Thumāmah ibn Ḥazn al-Qushayrī said: “I was present at the house during the siege. ʿUthmān looked down at the crowd and said, ‘Bring me the two men who have stirred you up.’ They were summoned—moving like two camels, or rather two donkeys—and he said to them, ‘I adjure you by Allah: do you know that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in Madīnah there was no fresh water there except the well of Rūmah? He proclaimed, “Who will buy it so that his bucket is like the buckets of the Muslims? For him there will be something better than it in Paradise.” I bought it, and today you bar me from drinking its water until I am forced to drink brackish water instead!’ They replied, ‘By Allah, we do indeed know that.’

He continued, ‘I plead with you by Allah and by Islam: do you know that the mosque became too small for its worshippers, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Who will buy a plot (for its expansion)? He shall have something better than it in Paradise.” I purchased the land and annexed it to the mosque, yet today you prevent me from praying there!’ They answered, ‘By Allah, yes.’

Then he said, ‘I adjure you by Allah: do you know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ once stood on Mount Thabīr in Mecca. It quaked, and he had with him Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and me. He said, “Be still, for only a prophet, a ṣiddīq, and two martyrs are upon you.”’ They said, ‘By Allah, yes.’ ʿUthmān exclaimed, ‘Allāhu akbar! Bear witness—by the Lord of the Kaʿbah—that I am indeed a martyr.’

Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān transmitted the same episode, adding that ʿUthmān had also equipped the Army of Hardship.

He went on to say, ‘But my time in office has grown long for you and you have become impatient. You wish to strip off a garment with which Allah has clothed me, and I shall not remove it until I die or am killed.’

Ibn ʿUmar related: ʿUthmān looked down at them and asked, ‘For what reason do you want to kill me? The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The blood of a Muslim is not lawful except in one of three cases: disbelief after faith, a married person who commits adultery, or someone who has killed a soul.” By Allah, I have never fornicated—neither in the Age of Ignorance nor in Islam—nor have I killed anyone, nor have I disbelieved.’

Abū Umāmah ibn Sahl ibn Ḥunayf said: ‘I was with ʿUthmān during the siege. We would enter by a passageway; when a man went in he could hear the voices of those standing on the courtyard. One day he entered by it, then came out to us with his complexion changed and said, “They are threatening to kill me.” We said, “Allah will suffice you against them.”’

Sahl al-Sarrāj, citing al-Ḥasan, reported that ʿUthmān said, ‘If they kill me, they will never again fight an enemy with a united front, never again divide spoils together, and never again pray together.’

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān narrated the same from Abū Laylā al-Kindī, adding: ‘ʿUthmān then sent for ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām and asked, “What do you advise?” He replied, “Restraint, restraint—that will be a more decisive proof for you.” They then burst in and killed him while he was fasting—may Allah be pleased with him and grant him His good pleasure.’

Al-Ḥasan also said: ‘Wathāb told me that ʿUthmān dispatched me to summon al-Ashṭar. When he arrived ʿUthmān asked, “What do the people want?” He replied, “One of three things: they will either offer you the choice to abdicate, or demand that you submit yourself for legal retaliation; if you refuse, they will kill you.” ʿUthmān said, “It is not for me to cast off a garment with which Allah has clothed me, and my body cannot endure retaliation.”’

Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal: ‘ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām used to come from his farmland riding a donkey each Friday. When the people rose up against ʿUthmān he said, “O people, do not kill ʿUthmān; seek reconciliation with him. By Him in whose hand is my soul, no community has ever killed its prophet and then regained harmony before shedding the blood of seventy thousand, nor has any community killed its caliph and then had Allah reconcile them before the blood of forty thousand is spilled; and no nation is destroyed until they raise the Qur’an against lawful authority.” But they did not heed his words and they killed ʿUthmān. Afterwards he sat on the road of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and said to him, ‘Do not go to Iraq…’”