the Lord—exalted is He—above His Throne. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came and stood by one of the Throne’s pillars; Abu Bakr came next and placed his hand on the Prophet’s shoulder ﷺ; ʿUmar then came and laid his hand on Abu Bakr’s shoulder; after him came ʿUthmān, his hand upon his (1)—that is, upon his head—and he said, “My Lord, ask Your servants: for what reason did they kill me?” Two spouts of blood then poured from the sky onto the earth.
Someone said to ʿAlī, “Do you not hear what al-Ḥasan is reporting?!” He replied, “He is relating what he actually saw.”
Abū Yaʿlā (2) also transmitted this through Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ, from Jumayʿ ibn ʿUmayr (3) ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Mujālid, from Tuḥrub (4) al-ʿIjlī, who said: I heard al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī say, “After a vision I beheld, I could never again take up arms. I saw the Throne, and I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ clinging to it. I saw Abu Bakr resting his hand on the Prophet’s shoulder, ʿUmar resting his hand on Abu Bakr’s shoulder, and ʿUthmān resting his hand on ʿUmar’s shoulder. I also saw blood beneath them. I asked, ‘What is this?’ and I was told, ‘It is ʿUthmān’s blood; he is pleading with Allah concerning it.’”
Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm said: Salām ibn Miskīn narrated to us, from Wahb ibn Shabīb, from Zayd ibn Ṣawḥān, who said, “On the day ʿUthmān was killed, hearts scattered in every direction; by Him in whose hand is my soul, they will never come together again until the Day of Resurrection.”
Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn (5) reported that ʿĀʾishah said, “You drained him dry like one drains a vessel (6), and then you killed him?”
Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ (7) said: Abū Qutaybah narrated to us; Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq narrated to us, from ʿAwn ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtbah, who said: ʿĀʾishah said, “I showed indignation for you over the lash—shall I not be indignant for ʿUthmān over the sword?! You kept demanding that he make amends until, when you had left him like a heart (8) purified and clear, you slew him.”
Abū Muʿāwiyah (9) reported, from al-Aʿmash, from Khaythamah, from Masrūq, who said: ʿĀʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—said when ʿUthmān was killed, “You left him like a spotless garment, free of any stain, and then you killed him.” In another wording she said, “Then you brought him close and slaughtered him as a ram is slaughtered.”
Masrūq said to her, “This is your doing—you wrote to the people, ordering them to march out against him.” She replied: