Reports on the virtue of Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him)

Umar bin Jawan (may Allah have mercy on him) reports that al-Ahnaf bin Qays (may Allah have mercy on him) said: We were in Madinah when Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived. It was said: "This is Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him)." He entered wearing a yellow sheet with which he had covered his head. He asked: "Is Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) here?" The people said: "Yes!" He asked: "Is Sayyiduna Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him) here?" The people said: "Yes!" He asked: "Is Sayyiduna al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) here?" The people said: "Yes!" He asked: "Is Sayyiduna Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) here?" The people said: "Yes!" He said: "I ask you to swear by the One besides Whom there is no true deity: do you know the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Whoever buys the camel pen of such and such a tribe, Allah will forgive him'? I bought that pen for twenty thousand or twenty-five thousand. Then I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: 'I have bought that pen.' He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Dedicate that place to our mosque, and its reward will be yours.'" The narrator says: All of them said with one voice: "By Allah, it is just so." He said: "I ask you to swear by Allah, besides Whom there is no true deity: do you know of the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Whoever buys the sweet-water well of Rumah, Allah will forgive him'? I bought that well for such and such an amount, then I came to him (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: 'I have bought it.' He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Dedicate it for the Muslims to drink from, and its reward will be yours.'" The narrator says: All of them said with one voice: "By Allah, it is just so." He said: "I ask you to swear by Allah, besides Whom there is no deity: do you know the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which he (peace and blessings be upon him) said while he (peace and blessings be upon him) was looking at the faces of the people: 'Who will provide the provisions for the journey of these people? Allah will forgive that person,' meaning at the Battle of Tabuk? I provided provisions for all of them, until they lacked not even a camel's nose-rein or the rope for its foot." All of them said with one voice: "By Allah, it is just so." He said three times: "O Allah, be witness."

Sayyiduna Murrah al-Bahzi (may Allah be pleased with him) reports: One day, while we were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in one of the streets of Madinah, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What will become of you in a tribulation that will break out across the regions of the earth, as though it were like the two horns of a cow?" The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! What shall we do in that situation?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is binding on you to follow this man and his group." The narrator says: So I hurried until I reached that man, and I said: "O Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! This man?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "This very man." And he was Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him).

Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Ujrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned a tribulation and described it as very near. Then a man passed by whose head was covered with a sheet. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "On that day this man and his group will be upon guidance." A man went after him, took him by the shoulder, turned his face toward the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked: "This man?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes!" And he was Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him).

Abu Qilabah (may Allah have mercy on him) reports that when Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was martyred, many orators addressed the people at Iliya. Last of all, a Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) named Sayyiduna Murrah bin Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: "Had I not heard this hadith myself from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I would never have stood up. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned a tribulation, and I think he described it as very near. Then a man passed by whose head was covered with a sheet. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'On that day this man and his group will be upon the truth.' So I went after that man, took him by the shoulders and turned his face toward the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and I asked: 'This man?' He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Yes.' And he was Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him)."

Sayyiduna Sa'id bin Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) reports: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "Uthman is in Paradise."

Abu Qilabah (may Allah have mercy on him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The most modest person in my Ummah is Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him).

Abu Qilabah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man of Quraysh called Thumamah was the governor of Sana'a. When the news of the killing of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) reached him, he began to weep and wept for a long time. When he became calm he said: Today prophethood, or the caliphate of prophethood, has been snatched away, and there will be kingship and tyranny. Whoever gains the upper hand over a thing will devour it.

Musa bin Talhah (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was the most chaste of them and the most diligent of them in maintaining the ties of kinship.

Sa'id (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Qatadah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Indeed, Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) mounted the fighters in the Expedition of Tabuk on a thousand camels less seventy, and he completed the number of one thousand with seventy horses.

Abdullah bin Sinan (may Allah have mercy on him) said: When Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was made caliph, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We spared no effort in choosing the highest in rank among us.

Hakim bin Jabir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: When the pledge of allegiance was given to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), I heard Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) say: We spared no effort in choosing the highest in rank among us.

Abu al-Malih (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: If all the people had united upon the killing of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), stones would have rained upon them just as they rained upon the people of Lut.

Ubaydullah bin Umar (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Nafi' (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Indeed, a man who was called Jahjah snatched a stick from the hand of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and broke it with the help of his knee, and in that very place he was afflicted with a disease that eats away the limb.

Ziyad bin Abi Habib (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Ka'b said: It is as if I am looking at him, with two flames of fire in his hand, meaning the killer of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), the one who killed him.

