—except for three, for they had been corresponding with them: Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar, and ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir.

He went on: Some men were ready to fight to the death—among them Zayd ibn Thābit, Abū Hurayrah, Saʿd ibn Mālik, and al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī. They set out to defend ʿUthmān, but he sent word, binding them by solemn oath to withdraw, so they withdrew. ʿAlī then came, and together with Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr he entered upon ʿUthmān to visit him after his collapse; afterward they returned to their homes.

ʿAmr ibn Dīnār relates from Jābir: ʿUthmān dispatched us—fifty mounted men—placing Muhammad ibn Maslamah in command. When we reached Dhū-Khashab we found a man with a copy of the Qur’an hanging from his neck, tears streaming from his eyes and a sword in his hand, saying, “Behold, this”—meaning the Qur’an—“commands us to strike with this,” meaning the sword, “for what is in this”—again referring to the Qur’an. Muhammad ibn Maslamah said to him, “Sit down, for we wielded this for the sake of what is in this long before you.” The man sat, and Muhammad ibn Maslamah kept talking to them until they turned back.

Al-Wāqidī says: Ibn Jurayj and others told me from ʿAmr, from Jābir, that when the Egyptians advanced against ʿUthmān, the caliph summoned Muhammad ibn Maslamah and said, “Go out to them, turn them back, and satisfy their demands.” Their leaders were four: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUdays, Suwdān ibn Ḥumrān, ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥamq al-Khuzaʿī, and Ibn al-Bayyāʿ. Ibn Maslamah went to them and persisted until they agreed to return. When they reached al-Buwayb they saw a camel bearing the zakāt brand, so they seized it; it belonged to a servant of ʿUthmān. They searched his baggage and found a lead tube containing a letter hidden inside a water-skin. It was addressed to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ, instructing him to deal with certain individuals among those who had begun plotting to kill ʿUthmān. At that, the group turned back.