Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 39862 — Reports on the caliphate and killing

It is narrated from al-Hasan, who said: Wathhab informed me. This Wathhab was among those whom the emancipation by the Commander of the Faithful Umar reached, and afterwards he used to attend before Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). The narrator said: I saw in his throat two spear marks like two cauterization marks. These spears were thrust into him on the day of the siege at the house of Sayyiduna Uthman. He related: The Commander of the Faithful Sayyiduna Uthman sent me and said: "Bring al-Ashtar to me." Ibn Awn said: I think he also said: I placed a cushion for the Commander of the Faithful. Sayyiduna Uthman said: "O Ashtar! What do the (rebel) people want from me?" Al-Ashtar said: "There are three things, one of which must be done. They give you the choice: either hand over their rule to them and say, 'This is your rule; entrust it to whomever you wish'; or give them the opportunity to take retaliation from you. If you refuse these two, then the people will kill you." Sayyiduna Uthman asked: "Is it necessary to choose one of them?" Al-Ashtar said: "(Yes,) it is necessary to choose one of them." 2. Sayyiduna Uthman said: "As for my giving up the responsibility of ruling them, (listen,) I will never take off the shirt with which Allah Almighty has clothed me." Ibn Awn said: A narrator other than al-Hasan related: "If I were brought forward to have my neck struck, that would be dearer to me than leaving the affair of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) among the people." Ibn Awn said: This resembles his speech. "And as for giving the people the opportunity to take retaliation from me: by Allah, I know that my two companions before me used to give (the people) the opportunity to take retaliation from them, but my body will not withstand retaliation. And as for the people killing me: by Allah (remember this), if they kill me, they will never be able to love one another after me, nor will they ever be able to wage jihad together against an enemy after me." 3. The narrator said: Then al-Ashtar got up and left. We stayed where we were and said: "Perhaps the people will go back." Then a small man came, looking as though he were a wolf; he peered in from the door and went back. Then Muhammad bin Abi Bakr rose with thirteen men and reached Sayyiduna Uthman. He seized his beard and shook it until I heard the sound of his molars, and he was saying: "Mu'awiyah has been of no use to you! Ibn Amir has been of no use to you! Your letters have been of no use to you!" Sayyiduna Uthman said: "O nephew, let go of my beard! O nephew, let go of my beard!" 4. The narrator said: I saw him ask a man from among his people for help, and a man came to him with a broad-headed spear and, with force, drove it into the head of Sayyiduna Uthman. The narrator was asked: "Then what happened?" The narrator replied: "Then these rebels entered upon Sayyiduna Uthman and killed him."