Uthman
ibn Hunayf embraced Islam and participated in all the battles alongside the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) after the Battle of Badr.
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and
the conquest of Iraq, Umar ibn al-Khattab appointed him as the tax collector
for the Sawad region of Iraq. He granted him a daily stipend of a quarter of a
sheep and five dirhams and instructed him to survey the Sawad, both cultivated
and uncultivated areas, excluding any salt marshes, hillocks, thickets, or
stagnant water. He surveyed everything from Mount Hulwan to the Arabian
Peninsula, which lies below the Euphrates River. He wrote to Umar: “I found
that everything reached by the water, both cultivated and inhabited, amounted
to thirty-six thousand jaribs.” (A jarib is roughly equivalent to other common
land units in South Asia and the Middle East, such as the Indian bega and the
Sumerian ecu, which ranged in size from 1600 to 3600 square meters (0.40 to
0.89 acres). Umar measured the land with his cubit, which was one cubit, one
fist, and the thumb extended. “One cubit, one fist, and the thumb extended”
describes a measure of equal strength, where the cubit extends from the elbow
to the tip of the middle finger, and the fist from the elbow to the tip of the
thumb. This is used in some contexts to express strength or approximation. The
phrase “six fists less” indicates that the measure is close to, but not yet
equal to, the cubit's strength.)
He
wrote to him: “Impose the land tax on every jarib, cultivated or inhabited.” He
imposed a dirham and a qafiz (an Islamic measure used for weight and volume
during the Islamic era) and levied ten dirhams on each jarib (a unit of land
measurement). He also provided them with date palms and other trees, saying,
"This will strengthen them in cultivating their farmland." This
measure is equivalent to four aqfiz, and aqfiz is the plural of qafiz. The
qafiz is a measure whose weight varies among different regions; it is said to
be approximately sixteen kilograms by weight and about one hundred and
forty-four cubits by area.
He
imposed forty-eight dirhams on the wealthy, twenty-four dirhams on those less
fortunate, and twelve dirhams on those who had nothing. He also freed them from
slavery by imposing a land tax on them.
In
the first year, eighty million dirhams were sent to Umar from the land tax of
the Sawad of Kufa, and the following year, one hundred and twenty million
dirhams. This continued until the total land tax reached eighty million dirhams
in the first year, and then increased to twelve million dirhams after that.
That is so.
After
the assassination of Uthman ibn Affan and the accession of Ali ibn Abi Talib to
the caliphate, he appointed him governor of Basra. He remained there until
Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam entered the city before the
Battle of the Camel and expelled him.
Uthman
ibn Hunayf then settled in Kufa, where he remained until his death during the
caliphate of Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan. He had several children: Uthman ibn
Uthman, whose mother was Umm Sa'd bint Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas; Haritha ibn Uthman,
whose mother was from the Kindah tribe; and Abdullah, al-Bara', Muhammad,
Abdullah, and Umm Sahl, whose mothers were concubines.
He
narrated hadiths from the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him),
and those who narrated from him include his nephew Abu Umamah ibn Sahl ibn
Hunayf, his son Abd al-Rahman ibn Uthman ibn Hunayf, and Hani' ibn Muawiyah.
Al-Sadafi, Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn Utbah, Amarah ibn Khuzaymah ibn
Thabit, and Nawfal ibn Musahhiq.
His
narrations: Al-Bukhari included his narrations in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, as did
Al-Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa'i, and Muhammad ibn Majah.
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