Abu Sahlah, the freed slave of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said during his final illness: I wish that one of my companions were with me. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Shall I call Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) for you? She said: He (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent, and I understood that he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not wish to call him. Then I said: Shall I call Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) for you? He (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent, and I understood that he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not wish to call him either. I said: Shall I call Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) for you? He (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent, and I understood that he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not wish to call him either. I said: Shall I call Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) for you? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Yes. So I had him called. When he arrived, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) signalled to me to move away. He came and sat beside the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kept saying something to him, and the colour of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was changing.

Qays said that Abu Sahlah (may Allah have mercy on him) told him: On the Day of the House, it was said to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him): Will you not fight? He said: Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took a covenant from me, and I am patient upon it. Abu Sahlah said: They held that it was in that sitting.

Abdullah bin Amir (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: In my view, the one among you who will benefit me most is the person who restrains his weapon and his hand from fighting.

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said, in the explanation of the verse of the Qur'an: Is he equal to one who commands justice and is on a straight path? [Al-Nahl: 76]: This refers to Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him).

Abu Wa'il said that Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was writing the will of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) when he fainted. So Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) hastily wrote the name of Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). When he recovered, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him: Whose name did you write? He said: Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: You have written exactly what I wanted to order you to write. And had you written your own name, you too would have been worthy of this office.

Habib bin Abi Mulaykah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man asked Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) about Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him): Was he present at the Battle of Badr? He said: No. Then he asked: Was he present at the Pledge of Ridwan? He said: No! He asked: Did he turn his back and flee on the day the two armies met (the Battle of Uhud)? He said: Yes! The narrator said: Then the man went away, and it was said to Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): This man has understood that you have spoken of a fault in Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: Call him back to me. So they brought that person back. Then he said: Have you even understood what I said to you? He said: Yes! He said: You asked me whether Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) took part in the Battle of Badr, and I answered you that he did not. That is because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Allah, indeed Uthman is on an errand for You and for Your Messenger. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) also assigned him his share of the spoils. And you asked me whether Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was present at the Pledge of Ridwan, and I answered you that he was not. That is because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent him to the polytheists so that they would make peace with us, but they refused. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took the pledge on his behalf and said: O Allah, indeed Uthman is on an errand for You and for Your Messenger. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) put one of his hands into the other and gave the pledge on his behalf as well. And you asked me whether Sayyiduna Uthman turned his back and fled on the day the two armies met, and I answered you: Yes! And indeed Allah, the Lord of Might, has said: Indeed, those of you who turned back on the day the two armies met, Satan only caused them to slip because of some of what they had earned, and Allah has certainly pardoned them [Al Imran: 155]. So go, and do whatever you want to do against me.

Sa'd bin Ubaydah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man asked Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) about Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), and he mentioned his good deeds. Then he said: Perhaps this displeases you? The man said: Yes! He said: May Allah rub your nose in the dust.

Hilal bin Abi Humayd (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Abdullah bin Ukaym (may Allah have mercy on him) said: After the martyrdom of Sayyiduna Uthman, I will never again aid in the killing of a caliph. The narrator said: He was asked: Did you aid in his killing? He said: I count the mentioning of his faults as aiding in shedding his blood.

Yahya (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I heard Abdullah bin Amir (may Allah have mercy on him) say: When opinions among the people began to differ regarding the attacks and reproaches against Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), my father stood and offered the night prayer, then he slept. The narrator said: It was said to him: Stand and ask Allah to protect you too from this trial, just as He has protected His righteous servants from it. The narrator said: He stood in prayer, then he fell ill. After that he was not seen outside until he died.

Abdullah bin Qays (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna al-Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) sent him with a letter to Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), and he handed the letter to her. Then Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Shall I not narrate to you a hadith that I heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? I said: Why not! Please do narrate it. She said: One day Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her) and I were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) began to say: If only there were a man with us who would talk with us. I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), shall I not send a message to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) so that he may come and talk with us? He (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent. Then Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), shall I not send a message to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) so that he may talk with us? He (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent. She said: He (peace and blessings be upon him) called a man and whispered to him away from us, and then he left. Then Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) came, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) turned his face towards him. Then I heard him (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: O Uthman, perhaps Allah Almighty will clothe you in a shirt. If some people want you to take it off, do not ever take it off. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said this three times. The narrator said: I said: O Mother of the Believers, why did you not narrate this hadith before? She said: I had been made to forget it, as if I had never heard it.

Iyas bin Salamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said that his father, Sayyiduna Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him), said: Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave the pledge on behalf of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) by placing one of his hands upon the other. The people said: How fortunate is Abu Abdullah, for he is circling the House of Allah in safety! At this the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Even if he were to stay for so many and so many years, he would not perform the circling until I had performed it.

