“…We spread our honour out as a carpet for you, yet you recoiled from it;
You plant your seedlings in the putrid refuse of the earth.” (1)

ʿUthmān said, “Be silent—may you never be allowed to speak! Leave me to my companions. What business have you with this speech (2)? Did I not forbid you to speak?” Marwān thereupon fell silent, and ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—stepped down.

Saʿīf ibn ʿUmar (3) and others relate that when Muʿāwiyah took leave of ʿUthmān as he prepared to return to Syria, he offered, “Come with me to Syria; my people are highly obedient to their rulers.” ʿUthmān replied, “I would not exchange the neighbourhood of the Messenger of Allah—Allah bless him and grant him peace—for any other.”

Muʿāwiyah then asked, “Shall I dispatch an army from Syria to remain with you (4) and defend you?” ʿUthmān answered, “I fear that by bringing them I would crowd the city of the Messenger of Allah—Allah bless him and grant him peace—against its inhabitants from the Muhājirīn and the Anṣār.”

Muʿāwiyah said, “By Allah, O Commander of the Believers, you will surely be assassinated—or, he said, attacked.” ʿUthmān replied, “Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best Guardian.”

Muʿāwiyah then left him with his sword belted on and his bow in hand. Passing by a group of the Muhājirīn (and the Anṣār) that included ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Ṭalḥah, and al-Zubayr, he stopped, leaned on his bow, and delivered an eloquent address (5) urging them to protect ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān—may Allah be pleased with him—and warning them not to abandon him to his enemies; then he went on his way.

Al-Zubayr said, “Never have I seen him more awe-inspiring in my eyes than on this day.”

Ibn Jarīr (6) mentions that from this visit to Madinah Muʿāwiyah began to harbour ambitions for the caliphate, for during that year’s pilgrimage season he heard a camel-driver chanting:

“The lean-ribbed mounts well know, and the taut-strung, curved bows as well,
That the commander after him is ʿAlī, with al-Zubayr a worthy successor,
And Ṭalḥah the barefoot is her guardian.”

Kaʿb al-Aḥbār, riding behind ʿUthmān, remarked, “By Allah, the commander after him is the rider of the dapple-grey mule,” pointing to Muʿāwiyah. (7)

When Muʿāwiyah heard this, it remained lodged in his heart until events unfolded as we shall relate in their proper place, if Allah wills; in Him is our trust.