1424 — Abū Jafar Ahmad ibn Yahyā al-Hulwānī narrated to us, saying: Saīd ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from Abd al-Alā ibn Abī al-Musāwir, who said: Ibrāhīm ibn Muhammad ibn Hātib narrated to us, from Abd al-Rahmān ibn Muhayriz, from Zayd ibn Arqam, who said: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—sent me, saying, “Go to the marketplace, where you will find Uthmān buying and selling, and tell him: ‘The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—sends you greetings of peace and says: Receive the glad tidings of Paradise after a severe trial.’”

So I went to the marketplace and found Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—buying and selling ⦗1952⦘, just as the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had told me. I said, “The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—sends you greetings of peace and says: ‘Receive the glad tidings of Paradise after a severe trial.’”

He asked, “Where is the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace?”

I replied, “At such-and-such a place.”

He took me by the hand, and together we went to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Uthmān said to him, “O Messenger of Allah, Zayd came to me and said, ‘The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—sends you greetings of peace and says: Receive the glad tidings of Paradise after a severe trial.’ What trial will befall me, O Messenger of Allah? By Him who sent you with the truth, I have never sung, never lied, and never touched my private part with my right hand since pledging allegiance to you.”

He replied twice, “That is it; that is it.”