The list of indictment against Uthman, the third caliph (may God be pleased with him), includes one that charges him with allocating certain land as a protectorate. Justice Abu Bakr ibn Al-Arabi refutes this charge in a very concise and precise statement, stating: “Protectorates were established earlier. It is said that Uthamn increased it when the population increased. If it is permissible to declare it in the first place, it is permissible to increase it when the need for it is greater.”
The whole issue of allocating land as a protectorate needs to be explained. Such explanation is provided by Muhibb Al-Deen Al-Khateeb in his annotation of Ibn Al-Arabi’s book. He says:
In pre-Islamic days, when a nobleman encamped in a land that belonged to his tribe, he would incite his dog to bark and declare as his protectorate all the land over which the dog’s barking was heard. This land would be left for his own horses, camels and other animals. No one was permitted to let his animals graze in that land. When Islam was revealed, the Prophet prohibited all this, making it clear that land could be made a protectorate only for camels that people give as zakat, and are allocated for use in war and public services. The Prophet said: “No protectorate may be declared other than for God and His messenger.” (Related by Al-Bukhari and Ahmad). Needless to say, when the Prophet describes something as belonging to God and His messenger, this means that it belongs to the Muslim state.
According to a Hadith related by Imam Ahmad, the Prophet declared a land known as Al-Naqee’, or Naqee’ Al-Khadamat. This Hadith is reported on the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar who was asked whether it was a protectorate for the Prophet’s own horses. Ibn Umar said: “No. It was for the Muslim community’s horses.” This means the horses allocated for use in war, or belonged to the state. It should be added that Imam Malik mentions in Al-Muwatta’ that this place was an area at some distance from Madinah, stretching one meel in width and eight meels in length. A meel is a stretch of land as far as one can see in open land. It is estimated to be close to a mile, and the same word is used today to denote a mile. This means that this area was eight square miles.It goes without saying that during Abu Bakr’s reign, matters stayed as they were, because Abu Bakr did not change anything that was done during the Prophet’s lifetime. Moreover, the need for horses and camels to be allocated for jihad and war was much greater.
Under Umar, the second caliph, the protectorate was increased in area so as to include Saraf and Al-Rabadhah. Umar had a full-time employee to look after the protectorate. In Al-Bukhari’s Sahih we have the text of Umar’s instructions to this employee. He ordered him to prevent the cattle of rich people like Abd Al-Rahman ibn Awf and Uthman ibn Affan from grazing in the protectorate area, but he should be lenient with people who had only a few sheep or cattle.
In the same way as the protectorate was increased in area during Umar’s time, because of the increase in the state’s cattle, it was similarly enlarged under Uthman. Indeed, the Muslim state greatly increased in area and vast areas of land were liberated and came under Islamic rule. What the Prophet approved for the cattle belonging to the state, and was then applied by Abu Bakr and Umar, is perfectly permissible to operate by Uthman. To object to this is to raise an objection to a part of Islamic law.
Uthman himself answered the charge concerning the protectorate, defending himself publicly in the presence of a number of the Prophet’s companions. He said that those who were employed by him to oversee the protectorate applied the rules only to sheep and cattle that were given as zakat and sadaqah. These were the protected animals, and the purpose was to ensure that there was no dispute concerning them with anyone. These employees never prevented anyone to graze in the area.
Uthman also spoke about himself, saying that before he became caliph, he owned more camels and sheep than anyone else in all Arabia. Now, at the end of his reign, he only owned two camels that he kept for his pilgrimage. He asked the Prophet’s companions present if this was true, and they confirmed it.
Thus the whole issue of the protectorate land was a concocted charge, made by people who were full of grudge against Islam and the Muslim state, and repeated by people who did not understand the situation in the same way as we repeat today what we sea on television or read in newspapers, without checking the facts or referring to original sources. When Uthman increased the protectorate area, he was simply exercising power invested in him by the Muslim community, to serve the interests of the Muslim state. What could be more natural than that?
Moreover, Uthman was very pious and spent of his own money on what was needed by the community. This is confirmed by what he said about his own wealth when he defended himself against the charges leveled at him. He was always rich, and he was one of the most generous people in Islamic history. His generosity saw him contribute to many causes or projects during the Prophet’s lifetime and later. The contribution that heartily touched the Prophet was when Uthman donated 300 camels, fully equipped, for the Expedition of Tabuk, which was undertaken by the Prophet at a time when hardship prevailed in Madinah and many people did not have their own means of transport. Uthman says, and the Prophet’s companions confirm, that all his wealth was gone apart from two camels. What contrast this gives today with adventurers who seize power in a country and whose wealth rise into hundreds of millions within a couple of years!
Arab News Islam 18 August 2003
