Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī related:
‘ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd narrated to us; Shurayk informed us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĪsā, from Ibn Abī Laylā, who said:
“I heard ʿAlī, either at the gate of the mosque or by the Stones of Oil, raise his voice and declare: ‘O Allah, I dissociate myself before You from the blood of ʿUthmān.’”

Abū Hilāl transmitted, from Qatādah, from al-Ḥasan, who said:
“When ʿUthmān was killed, ʿAlī was away on an estate of his. When the news reached him he said, ‘O Allah, I neither approved of it nor took part in it.’” ⦗1⦘

Al-Ribʿ ibn Badr narrated, from Siyyār ibn Salāmah, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, that ʿAlī entered upon ʿUthmān, threw himself over him, and wept so profusely that those present thought he would die from grief.

Al-Thawrī and others reported, from Layth, from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:
“On the day ʿUthmān was slain, ʿAlī said: ‘By Allah, I did not kill him nor did I command it; rather, I was overpowered.’” A version with a chain other than Layth’s transmits the same, from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from ʿAlī. ⦗2⦘

Ḥabīb ibn Abī al-ʿĀliyah reported, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:
“ʿAlī declared, ‘If the people wish, I will swear to them by the Kaʿbah’s Station of Abraham that, by Allah, I neither killed ʿUthmān nor ordered his killing; indeed, I forbade them, but they disobeyed me.’ Similar reports from ʿAlī come through other lines as well.

Muḥammad ibn Yūnus al-Kudaymī ⦗3⦘ narrated: Hārūn ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, Qurrah ibn Khālid, from al-Ḥasan, from Qays ibn ʿAbbād, who said:
“I heard ʿAlī on the Day of the Camel saying, ‘(O Allah), I repudiate before You the shedding of ʿUthmān’s blood. My mind was confounded the day ʿUthmān was killed, and I felt estranged from myself. They came to me for the pledge of allegiance and I said, ‘By Allah, I am ashamed before Allah to pledge allegiance to a people who slew a man about whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I feel bashful before the one before whom the angels feel bashful.” And I am ashamed before Allah to give the pledge while ʿUthmān lies slain upon the earth, not yet buried.’ So they went away. When he had been buried, the people returned and asked me for the pledge. I said, ‘O Allah, I am apprehensive about the step I am about to take,’ yet the situation became unavoidable, so I accepted the pledge. When they addressed me as ‘Commander of the Believers,’ my heart was rent, and the earlier aversion subsided.”

The distinguished ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim Ibn ʿAsākir ⦗4⦘ devoted special attention to compiling all the chains that record ʿAlī’s disavowal of any share in the blood of ʿUthmān.