Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥārithah, on the authority of his father, from his grandfather, said:

News reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that a number of hypocrites were gathering in the house of Suwaylim the Jew—his house stood near Jāsūm—trying to discourage people from accompanying the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the Tabūk campaign. He therefore dispatched Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh with a party of his Companions, ordering him to set Suwaylim’s house on fire. Ṭalḥah executed the order. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Khalīfah jumped from the back of the house and broke his leg, while the others scrambled out and got away.

Al-Ḍaḥḥāk then recited:

By the House of God, Muhammad’s flames had nearly
Singed al-Ḍaḥḥāk and Ibn Ubayriq alike.
All night, when Suwaylim’s den was filled with smoke,
I hobbled on a broken leg and injured elbow.
Peace be upon you all—never again shall I return;
For he whom the fire envelops is sure to be burned.

Ibn Isḥāq (1) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then pressed on with the journey, ordering the people to make ready and move swiftly. He urged the wealthy to spend and to provide mounts in the way of Allah. Men of means responded, seeking reward, and ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān gave a tremendous donation, the like of which no one else had offered.

Ibn Hishām (2) relates: A trustworthy source informed me that ʿUthmān contributed one thousand dinars to the “Army of Hardship” in the Tabūk campaign. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“O Allah, be pleased with ʿUthmān, for I am pleased with him.”

Imām Aḥmad (3) recorded: Hārūn ibn Maʿrūf told us, Dimrah told us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shawdhab told us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Qāsim, from Kathīr, the freedman of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samurah, who said: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān brought one thousand dinars wrapped in his garment to the Prophet ﷺ when the Prophet ﷺ was outfitting the Army of Hardship. He poured them into the Prophet’s lap, and the Prophet ﷺ turned them over with his hand while saying:

“Nothing that Ibn ʿAffān does after today can harm him.”

Al-Tirmidhī (4) transmitted the same report through Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, from al-Ḥasan ibn Wāqiʿ, from Dimrah, and declared it ḥasan gharīb.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad also cited it in the Musnad of his father (5): Abū Mūsā al-ʿAnazī told us, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith told us, Sakan ibn al-Mughīrah told us, al-Walīd ibn Abī Hishām told us, from Farqad Abū Ṭalḥah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Khabbāb al-Sulamī, who said: The Prophet ﷺ delivered a sermon urging support for the Army of Hardship. ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān said, “I pledge one hundred camels with their saddles and howdahs.” The Prophet then stepped down one rung of the pulpit and urged the people again. ʿUthmān said, “I pledge another hundred …”