whenever you approved of someone, I installed him in office?
He also said to them:
“By Allah, if you kill me you will never again love one another, you will never again pray together, and you will never again unite to fight an enemy.” And he—may Allah be pleased with him—spoke the truth.
Imam Ahmad (1) said: “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us; Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to us, from Rabīʿah ibn Yazīd, from ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Abī Qays. Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr related to me:
Muʿāwiyah sent a letter with me to ʿĀʾishah, and I delivered his letter to her. She told me that she had heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say to ʿUthmān:
“Perhaps Allah will clothe you with a garment; if anyone wants you to remove it, do not take it off”—three times.
Nuʿmān said: “I asked, ‘Mother of the Believers, where were you concerning this ḥadith?’ She replied, ‘My son, by Allah, I had forgotten it.’ ”
Al-Tirmidhī (2) likewise transmitted it in a report from al-Layth, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ (3), from Rabīʿah ibn Yazīd, from ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿĀmir (4), from Nuʿmān, from ʿĀʾishah, and he said, “This ḥadith is ḥasan gharīb.”
Ibn Mājah (5) also reported it through al-Faraj ibn Faḍālah, from Rabīʿah ibn Yazīd, from Nuʿmān, omitting ʿAbd-Allāh (6) ibn ʿĀmir.
[Imam Ahmad (7) said: “Yaḥyā narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl (8); Qays narrated to us, from Abū Sahlah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Call some of my Companions for me.’ I asked, ‘Abū Bakr?’ He said, ‘No.’ I asked, ‘ʿUmar?’ He said, ‘No.’ I asked, ‘Your cousin ʿAlī?’ He said, ‘No.’ She said, ‘I asked, “ʿUthmān?” ’ He said, ‘Yes.’
When he came, the Prophet said, ‘Step aside,’ and he began to speak with him privately, while ʿUthmān’s complexion changed. When the Day of the House arrived and he was besieged inside it, we said, ‘Commander of the Believers, will you not fight?’ He replied, ‘No! The Messenger of Allah ﷺ bound me with a covenant, and I am restraining myself in obedience to it.’ ” Only Ahmad recorded this.]
Imam Ahmad (10) further said: “ʿAlī ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us; al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us; al-Awzāʿī informed us, from…"