that Allah has clothed me in; and as for letting you take retaliation from my own person, by Allah, I know that my two predecessors stand before me—both of them used to enforce punishments—yet my body would not bear such retribution. As for you killing me (1), then by Allah, if you kill me you will cease to love one another after me, you will never again pray together after me, and you will never again unite to fight an enemy (2).

He said: A small fellow came, looking like a wolf; he peered through the doorway and withdrew. Then Muhammad ibn Abī Bakr arrived with thirteen men, seized ʿUthmān’s beard, and tugged at it until I heard the grinding of his teeth.

He said, “Of what use to you was Muʿāwiyah? Of what use to you was Ibn ʿĀmir? Of what use were your letters?”

He (ʿUthmān) replied, “Release my beard, my nephew.”

The narrator said: I saw him appeal against one of the men—he pointed him out—so the man rose with a mishqas (3) and thrust it into his head.

I asked, “And then what? (4)”

He said, “Then they fell upon him in turns (5) until they killed him.”

Sīf ibn ʿUmar al-Tamīmī (may Allah have mercy on him) said: From al-Ghusn (6) ibn al-Qāsim, from a man, from Khansāʾ, the freedwoman of Usāmah ibn Zayd—she used to stay with Nāʾilah bint al-Farāfiṣah, the wife of ʿUthmān—

That she was in the house [on that day] (7). Muhammad ibn Abī Bakr entered, took hold of his beard, and with the spear-heads he carried stabbed him in the throat.

He (ʿUthmān) said, “Gently, my nephew; by Allah, you have taken a step your father would never have taken.” So he left him and withdrew, ashamed and remorseful. The attackers met him at the entrance to the portico; he held them back for a long while until they overpowered him. They went in, and Muhammad turned back.

A man came forward holding a palm stalk; he led them until he stood over ʿUthmān, struck his head with it, and split it open, so that his blood dripped onto the muṣḥaf and stained it. They then set upon him in succession (8). One of them struck him on the chest with a sword [and he fell]; Nāʾilah bint al-Farāfiṣah (the Kalbite) leapt forward, screamed, and threw herself over him,

Crying, “O daughter of Shaybah, is the Commander of the Faithful being killed?” She seized the sword, and the man cut off her hand. They plundered the contents of the house (9). A man passed by ʿUthmān while his head lay beside the muṣḥaf; he kicked his head away from the muṣḥaf and said, “Never before today have I seen a disbeliever’s face more handsome, nor a disbeliever’s resting-place more noble.” (10)

He said: By Allah, they left nothing in his house, not even the drinking cups; they took everything (11).