One of the nobles of the Emigrants, and one of Allah’s God-fearing allies, he was blessed to die during his Prophet’s lifetime, and so the Prophet ﷺ offered the funeral prayer for him.
Abū al-Sāʾib, may Allah be pleased with him, was the first person to be buried in al-Baqīʿ ⦗1⦘.
Kathīr ibn Zayd al-Madani narrated from al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said:
“When the Prophet ﷺ buried ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn, he said to a man, ‘Bring that stone and place it beside my brother’s grave so that I may recognize it, and bury next to him anyone of my family whom I later lay to rest.’
The man rose but could not lift it, and—adds the narrator—‘it is as though I can still see the whiteness of the Messenger of Allah’s forearms as he lifted the stone and set it by the grave ⦗2⦘.’ ”
This is a mursal report.
Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib said: I heard Saʿd say, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn ⦗3⦘ away from adopting lifelong celibacy; had he granted him permission ⦗4⦘, we would have gone so far as to castrate ourselves ⦗5⦘.”
(1) Al-Istiʿab, 8/63; and Al-Isaba, 6/395.
(2) Reported by Abu Dawud (no. 3206) in the Book of Funerals, chapter: “Placing several deceased in one grave”, and—through him—by al-Bayhaqi, 3/412. The chain is sound but classified as mursal, as the author notes, because al-Muttalib here is al-Muttalib b. ʿAbd Allah b. al-Muttalib b. Hantab al-Makhzumi, a Successor (tabiʿi). Those who assumed he was al-Muttalib b. Abi Wadaʿa, the Companion, were mistaken, for Kuthayyir b. Zayd narrates only from the former, never from the latter. Ibn Majah (no. 1561) also transmits it through the chain: al-ʿAbbas b. Jaʿfar → Muhammad b. Ayyub al-Wasiti → ʿAbd al-ʿAziz b. Muhammad → Kuthayyir b. Zayd → Zaynab bt. Nubayt → Anas b. Malik. Al-Busayri judged this chain hasan (fair) in his Zawaʾid, folio 101.
(3) The words “Ibn Mazʿun” are missing from the printed edition.
(4) The printed text corruptly reads “lan”.
(5) Reported by Ahmad, 1/175, 176, 183; by al-Bukhari (5073–5074) in the Book of Marriage, chapter: “What is disliked of monastic abstention and castration”; by Muslim (1402 ff.) in the Book of Marriage, chapter: “Recommendation of marriage for one who feels desire”; by al-Tirmidhi (1083) in the Book of Marriage, chapter: “Prohibition of celibacy”—he graded it sahih hasan; and by al-Nasaʾi, 6/58, in the Book of Marriage, chapter: “Prohibition of …”