I said: ʿAlī used to declare, “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, charged me, ‘Your beard will one day be drenched in your own blood.’ ”

Shuʿbah transmitted—through Ḥabīb ibn al-Zubayr, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Sharūd—that ʿAlī said, “I hope that I and ʿUthmān are among those of whom Allah Most High says: ‘We shall remove whatever rancour is in their hearts; they will be brothers, reclining on couches face-to-face’ (Q 15:47).” The same wording is also reported by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith from ʿAlī.

Mutarrif ibn al-Shikhkhīr said: I met ʿAlī and he asked, “Abū ʿAbd Allāh, what kept you away—was it your affection for ʿUthmān?” Then he added, “If that is your reason, know that he was the best of us in maintaining ties of kinship and the most God-fearing toward his Lord.”

Saʿīd ibn Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl remarked, “Had anything been destined to collapse because of what you did to Ibn ʿAffān, it would have been only fitting.”

Hishām related: Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn told us—from ʿUqbah ibn Aws, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr—who said, “There will be over this community twelve caliphs. Among them are: Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq—you have identified him correctly; ʿUmar al-Fārūq, a horn of iron—you have identified him correctly; and ʿUthmān, the Possessor of the Two Lights, to whom a double share of mercy was granted—he was slain wrongfully.”