He would also instruct anyone wearing leather socks to wipe over them until he removed them, without setting any time limit. A number of the early scholars followed him in this, for the ḥadiths that stipulate a fixed period had not reached them—though those reports are authentic and were known to some who were their inferiors in learning. Moreover, wiping with no time limit has itself been transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ through several sound chains. (1)

Likewise, ʿUthmān had no knowledge that a woman whose husband dies must observe her waiting period in the very house where the death occurred, until al-Furayʿah bint Mālik—sister of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī—told him of her own case when her husband passed away, and that the Prophet ﷺ had said to her, “Remain in your house until the prescribed term has elapsed.” (2) ʿUthmān adopted that ruling.

On another occasion, game that had been hunted especially for him was presented to him, and he was about to eat it until ʿAlī informed him that the Prophet ﷺ