of Allah is not enforced, I would never agree to it.

Sīf ibn ʿUmar relates, through ʿAṭiyyah from Yazīd al-Faqʿasī:

When Ibn al-Sawdāʾ travelled to Egypt he lodged for a time with Kinānah ibn Bishr, at other times with Sūdān ibn Ḥumrān, and finally attached himself to al-Ghāfiqī. Al-Ghāfiqī emboldened him, so he began to speak openly. Gathering around him were Khālid ibn Muljam, ʿAbd Allah ibn Razīn, and others of their ilk. He tried various topics with them, but found that nothing engaged them as much as discussion of the alleged “bequest” (waṣiyyah). He therefore said, “Direct your efforts against the Arabs’ fang and fortress; we are not among his men. Make it appear that you are sowing crops, yet plant nothing this year until Egypt’s revenues collapse. Then complain about ʿAmr to ʿUthmān so that he removes him from over you. We will then request someone weaker, be left to do as we wish, all under the banner of commanding right and forbidding wrong.”

The first to respond was Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥudhayfah—Muʿāwiyah’s cousin and an orphan raised in ʿUthmān’s household. When he reached adulthood he asked ʿUthmān for permission to settle in one of the provinces and left for Egypt, prompted by the fact that he had sought an official post from ʿUthmān and the caliph had said, “That is not for you.”

They carried out Ibn al-Sawdāʾ’s plan, set off with whomever Allah willed, complained about ʿAmr, and asked that he be relieved. Whenever ʿUthmān quieted one group regarding ʿAmr, another arose with a fresh grievance, and all of them demanded ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ. ʿUthmān said to them, “As for ʿAmr, we shall remove him from you while keeping him over the army,” whereupon he placed Ibn Abī Sarḥ in charge of their land-tax and left ʿAmr in charge of the prayer. At that point Sūdān, Kinānah ibn Bishr, and Khārijah went back and forth between ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, inflaming matters between them until the two men began corresponding in line with what each side had been told