and he invoked mercy upon him. Concerning those who had killed him he recited:
“Shall We inform you of those who are the greatest losers in respect of their deeds—(103) those whose striving in the life of this world has gone astray while they think that they are doing good?” (Q 18:103-104)

Saʿd then said, “O Allah, fill them with remorse and then seize them.” Some of the early generations swore by Allah that every one of the people who killed ʿUthmān (1) died a violent death. This was reported by Ibn Jarīr (2).

Such an end is only to be expected for several reasons—among them that Saʿd’s supplication is answered, as is established in the sound hadith. Others said, “None of them died until he had gone mad.”

Al-Wāqidī said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Zinād related to me, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith, that the man who killed ʿUthmān was Kinānah ibn Bishr ibn ʿAttāb (3) al-Tujībī. The wife of Manẓūr ibn Sayyār al-Fazārī used to say, “We set out for the ḥajj knowing nothing of ʿUthmān’s murder. When we reached al-Marj we heard a man singing in the dead of night (4):

From the ṭawīl metre
Lo, the best of men—after three of them—
is the Tujībī slain who came from Egypt.

When the pilgrims returned they found that ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) had been killed, and the people had pledged allegiance to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him). When the Mothers of the Believers heard on the way that ʿUthmān had been killed, they turned back to Mecca and stayed there for about four months, as will be mentioned.

Section

The length of ʿUthmān’s (may Allah be pleased with him) siege in his home was forty days according to the most widely held view, though some said a little over forty. Al-Shaʿbī said it lasted twenty-two nights. His killing (may Allah be pleased with him) then occurred on a Friday, without dispute. Sayf ibn ʿUmar reported from his shaykhs that it was in the last hour of that day, a view also affirmed by Muṣʿab (6) ibn al-Zubayr and others. Others said it was in the forenoon, and this is closer to the mark. The prevalent view is that it happened on the eighteenth night of Dhū al-Ḥijjah; some maintained it was during the Days of Tashrīq. Ibn Jarīr (7) transmitted: “Aḥmad ibn Zuhayr told me, Abū Khaythamah told us, Wahb ibn Jarīr told us, I heard Yūnus ibn Yazīd say, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: ‘ʿUthmān was killed, though some people claimed it was during the Days of Tashrīq.’” [It was also related by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muʿādh, from Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān, from his father, from …]