a ruler will be killed, and an upstart will spring forth.(1) I am the one who shall be killed, not ʿUmar; ʿUmar was slain by a single man, whereas a number of people will gather against me.” He said this to Ibn Masʿūd about four years before his own martyrdom, for Ibn Masʿūd died some years prior to him.
[Another ḥadith]
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad (2) said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-Qawārīrī (3) narrated to us; al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Aws al-Anṣārī narrated to us; Abū ʿUbāda al-Zuraqī al-Anṣārī—one of the people of Madinah—told me, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father, who said:
I was present with ʿUthmān on the day he was besieged, in the area where the biers are placed for the funeral prayer. Had a stone been tossed, it would have landed only on someone’s head, so crowded were the people. I saw ʿUthmān appear at the small opening that adjoins the Gate of the Station of Gabriel, and he called out:
“O people, is Talhah among you?” They kept silent. He called again, “O people, is Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh among you?” Still they remained silent. A third time he said, “O people, is Talhah here?” Then Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh stood up, and ʿUthmān said to him:
“Do I not see you here? I never thought you would stay with a group who hear my call three times and yet give me no answer.(4) I adjure you by Allah, O Talhah, do you remember the day when you and I were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at such-and-such a place, and none of his Companions were with him except you and me?”
Talhah replied, “Yes!” ʿUthmān continued, “Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to you: ‘There is no prophet but that he has among his Companions a friend in Paradise, and this ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān’—meaning himself—‘is my friend in Paradise.’ Is that not so?” Talhah said, “By Allah, yes!” This narration was reported solely by Ahmad.
[Another ḥadith concerning Talhah]
Al-Tirmidhī (5) said: Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn al-Yamān narrated to us, from an unidentified shaykh of Banī Zuhrah, from al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Dhubāb (6), from Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:
“Every prophet has a companion, and my companion in Paradise is ʿUthmān.”
Al-Tirmidhī then remarked: “This ḥadith is gharīb; its chain is not strong, and it is mursal.”
The report was also transmitted by Abū Marwān (7) Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān, from his father, from Abū al-Zinād, from his father, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah.
Al-Tirmidhī (8) further said: Al-Faḍl ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Baghdādī and others narrated to us: ʿUthmān ibn Zafar narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Ziyād narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, who said:
A funeral bier of a man was brought before the Prophet ﷺ