June 17, AD 656

Assassination of Uthman

Murder of Caliph Uthman in besieged Medina

The ruler of an empire was killed almost alone in his own house, reportedly while reading the Quran.

17 June 656, inside the caliph's house

On 17 June 656 — 18 Dhu al-Hijjah 35 AH — provincial rebels killed the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, in his house in Medina. A modern scholarly synthesis describes him sitting almost alone reading the Quran when he was killed.

He had refused demands to abdicate, and members of the opposition broke into his residence.

The transmitted accounts disagree over the identities and actions of the individual killers; they do not support naming one agreed murderer.

The siege that ended there

Madelung's chronology dates this second siege from the rebels' return to Medina on 31 May, following an earlier stage on 1 May.

The opposition combined provincial grievances — especially from Egypt and Kufa — with critics inside Medina itself.

Traditional reports give different lengths for the siege overall, because they count from different starting points.

The pledge, one day later

Ali ibn Abi Talib received the pledge of allegiance on 18 June, the day after Uthman's death. The two were consecutive events rather than a single transfer of power.

The new government could not punish Uthman's killers without alienating armed supporters. Talha, al-Zubayr, Aisha and Muawiya — the Syrian governor and Uthman's Umayyad kinsman — soon challenged Ali, opening the First Fitna.

Ali also did not move his seat to Iraq that June. He left Medina on 25 October, defeated his Basran opponents at the Battle of the Camel in December, and based himself in Iraq thereafter.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 7 sources not yet audited

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What the sources leave uncertain

The date 17 June 656 is well established in modern scholarly chronologies, but the transmitted accounts disagree over the identities and actions of the individual killers.
Accounts of Ali's protective efforts, the participation of his sons and his precise relationship with the rebels differ substantially across the sources.
Traditional reports give different lengths for the overall siege because they count different starting points.