Events during the caliphate of Dhū al-Nūrayn, ʿUthman

Year 24 AH – The pledge of allegiance to ʿUthman

ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—was buried on the first of Muḥarram. After that, the members of the consultative council (shūrā) gathered. ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Rabīʿah related that, prior to the deliberations, a man declared: “If you pledge allegiance to ʿUthman, we will obey; but if you pledge it to ʿAli, we will listen and then disobey.”

Al-Miswar ibn Makhramah said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf came to me late in the night and said, “My eyes have scarcely tasted sleep for three nights. Summon for me ʿUthman, ʿAli, al-Zubayr, and Saʿd.” I summoned them, and he secluded himself with each of them one by one, binding him to a pledge. When dawn broke, Suhayb led the people in prayer. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān then sat down, praised Allah and extolled Him, and said among other things, “I have observed that the people will accept no one but ʿUthman.”

Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf reported: Al-Miswar told me that the men whom ʿUmar had appointed met together and consulted. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, “I am not one to vie with you for this authority, but if you wish, I will select for you someone from among yourselves.” They placed the matter in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s hands. He continued, “By Allah, I have never seen a man outstrip a company the way he outstripped them once they entrusted their affair to him. No one among the people any longer sought counsel from any of those six, nor followed in their footsteps; instead, the people turned to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, consulting and confiding in him throughout those nights. Whenever a man of sound judgment was alone with him, he preferred no one over ʿUthman.”

He went on with the narrative until he said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bore witness and declared, ‘Now then, O ʿAli, I have looked into the state of the people and I find that they place no one ahead of ʿUthman. So do not open the way to any blame against yourself.’ He then took ʿUthman’s hand…”