“Did ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān flee on the Day of Uḥud?”
He replied, “Yes.”
The man asked, “Do you also know that he was absent from Badr and did not attend it?”
He answered, “Yes.”
He said, “And do you know that he failed to take part in the Pledge of al-Riḍwān?”
He replied, “Yes.”
At that the man said the takbīr.

Ibn ʿUmar then said, “Come, let me explain what you have asked me about. As for his flight on the Day of Uḥud, I testify that Allah has pardoned him for it. As for his remaining behind from Badr, he was then married to the Prophet’s ﷺ daughter, and she was ill, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, ‘You shall have the reward and the share of a man who attended Badr.’ As for his absence from the Pledge of al-Riḍwān, had there been anyone in the heart of Mecca more honourable than ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, the Prophet would have sent him in his place; but he sent ʿUthmān. The pledge itself took place after ʿUthmān had already left for Mecca. The Prophet ﷺ then took his own right hand and said, ‘This is the hand of ʿUthmān,’ and struck it upon his own, saying, ‘This is on behalf of ʿUthmān.’ Now take that with you.”

Al-Bukhārī also reports this narration elsewhere, and al-Tirmidhī records it through the isnād of Abū ʿAwanah (1) from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mawhab.

Al-Umawī states in his work al-Maghāzī (2): from Ibn Isḥāq, who said, “Yahyā ibn ʿAbbād narrated to me, from his father, from his grandfather: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Ṭalḥah has secured it,’ referring to what Ṭalḥah did for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The people had fled from him until some reached al-Manqā below al-Aʿwaṣ, and ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān fled along with Saʿd ibn ʿUthmān and ʿUqbah ibn ʿUthmān—two men (3) of the Anṣār—until they came to al-Jalʿab, a mountain on the outskirts of Madinah toward al-Aʿwaṣ. They stayed there three days and then returned, and it is claimed that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to them, ‘You certainly went quite far.’

The point is that at Uḥud certain events occurred similar to those at Badr, among them the onset of drowsiness in the thick of combat. This testifies to the hearts’ serenity in Allah’s victory and support and to their complete reliance upon their Creator and Maker.

We have already discussed His words regarding Badr: ‘When He caused drowsiness to come upon you as a reassurance from Him…’ (al-Anfāl 8:11). Here He says: ‘Then, after the distress, He sent down upon you tranquillity—drowsiness overcoming a party of you…’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:154), meaning the believers of perfected faith. As Ibn Masʿūd and other early scholars said: ‘Drowsiness in battle is from faith, whereas drowsiness in prayer is from hypocrisy.’ Thus He continues: ‘While another party was anxious only about themselves…’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:154).

Likewise, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sought help on the Day of Uḥud just as he had on the Day of Badr with the plea, ‘If You will, You will no longer be worshipped on earth.’ Imām Aḥmad (5) reports: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad and ʿAffān both narrated to us, saying, ‘Ḥammād related to us, from Thābit, from Anas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say on the Day of Uḥud: “O Allah, if You will, You will no longer be worshipped on earth.”’