Uthman (Arabic: عثمان, romanized: ʿUthmān) is the third of the Rashidun or "Rightly Guided" caliphs, the person who succeeded to Muhammad after his death in 632 AD and was the third Sunni Rashidun caliph, ruling from 644 until his death in 656. Uthman ibn Affan (c. 579–656) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the third of the Rashidun or "Rightly Guided" caliphs. Under his leadership, the Islamic empire expanded into Fars (present-day Iran) and into Khorasan (present-day Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) in the east and into Armenia and Cyprus in the north. He was assassinated while praying in the mosque of Medina. Uthman's reign is significant for the standardisation of the Quran into a single canonical text. In Hebrew, Uthman is transliterated as עות'מאן (Otman). In Persian, he is known as عثمان (Oshtomân). In Turkish, his name is Osman. The period of his caliphate is marked by both significant territorial expansion and internal strife, culminating in his assassination, which led to the First Fitna, a civil war within the Muslim community.
