by the Messenger of Allah, with his sword at his side. He ascended the pulpit, stood for a long while making a silent supplication, and then spoke:

“O people, I have consulted you both privately and publicly regarding the trust you bear, and I have found you inclining toward only one of these two men: either ʿAlī or ʿUthmān. Come forward, ʿAlī.”

ʿAlī rose and stood beside the pulpit. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān took his hand and said, “Do you pledge to me that you will govern according to the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger, and the conduct of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?” ʿAlī answered, “By Allah, no—only according to the utmost of my ability and strength.”

Then ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, “Stand, ʿUthmān.” He took ʿUthmān’s hand in the very place where ʿAlī had stood and asked, “Do you pledge to me that you will govern according to the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger, and the conduct of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?” ʿUthmān replied, “By Allah, yes.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān raised his head toward the roof of the mosque, his hand clasping ʿUthmān’s, and declared, “O Allah, bear witness! O Allah, I have transferred the responsibility that was upon my neck to the neck of ʿUthmān.”

The people surged forward to pledge allegiance to ʿUthmān until they pressed around him at the pulpit and seated him on its second step. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān sat where the Messenger of Allah used to sit. ʿAlī hesitated, so ʿAbd al-Raḥmān recited: “So whoever breaks his pledge only breaks it to his own detriment, but whoever fulfils that which he has covenanted with Allah, He will soon grant him a tremendous reward” (al-Fath 10).

ʿAlī then made his way through the crowd and pledged allegiance to ʿUthmān, saying, “A ruse—what a ruse!”

After that, ʿUthmān sat in one corner of the mosque and summoned ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who was being held in the house of Saʿd. Saʿd was the one who had wrested the sword from ʿUbayd Allah after he had killed Jufayna, al-Hurmuzān, and the daughter of Abū Luʾluʾa. ʿUbayd Allah kept saying, “By Allah, I will kill men who shared in my father’s blood,” hinting at the Emigrants and the Helpers. Saʿd seized him, tore the sword from his hand, grabbed him by the hair, threw him to the ground, and confined him.

Then ʿUthmān said to a group of the Emigrants, “Advise me regarding this man who has torn such a rent in Islam.” ʿAlī said, “I hold that you should kill him.” Some of them objected, “His father was killed only yesterday—shall he be killed today as well?!” ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ remarked, “Commander of the Believers, Allah has spared you from having this deed on your record….”