Salim (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: You people find fault with Sayyiduna Uthman for certain things. Had Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) done those things, you would never have found fault with him.

Umm Hilal bint Waki' said that the wife of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was dozing. When he woke up, he began to say: Indeed, these people will kill me. I said: Certainly not, O Commander of the Believers! He said: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) in a dream. The narrator said: They said: Break your fast with us tonight, or they said: You will break your fast with us tonight.

Abu Habibah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I entered the house of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) when the rebels had surrounded his house. There I heard Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) saying that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Soon after me you will encounter trial and disagreement. The narrator said: A questioner asked: What do you (peace and blessings be upon him) command us to do? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You must obey the trustworthy one and his companions. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) struck the shoulder of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him).

Al-A'mash (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Abu Salih (may Allah have mercy on him) said: When the killing of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was mentioned, he would begin to weep. It is as if I can still hear the sound of his sobbing.

Masruq (may Allah have mercy on him) said: When Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was killed, Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said at that time: You people left him like a garment clean of filth. Then you brought him near and slaughtered him as a ram is slaughtered. Why did this not happen before this? Masruq (may Allah have mercy on him) said to her: This happened because of your own action, for it was you who wrote to people and ordered them to rise up! The narrator said: At this Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: No! By the One in whom all the believers have believed and whom the disbelievers have rejected, I did not write black upon white, up until I sat in this place of mine.

Al-A'mash (may Allah have mercy on him) said: They held that it had been written in her name.

Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Hatib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) delivering a sermon. He recited this verse: Indeed, those for whom the best has already gone forth from Us, they will be kept far from it [Al-Anbiya: 101]. He said: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was one of those people.

Uqbah bin Aws al-Sadusi (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: In this Ummah there will be twelve (12) caliphs. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him): you people have had the confirmation of his name. And Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), who is a horn of iron: you people have had the confirmation of his name too. And Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), Dhu al-Nurayn, who was given two portions of mercy and who was killed unjustly: you people have had the confirmation of his name as well.

Mujammi' (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Layla (may Allah have mercy on him) went to al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf, who said to his companions: If you wish to see a man who reviles the Commander of the Believers, Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), then this man, meaning Abd al-Rahman, is here with you, so look at him. At this Abd al-Rahman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: O Amir, I seek refuge in Allah from reviling Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Indeed, this blessed verse found in the Book of Allah has stopped me from doing so and protected me. Allah has said: (This wealth is also) for the destitute Muhajirun who were driven out of their homes and their properties, who seek the bounty of Allah and His pleasure, and who help Allah and His Messenger. These are the truthful ones [Al-Hashr: 8]. Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was one of those people.

Yazid bin Amr al-Ma'afiri (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Abu Thawr al-Fahmi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Abd al-Rahman bin Udays, who was one of those who gave the pledge under the tree, came and climbed the pulpit. After praising and glorifying Allah, he mentioned Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Abu Thawr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: During the siege I went to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: So-and-so is saying such and such about you. Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said: How can that be, when I have stored up ten qualities with Allah? They are that I am the fourth person to accept Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) married one of his daughters to me, and then another daughter. I gave the pledge to the Messenger of Allah with this right hand of mine, and I have never touched my private parts with it since. I have never sung, and I have never indulged in wishful desires. I have never drunk wine, neither in the time of ignorance nor in the time of Islam. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Who will buy this part of the lane and enlarge the mosque with it, so that he will have a house in Paradise in exchange for it? So I bought that place and enlarged the mosque.

Mis'ar (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Abd al-Rahman bin Ablajan (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) were mentioned in the presence of Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both). He said: What is your opinion: if you had two camels, one of them strong and the other weak, would you kill the weak camel?

Mis'ar (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Abu Sulayman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I asked Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) about Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). The narrator said: He said: You should regard him as among the best of us, or he said: We regard him as among the best of us.

Kulthum said: Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say: I would not like to shoot even one arrow at Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Mis'ar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I think he meant killing him. Even if in exchange for it I were to receive gold equal to Mount Uhud.

Hassan bin Atiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him): May Allah forgive you the sins you committed before and those you will commit afterwards, those you committed in secret and those you committed openly, those you concealed and those you made apparent, and all that you will do until the Day of Resurrection.

Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Hatib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was mentioned, and Sayyiduna al-Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: This Commander of the Believers will come to you shortly, and he himself will tell you about him. The narrator said: Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) came and said: Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was one of those people. Then he recited this verse in full: They remained firm in faith and did good deeds, then they avoided what is forbidden and accepted the commands of Allah, then they adopted piety and did good deeds. And Allah loves those who do good [Al-Ma'idah: 93].