Uthman Ibn Affan has always been compared to others. Both during his lifetime and after, he has been compared to the Caliph that came before him and the one that would come after him.
There are many factors that contributed to his popularity among a small segment of the Muslim society. Some of them were based on decisions that Uthman made.
But some things were out of his control, such as:
- Not as many conquests as before
- Minority Muslim Arabs ruling over a conquered, non-Muslim people.
- Economic strain from entitlements established by Umar Ibn Al-Khattab.
Still, there were some decisions that Uthman made that make us pause.
One of his most questionable decisions was replacing a popular and successful general like Amr Ibn Al-As with Ibn Abi Sarh.
It did not help that Ibn Abi Sarh had once betrayed Prophet Muhammad. And the fact that he was Uthman's cousin just made things even worse.