2521 – Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿUmar related to us; Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad narrated to us; al-Hasan ibn ʿArafah reported; Shabābah transmitted from ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Abi Salamah al-Mājishūn, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father, who said:

“When ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān drafted the document naming the Caliph after Abū Bakr, Abū Bakr instructed him not to write anyone’s name, so he left the space blank. Abū Bakr then lost consciousness. ʿUthmān took the document and wrote in it the name of ʿUmar. When Abū Bakr came to, he said, ‘Show me the document.’ Finding the name of ʿUmar written there, he asked, ‘Who wrote this?’ ʿUthmān replied, ‘I did.’ Abū Bakr said, ‘May Allah have mercy on you and reward you with goodness. By Allah, had you written your own name, you would indeed have been worthy of it.’”