him by the head; the two grappled until the people succeeded in parting them. When ʿUthmān later assumed the caliphate he said, “Advise me about this man who has torn such a rift in Islam.” The Emigrants recommended that he be executed, whereas a number of people protested, saying, “ʿUmar was murdered only yesterday—shall his son be killed today? May Allah cast off Hurmuzān and Jufaynah!” ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ then remarked, “Allah has spared you from having this affair occur during your rule; so overlook it.” The people dispersed on ʿAmr’s word, and ʿUthmān paid the blood-money for the two men and for the young girl.

Ibn Saʿd transmits the report from al-Wāqidī, from Maʿmar, adding: Jufaynah was one of the Christians of al-Ḥīrah and had been a foster-brother of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ; he used to teach handwriting to the people of Madinah. He also said, “I do not think ʿAmr was in Madinah that day; rather he was in Egypt unless he had come for the pilgrimage.” He went on: “The earth seemed to darken, so the matter weighed heavily on people’s hearts and they feared it might be a punishment.”

Abū Wajzah relates from his father: “I saw ʿUbayd Allah that day; he was grappling with ʿUthmān while ʿUthmān kept saying to him, ‘May Allah destroy you! You have killed a man at prayer, a young girl, and another who enjoyed a covenant; justice will not allow me to spare you.’”

ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar remained alive until he was killed at Ṣiffīn on the side of Muʿāwiya.

Maʿmar narrates from al-Zuhrī: Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar informed me that his father said, “May Allah have mercy on Ḥafṣah; she was indeed among those who supported ʿUbayd Allah in the killing of Hurmuzān and Jufaynah.”

Maʿmar said: We have also been told that ʿUthmān declared, “I am the legal guardian of Hurmuzān, Jufaynah, and the girl, and I have converted their claim into blood-money (diyya).”

Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, with his own chain of transmission, related that ʿUthmān exacted legal retaliation (qiṣāṣ) for the children