2363 – And I, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, reported: Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Durayd narrated to us; he said: Abu Hatim narrated to us, from al-Asmaʿi, from his father, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, who said:

“I was circumambulating the Kaʿbah when I heard a man saying, ‘O Allah, forgive me—although I do not expect You to forgive me.’ I said, ‘Servant of Allah, I have never heard anyone pray as you are praying.’ He replied, ‘I had pledged to Allah that if I were ever able to slap the face of ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, I would do so. When he was killed and placed on a bier inside the house and people were offering the funeral prayer over him, I went in as though to pray. I found a moment of seclusion, lifted the cloth from his face, and struck him. When I stepped away, my right hand had withered; it turned black and hard, like a dry stick of shiz wood.’”