[Section] The siege continued from the closing days of Dhu al-Qaʿda until Friday, the eighteenth of Dhu al-Ḥijja. On the day before that, ʿUthmān said to the Emigrants and Helpers who were with him in the house—about seven hundred men, among them ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr (1), al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, Marwān, Abū Hurayra, and many of his freedmen. Had he permitted them, they would have defended him. He said, “I adjure every man who owes me obedience to stay his hand and return to his home,” and he named a great host (jam ghafīr) of the leading Companions and their sons. To his servant he added, “Whoever sheathes his sword is a free man.” Fighting inside the house thus cooled, while outside it flared up and the matter grew critical. The cause was a dream ʿUthmān had seen that indicated his end was near. He therefore submitted to Allah’s decree, hopeful of His promise and longing to meet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, wishing to emulate the better of the two sons of Adam who, when threatened with murder, said (2): “I would rather you bear my sin and yours and thus become one of the people of the Fire; that is the recompense of the wrongdoers” (Qur’an, 5:29). It is related that the last person to leave ʿUthmān’s house after he had made them depart was al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, and that the commander of the defense inside was ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them). Mūsā ibn ʿUqba narrated from Sālim—or Nāfiʿ—that Ibn ʿUmar never bore arms after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ except on the Day of the House (the siege) and on the day he confronted the Ḥarūrī rebel. Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī (3) reported, from Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, that ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed the people that morning, saying, “I saw the Prophet in a dream and he said, ‘O ʿUthmān, break your fast with us.’” He began the day fasting and was killed that very day. Sayf ibn ʿUmar related, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ziyād ibn Anʿum, from a man who said: Kathīr ibn al-Ṣalt entered and said, “O Commander of the Believers, go out and sit in the courtyard so the people may see your face; if you do, they will hold back.” ʿUthmān laughed and replied, “O Kathīr, last night I saw myself entering upon the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, and with him were Abū Bakr and ʿUmar. He said, ‘Return, for tomorrow you will break your fast with me.’” Then he added, “By Allah, the sun will not set tomorrow—or words to that effect—without my being among the people of the Hereafter.” Thereupon Saʿd and Abū Hurayra laid down their weapons and went in until they reached ʿUthmān. (4) Mūsā ibn ʿUqba said: Abū ʿAlqama—the freedman of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf—told me, and Ibn al-Ṣalt told me, that on the day he was killed ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān dozed off, then awoke and said, “Were it not that people would say ʿUthmān wished for something …”