ʿAlī likewise led them in prayer afterward (1), and during those turbulent days he addressed the people on several occasions. Many events took place; we shall mention of them what Allah enables, and He alone is the One from whom help is sought.

Imam Aḥmad (2) said: “Bahz narrated to us; Abū ʿAwanah narrated to us; Ḥuṣayn narrated to us, from ʿAmr ibn Jawān, who said:

Al-Aḥnaf said: We set out as pilgrims and passed through Madinah. While we were in our lodging a man came to us and said, ‘The people [are alarmed] (in the mosque).’ My companion and I hurried off and found the people gathered around a few men in the mosque. I worked my way through them until I stood next to those men—and they were ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, al-Zubayr, Ṭalḥah, and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ.

It was not long before ʿUthmān arrived on foot and said, ‘Is ʿAlī here?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Is al-Zubayr here?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Is Ṭalḥah here?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Is Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ here?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’

He then adjured them by Allah, besides whom there is no god: ‘Do you know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever purchases the threshing-floor of such-and-such a clan, Allah will forgive him,” and that I bought it; I then came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “I have purchased it,” and he said, “Add it to our mosque and the reward will be yours”?’ They said, ‘Yes.’

He continued: ‘I adjure you by Allah, besides whom there is no god: Do you know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Who will buy the Well of Rūmah?” So I bought it for such-and-such an amount; I then came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “I have bought it”—meaning the Well of Rūmah—and he said, “Make it a drinking place for the Muslims and the reward will be yours”?’ (3) They said, ‘Yes.’

He said: ‘I adjure you by Allah, besides whom there is no god: Do you know that on the day of the Army of Hardship the Messenger of Allah ﷺ looked at the faces of the people and said, “Whoever equips these troops, Allah will forgive him,” and that I equipped them until they lacked neither a halter nor a hobble?’ They said, ‘O Allah, yes!’ He then said (4): ‘O Allah, bear witness. O Allah, bear witness. O Allah, bear witness,’ and then he departed.

Al-Nasāʾī (5) also transmitted this narration through Ḥuṣayn, and in his version it says: ‘ʿUthmān (6) entered wearing a yellow mantle.’

[Another Chain]

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad (7) said: ʿUbayd Allāh (8) ibn ʿUmar al-Qawārīrī related to me; al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Aws al-Anṣārī related to me; Abū ʿUbādah al-Zurqī al-Anṣārī, a man of Madinah, related to me, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father. He said:

I was present with ʿUthmān on the day he was besieged, in the place where the biers are set out for funeral prayer. Had a stone been thrown, it would not have fallen except upon someone’s head. I saw ʿUthmān appear at the lattice that faces the Station of Jibrīl, and he said, ‘O people, is Ṭalḥah among you?’ They kept silent. Then he said, ‘O…”