Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 40510 — Reports on Uthman (may Allah be)

It is narrated from Alqamah, who said: I said to al-Ashtar: "You used to dislike the Day of the House (the day of the siege of the house of Sayyiduna Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him). How then did you retract your opinion?" He said: "By Allah, I did dislike the Day of the House, and I brought Sayyidah Umm Habibah bint Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with her) so that I could take her into the house of Sayyiduna Uthman and bring Sayyiduna Uthman out in a howdah. But they stopped me from going in and said: 'What have we to do with al-Ashtar?' However, I saw Sayyiduna Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) and some people pledge allegiance to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) without any compulsion, and then break that pledge." Alqamah said: I said: "Was Ibn al-Zubayr the one who said, 'Kill me and Malik'?" He replied: "No, by Allah. I did not lift the sword from Ibn al-Zubayr while I could see life in him (that is, I kept seeing a trace of life), because I was angry with him for having prevailed upon the Mother of the Believers until he brought her out. So when I faced him in battle, I was not content with the strength of my arms; rather, I stood up in both stirrups and struck him on the head with force with the sword, and I thought that I had killed him. But the one who said 'Kill me and Malik' was Abd al-Rahman bin Attab. When I met him, I grappled with him until he and I fell from our horses. He began calling out: 'Kill me and Malik!' People were passing by, but they did not know whom he meant by Malik, because he did not say al-Ashtar. Had he said al-Ashtar, I would have been killed."