“Is Uways al-Qaranī among you?” They replied, “Yes.”

He at once spurred his mount and rode in among them, saying, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declare, ‘The best of the Successors (tābiʿīn) is Uways al-Qaranī.’ ”

Al-Aʿmash narrated—from Shaqīq, from Ḥudhayfah—who said: We were sitting with ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) when he asked, “Which of you has memorized the ḥadīth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning the fitnah (tribulation)?” I answered, “I have.” He said, “Speak up—for you are indeed bold.”

I said, “He spoke of the tribulation that assails a man in regard to his family, his wealth, his children, and his neighbor; it is wiped away by prayer, charity, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong.”

He said, “That is not what I mean. I am asking about the trial that surges like the waves of the sea.”

I replied, “Commander of the Believers, none of that will touch you; between you and it stands a closed door.”

He asked, “Will the door be opened or broken?”

I said, “Broken.”

He said, “In that case it will never be closed again.”

I affirmed, “Indeed.”

Later we asked Ḥudhayfah, “Did ʿUmar know what the door referred to?” He said, “Yes—just as he knows that tomorrow comes after tonight—because I narrated to him a report that contained no ambiguities.”

Masrūq then asked him, “What is the door?” He answered, “ʿUmar.” This narration is recorded by both al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

Shurayk ibn Abī Namr related—from Ibn al-Musayyab, from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī—in the ḥadīth of the cloak: When ʿUthmān arrived, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Grant him entry and give him the glad tidings of Paradise after a tribulation—whether he said ‘a great tribulation’ or simply ‘a tribulation’—that will befall him.” Agreed upon.

Al-Qaṭṭān transmitted—from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, from Qays, from Abū Sahla, the client of ʿUthmān, from ʿĀʾishah—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Call for me—or, ‘let there come to me’—one of my Companions.” She said, “I asked, ‘Abū Bakr?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘ʿUmar?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Your cousin ʿAlī?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Then ʿUthmān?’”} } } } } } } } } }**}