Ibn Jarīr (1) said: The scholars disagreed over who led the people in pilgrimage that year. Al-Wāqidī and Abū Maʿshar held that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf led the Hajj by order of ʿUthmān, while others maintained that ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him) did so himself. The first view is the better-known, for ʿUthmān was unable to perform the pilgrimage that year owing to a severe nosebleed that endangered him; consequently, the year came to be called “the Year of the Nosebleed.”

During the same year Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī captured Rayy after its inhabitants violated the covenant they had pledged to Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān (may Allah be pleased with him).

In that year also died Suraqah ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum al-Mudlijī (2), whose teknonym was Abū Sufyān. He lived at Qudayd and was the man who pursued the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), together with Abū Bakr, ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah, and ʿAbd Allah ibn Urayqiṭ al-Dīlī, after they left the Cave of Thawr on their way to Madinah. He wished to return them to the people of Makkah when a reward of one hundred camels had been placed on both the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abū Bakr. Hoping to secure the bounty, he set out, but Allah did not grant him power over them. When he drew near and heard the recitation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the legs of his horse sank into the ground. He then called out, asking for security; they granted it, and Abū Bakr wrote him a document of safety with the Prophet’s permission (peace and blessings be upon him). (He later presented that document after the expedition of Ṭāʾif, embraced Islam, and the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—honoured him.) It was he who asked, “O Messenger of Allah, is this ʿumrah of ours for this year only, or forever?” The Prophet replied, “Rather, it is forever and ever—ʿumrah has been incorporated into Hajj until the Day of Resurrection.” (3)

[Then came the year twenty-five.]

In that year (4) the people of Alexandria broke their treaty. The Byzantine emperor had sent to them Manwīl the eunuch (5) by sea, so they hoped for his support and renounced their covenant. ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ therefore marched against them in Rabīʿ al-Awwal, conquering the surrounding lands by force and taking the city itself on the basis of a negotiated settlement.

That same year ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him) led the pilgrims in person.

Also during this year, according to Sayf, ʿUthmān dismissed Saʿd from Kūfa and appointed al-Walīd ibn ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ in his place—a measure for which ʿUthmān was later reproached.