They soon came back a second time, closed in on ʿUthmān, and laid siege to him.

Al-Wāqidī relates: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith told me, from his father, that ʿUthmān flatly denied having written that letter, saying, “It was sent without my authorization.”

Abū Naḍrah reports from Abū Saʿīd, the client of Abū Usayd, who transmitted part of the story as follows: “They had turned back satisfied, but on the road they intercepted a courier carrying orders to the governor of Egypt to crucify them and carry out certain punishments. They at once returned to Medina and came to ʿAlī, saying, ‘Do you not see the enemy of Allah? Rise with us!’ He replied, ‘By Allah, I will not rise with you.’

‘Then why did you write to us?’ they asked. He answered, ‘By Allah, I did not write to you.’ They looked at one another, and ʿAlī left the city. The protesters then went to ʿUthmān and said, ‘Did you write instructions against us to do such-and-such?’

He replied, ‘Only two things can establish that: produce two Muslim men—meaning two witnesses—or my oath by Allah, besides Whom there is no god, that I neither wrote it nor knew of it. A document can be composed in a man’s name, and his seal can be forged.’

They retorted, ‘Your blood is now lawful; you have broken the covenant and the pledge.’ They thereupon confined him in the palace.

Ibn Sīrīn adds: ʿUthmān sent ʿAlī to them with the message, ‘You will receive the Book of Allah and redress for every grievance you have.’ Some of their leaders accompanied ʿAlī, and they settled on five terms: the exiled would be brought back; the dispossessed would be given their due; the public treasury would be fully restored; justice would govern all apportionments; and only those endowed with trustworthiness and strength would be appointed to office. They recorded this in writing, and agreed as well that Ibn ʿĀmir be returned to Basra and Abū Mūsā to Kufa.