from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, who related that al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba entered upon ʿUthmān while he was under siege and said:
“You are the leader of the people, and you see what has befallen you. I place before you three alternatives—choose whichever you wish:
- Go out and fight them; you have numbers and strength, you are upon the truth and they are upon falsehood.
- We can open for you a doorway other than the one they occupy; you may mount your beasts and head for Mecca, for they will never violate your sanctity while you are there.
- Or you may go to Syria, for its people are your people and Muʿāwiyah is among them.”
He (may Allah be pleased with him) replied:
“As for going out to fight, I will not be the first to succeed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in his ummah by shedding blood. As for departing to Mecca on the assumption that they will not violate my sanctity there, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
“A man from Quraysh will desecrate Mecca; upon him will be half of the punishment of the whole world.”
I will not be that man. And as for going to Syria—its people are indeed my people and Muʿāwiyah is among them—but I shall never leave the abode of my Hijrah nor the neighbourhood of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”
Ahmad (1) said: “Ismāʿīl ibn Abān al-Warrāq narrated to us; Yaʿqūb narrated to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīra, from Ibn Abzā, from ʿUthmān, who said:
ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr said to him during the siege, ‘I have mounts prepared for you; would you like to move to Mecca so that whoever wishes to visit you may come to you?’ He replied, ‘No. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
“A ram from Quraysh whose name is ʿAbd Allāh will desecrate Mecca; upon him will be the like of [half] the sins of mankind.”’
He alone transmitted it; it is exceedingly strange, and its chain of narrators is reliable except for Yaʿqūb—he is, it is thought, al-Qummī—he was a Shīʿī, so the flaw probably comes from him. (2)
Muḥammad ibn ʿĀʾidh al-Dimashqī said: “Al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Luhayʿa narrated to us, from Yazīd ibn ʿAmr, who heard Abū Thawr al-Fahmī (3) say:
I came to ʿUthmān, and while I was with him I went out. I found that the delegation of the people of Egypt had returned, so I went back in to ʿUthmān and informed him. He asked, ‘How (4) did you find them?’ I said, ‘I saw evil in their faces, and they were led by Ibn ʿUdays al-Balawī.’ Ibn ʿUdays then ascended the minbar of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, led them in the Friday prayer, and belittled ʿUthmān in his sermon. I returned to ʿUthmān and told him what he had said about them.
He said, ‘Ibn ʿUdays has lied, by Allah! Had he not said what he said, I would not have mentioned (5) this. I am the fourth of four to embrace Islam; the Messenger of Allah ﷺ married his daughter to me, then when she died he married me to his other daughter. I have never committed fornication or theft, in the Age of Ignorance or in Islam. Since I entered Islam I have never intentionally burdened anyone, nor have I coveted anything. I have not touched my private parts with my right hand since I pledged that hand to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I gathered the Qur’an during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and no Friday has passed since I accepted Islam without my freeing a slave—except when I could not find one that Friday, in which case I freed one the next Friday.’”
Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān transmitted it from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr, from Ibn Luhayʿa, who said, “I have kept in reserve with my Lord ten (6) deeds,” and he enumerated them.