he said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once spoke of a coming tribulation. (1) As he was doing so, a man passed by, his face hidden beneath his cloak. The Prophet remarked, ‘On that day this veiled man will be slain, wronged and innocent.’ I looked and saw that it was ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.”
al-Tirmidhī (2) also recorded this report from Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd, from Shadhān, and said: “It is ḥasan gharīb.”
[Another hadith]
Imam Aḥmad (3) said: ʿAffān narrated to us; Wuhayb (4) narrated to us; Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah narrated to us; Abū Umayy Abū Ḥabībah (5) related to me that he entered the house while ʿUthmān was under siege. He heard Abū Hurayrah ask ʿUthmān for permission to address the people, and permission was granted. Abū Hurayrah then stood up, praised Allah, and said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘You will meet tribulation and division after my death’—or he said, ‘division and tribulation.’ Someone asked, ‘Who shall lead us then, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘Cling to the trustworthy one (6) and to his companions,’ while pointing to ʿUthmān.” Aḥmad alone transmitted this report; its chain is sound and good, and the major compilers did not record it through this isnād.
Imam Aḥmad (7) also said: Abū Usāmah Ḥammād (8) ibn Usāmah narrated to us; Kihmas ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Shaqīq. Hurmī (9) ibn al-Ḥārith and Usāmah ibn Khuraym—both of whom took part in military expeditions—told me a report, each unaware that the other had done so, from Murrah al-Bahzī, who said:
“While we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a road near Madinah, he said, ‘What will you do when a tribulation rises across the lands like the horns of wild cattle?’ They asked, ‘What should we do, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said, ‘Stay with this man and his companions—or follow this man and his companions.’ I hurried off until I was exhausted, caught up with the man, and asked, ‘Is it this one, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘Yes, this one’—and it was ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.” He went on to say: “This man and his companions,” and he repeated the account.
[Another route]
al-Tirmidhī (10) also said in his Jāmiʿ: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī narrated to us