the person I most wished to see take charge of it was ʿUthmān; if he refused, then Saʿd. ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ then caught up with me and said, “What does your uncle ʿAbd al-Raḥmān think before Allah if he entrusts this affair to someone when he knows another is better qualified?” I went to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and reported this to him, and he said, “By Allah, for a knife to be taken, placed at my throat, and driven through to the other side would be dearer to me than that.” (1)

Ibn Wahb said: Ibn Luhayʿah narrated to us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Abū ʿUbayd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Azhar, from his father, from his grandfather: that ʿUthmān was suffering from a severe nosebleed, so he summoned Ḥumrān and said, “Write a document appointing ʿAbd al-Raḥmān as my successor after me.” Ḥumrān wrote it, then went to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and said, “Glad tidings!” He asked, “What is it?” He replied, “ʿUthmān has written the succession for you after him.” (2) ʿAbd al-Raḥmān thereupon stood between the Prophet’s grave and pulpit, supplicating: “O Allah, if ʿUthmān’s appointing me to this office is truly from You, then cause me to die before him.” Only six months passed before Allah took him. (3)

Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad al-Zuhrī said: Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us, from a man, from Ṭalḥah ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAwf, who said: “The people of Madinah lived off ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf: a third he would lend from his wealth, a third he would settle their debts, and a third he would maintain outright.”

Mubārak ibn Faḍālah reported, from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Ibn al-Musayyib, who said: “There had been some estrangement between Ṭalḥah and Ibn ʿAwf. When Ṭalḥah fell ill, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān came to visit him. Ṭalḥah said: