Highest Standard of Modesty
Hazrat Uthman (ra) possessed a great deal of modesty and chastity in his disposition. We find a narration in relation to this. Hazrat Anas (ra) bin Malik relates that the Holy Prophet (sa) said, “From among my ummah, the most merciful towards his people is Abu Bakr; the most firm in the religion of Allah is Umar; the one who adheres to the highest standard of true modesty is Uthman; the best decision-maker among them is Ali bin Abi Talib; the most knowledgeable of the Quran, which is the Book of Allah the Almighty, is Ubayy bin Kaab; the person with the greatest understanding of what is lawful and unlawful is Muaz bin Jabal and the person with the greatest awareness of his obligations is Zaid bin Thabit. Hearken! Every nation has an ameen [custodian] and the ameen of my ummah is Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah.”
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Iftitah al-Kitab, Bab Fada‘il Zaid bin Thabit, Hadith 154)
Hazrat Anas bin Malik (ra) relates that the Holy Prophet (sa) said, “Abu Bakr (ra) is the most merciful towards my ummah. Umar (ra) is most firm among them with regard to implementing the commandments of Allah and Uthman (ra) is the most modest among them.”
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Abwab al-Manaqib, Muaz bin Jabal, Hadith 3790)
Hazrat Uthman (ra) bin Affan relates, “I was never neglectful, nor did I ever desire for it.”
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Taharah wa Sunaniha, Bab Karahat Mass al-Dhakar bi al-Yamin…, Hadith 311)
In other words, Hazrat Uthman (ra) never wished for the station of Khilafat or any other position, nor did he entertain any false desires.
With regard to Hazrat Uthman’s (ra) high level of modesty, Hazrat Aisha (ra) relates that the Holy Prophet (sa) was in her home and at the time, was lying down and had slightly removed the garment which was covering his thighs or calves. During this time, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) sought permission to enter and the Holy Prophet (sa) permitted him to enter but remained in the same state. Following this, they engaged in a conversation and Hazrat Umar (ra) sought permission to enter. The Holy Prophet (sa) also permitted him to enter, but again remained as he was.
Thereafter, they continued the conversation. When Hazrat Uthman (ra) sought permission to enter, the Holy Prophet (sa) sat up and adjusted his clothes. The narrator of this tradition, Muhammad, says that he did not say that all of this took place in one day as it was possible that it took place on different occasions.
In any case, when Hazrat Uthman (ra) came, they all spoke together and then left. Later, Hazrat Aisha (ra) enquired [from the Holy Prophet (sa)], “When Abu Bakr came, you remained as you were. Then Umar came, but you once again remained as you were. However, when Uthman entered, you sat up and started adjusting your clothes.” Upon this, the Holy Prophet (sa) said, “Should I not take into consideration [the high level of modesty] of that person for whom even the angels display their modesty?”
In another place, this narration has been narrated as follows, when Hazrat Aisha (ra) enquired from the Holy Prophet (sa) as to why he made this particular effort for Hazrat Uthman (ra), the Holy Prophet (sa) said, “Should I not show modesty to whom even the angels display their modesty? By that Being in Whose hands lies the life of Muhammad (sa)! The angels most certainly display the same modesty towards Uthman (ra) as they do before Allah and His Messenger (sa)! If Uthman (ra) had entered and you were near me, he would not have raised his head until he had left.” In other words, he possessed such high level of modesty that he would neither have looked up, nor uttered a single word.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab Fada‘il al-Sahabah (ra), Bab Fada‘il Uthman bin Affan, Hadith 6209) (Majma‘ al-Zawa‘id wa Manba‘ al-Fawa‘id, Kitab al-Manaqib, Bab fi Haya‘ih, Hadith 14504, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2001)