Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 40448 — Reports on Uthman (may Allah be)

It is narrated from Waththab, whom Amir al-Mu'minin Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) had set free, and who used to be in attendance before Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Al-Hasan said: I saw in his (Waththab's) throat two spear wounds like two cauterisation marks, which he had received on the Day of the House, that is, the house of Sayyiduna Uthman. He (the narrator Waththab) said: Amir al-Mu'minin Sayyiduna Uthman sent me, saying: Bring al-Ashtar to me. So he came, and a cushion was placed for Sayyiduna Uthman and for this Ashtar. Sayyiduna Uthman asked: O Ashtar, what do the people want from me? He said: There are three things, and there is no escape from adopting one of them. First, they give you the choice between giving up the affair of the caliphate for them and saying to them: Here is your affair of the caliphate, choose for it whomever you wish; and offering yourself for retaliation. If you refuse these two things, then these people will kill you. Sayyiduna Uthman said: Is there no escape from adopting one of them? He said: There is no escape from adopting one of them. Then Sayyiduna Uthman said: As for my withdrawing from the affair of their caliphate for them, I will never take off this shirt which Allah, the Lord of Glory, has clothed me with for all time. Ibn Awn, the narrator, says that narrators other than al-Hasan reported that he said it this way: That I should step forward and have my neck struck is dearer to me than that I should leave the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) fighting one another. Ibn Awn says that this is closer to his way of speaking. And as for my offering myself to them for retaliation, I certainly know that my two companions before me used to offer themselves for retaliation, and my body cannot bear retaliation. And if they kill me, then by Allah, if they kill me, they will never love one another after me, and after me they will never be able to fight any enemy together. So al-Ashtar stood up and left. We stayed for a little while and said: Perhaps it is the people. Then a small man came, as though he were a wolf; he peered in from the door and then went back. Then Muhammad bin Abi Bakr came among thirteen men until he reached Sayyiduna Uthman, took hold of his beard and pulled it until I heard the sound of his molars, and he said: Mu'awiyah has been of no benefit to you, Ibn Amir has been of no benefit to you, and your letters have been of no benefit to you. He said: Let go of my beard, O nephew! Let go of my beard, O nephew! The narrator said: I saw Muhammad bin Abi Bakr seek the help, with a glance of his eye, of a man among the people. That man rose towards him with an arrowhead until he struck it into his head, and it stuck there, and then he passed on. He said: Then they entered, and by Allah, they martyred him.