He drew back his hands and bolted shut his door,
convinced that Allah is never heedless.

He told the people of the house, “Do not kill them (1);
may Allah pardon every man who does not fight.”

So tell me: did you not see how Allah poured down upon them
enmity and hatred after they had once been united?

And did you not see how, once he was gone, goodness turned its back on the people (2)
as a startled flock of ostriches bolts away?

Sayf ibn ʿUmar attributed these verses to al-Mughīrah [ibn] al-Akhnas (3) ibn Shurayq.

Sayf ibn ʿUmar also said that Ḥassān ibn Thābit (4) recited the following, in the ṭawīl metre:

What was it you wanted of my brother in faith—
that toughened skin which Allah’s own hand had blessed?

You slew Allah’s friend in the very heart of his home,
and you brought forth an injustice devoid of guidance.

Why did you not honor Allah’s covenant among yourselves (5),
and keep the pledge—the pledge of Muḥammad?

Was there not among you one tried and true,
most faithful to his word (6) in every assembly?

May the hands of a people who pledged one another (7)
to kill ʿUthmān—the rightly-guided, firmly supported—never prevail.

Ibn Jarīr (8) reports that Ḥassān ibn Thābit—may Allah be pleased with him—(9) also said, in the basīṭ metre:

Whoever longs for death, pure and undiluted,
let him come to the lion’s den (10) in ʿUthmān’s house.

There you will find men clad in rings of Indian steel;
above their visors gleam bright blades (11) that adorn their forms.

They butchered a grey-haired elder whose brow bore the mark of prostration—
one who would spend the night in glorification and Quranic recitation.

So be patient (12)—my mother and all she bore be ransomed for you—
for patience sometimes benefits one in tribulation.

We have accepted (13) the land of Syria, though estranged,
and the emir and the brethren—as brethren.