A Merchant Who Believed

'Uthman was born in Makkah some six years after the Year of the Elephant, into Banu Umayyah, one of the most powerful clans of Quraysh. His line meets the Prophet's ﷺ at their shared ancestor 'Abd Manaf, and his mother, Arwa bint Kurayz, was a granddaughter of 'Abd al-Muttalib through her mother — so he was a cousin's son to the Prophet ﷺ on her side.

He grew up to be a successful cloth merchant, known for his good manners, his modesty and his clean life. The biographers note that even before Islam he did not drink wine and kept away from the indecencies of the market and the night.

When Abu Bakr began quietly inviting the people he trusted, 'Uthman was among the very first to answer. Ibn Ishaq lists him with al-Zubayr, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and Talhah as the men who came to Islam through Abu Bakr in those earliest days. For a man of his wealth and clan, it meant risking both.