Islam was the preparation of the second and final version of the Qur'an. He ordered the Qur'an to be written in the Quraysh dialect of Arabia. Then he commanded that a few copies of it be made and sent to the centers of the Muslim provinces. Every other version was destroyed, and the Qur'an has remained absolutely unchanged for the centuries.
In fact, the first six years of Uthman's rule were ideal and passed without any significant complaints from the public. However, the administration of a vast empire with threats and conspiracies of its enemies needed a man of strong character like Umar. Uthman (RA) was a simple and kind-hearted man. Although he was a deeply religious man, his administration was not as disciplined as that of Umar (RA).
Moreover, Uthman felt that by appointing some of his clever friends and professional relatives to key positions he would be able to properly manage administrative affairs. But this caused the resentment of the public who, led by suspected conspirators like the Jew Abdullah ibn Sab'a, held the Caliph responsible for an alleged bad administration.
Some rebellious mob demanded Uthman's abdication but the Caliph refused to do so. The Egyptians, in particular, were angry with Uthman. They blamed him for replacing a capable governor there with his own cousin who set taxes more than they could bear to pay, a request Uthman promised to investigate and actually appointed another ruler. But the rebels seemed to have their own motives and secret ends!
This dissension finally developed into rebellion. Some Egyptians took a more active part in this revolt. They came to Madinah in the absence of most of the Companions of the Prophet who were either in jihad or in Makkah for Hajj.
The rebels besieged Uthman's house and demanded his resignation but Uthman rejected their flagrant request and preached a public sermon against them. Soon afterwards, while Uthman (RA) was reading the Qur'an, a group of these unruly men attacked and killed him to the surprise of the present Companions who did not expect that things would reach such an extreme!
Such a terrible act caused a serious rift in the Muslim nation and gave a lesson that Muslims should keep their differences settled in the light of Qur'an and Sunnah not through irresponsible actions led by the conspiracies of the hypocrites and the enemies of Islam.
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