…together with a trial that will befall you.’

He entered, saying, ‘Allah’s help is sought.’ Finding no place on the ledge, he sat facing them on the opposite side of the well, uncovered his shins, and let his legs dangle into the water, exactly as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and then Abū Bakr and ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them all—had done. Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib remarked, ‘I interpreted that scene to mean their graves: the three would be together, while ʿUthmān would be by himself.’ (2)

Al-Bayhaqī has also narrated—through the chain of ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Abī al-Masāwir, from Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥāṭib, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥayriz, from Zayd ibn Arqam—that Zayd said:

‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me off, saying: “Go to Abū Bakr; you will find him in his house, sitting with his knees drawn up. Say to him: ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sends you peace and says: Rejoice in Paradise.’ Then proceed until you reach the pass and meet ʿUmar riding a donkey, his bald head shining. Say to him: ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sends you peace and says: Rejoice in Paradise.’ Then return until you come to ʿUthmān; you will find him in the market buying and selling. Say: ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sends you peace and says: Rejoice in Paradise after a severe tribulation.’”’

Zayd continued: he went to each of them and found every one just as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had described. Each asked, ‘Where is the Messenger of Allah?’ and when told, would go to him. When ʿUthmān returned he said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what tribulation will befall me? By Him who sent you with the truth, I have never absented myself, nor have I desired to, nor have I ever touched my private part with my right hand since pledging allegiance to you—so what tribulation will befall me?’ He replied, ‘That is how it will be.’ (3)

Al-Bayhaqī then commented: ‘ʿAbd al-Aʿlā is weak. If he has preserved this ḥadīth, it is possible that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did indeed send Zayd ibn Arqam to them, and that Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī was sitting at the door, as related earlier.’

That tribulation which befell him (4) was what subsequently took place at the hands of ignorant rabble from the provincial towns who objected to him without knowledge. As we shall detail under the events of his caliphate, they besieged him in his own house, until the matter culminated in his persecution, murder, and his body being cast on the road for several days, with no funeral prayer offered and no one attending to him—until he was finally washed, the prayer was performed for him, and he was buried in Ḥash-Kawkab (5), an orchard at the edge of al-Baqīʿ. May Allah be pleased with him, grant him His good pleasure, and make the Gardens of Firdaws his dwelling and repose.

Imām Aḥmad (6) also said: Yahyā narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Qays, from Abū Sahla, the freedman of ʿUthmān, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Call for me some of my Companions.” I asked, “Abū Bakr?” He said, “No.” I asked, “ʿUmar?” He said, “No.” I asked, “Your cousin ʿAlī?” He said, “No.” I asked, “ʿUthmān?” He said, “Yes.” So when he came…’