Hadith 186

n what he had claimed that Rasool-Allah-saww never left behind a Caliph, nor did he appoint a Caliph as Abu Bakr had appointed, and came up with a third scenario. He made it a consultation between six people and excluded from it all the Arabs. Then he gained the support for that among the general public. He made them to be with those whose hearts drank from the afflictions and the errors. Ibn Awf accepted me-asws, then paid allegiance to Usman, so they all paid allegiance to him, and they had heard from Rasool-Allah-saww with regards to Usman what they had heard from him-saww having cursed him in other places. As for Usman, he was better than the two of them. He said some words, days ago, that I-asws sympathised with and his speech pleased me-asws. I-asws was seated in his presence at his house when Aisha and Hafsa came over seeking their inheritance from the loss of Rasool-Allah-saww, and their wealth which was in his hands. He said, ‘No, by Allah-azwj, there is no honour for the two of you, nor any enjoyment from it, but I have been permitted by the very testimonies that you two had borne against yourselves. Both of you had testified to your own two fathers that you two had heard Rasool-Allah-saww saying: ‘The Prophet-saww does not bequeath, whatsoever that he-saww leaves behind is charity’. Then you teamed-up with an uncouth Bedouin who was urinating like an animal and cleaning himself with his own urine (Malik Bin Aws Bin Al-Hadsaan), so he testified with the two of you. And there was none among the companions of Rasool-Allah-saww neither from the Helpers who testified to that apart from the two of you and that Bedouin. But, by Allah-azwj, there is no doubt that he lied against Rasool-Allah-saww, and the two of you lied with him. But for me, I am permitted by the very testimonies of the two of you against your own selves, so go away, for there is no right for the two of you. They both left from his presence cursing and insulting him. He said, ‘Come back, did not the two of you testify that in the presence of Abu Bakr? ’ They said, ‘Yes’. He said, ‘So if the two of you have testified by the truth, there is no right now for the two of you, and if the two of you have testified falsely, then upon the two of you, and the one who permitted your testimonies, are the Curses of Allah-azwj and His-azwj Angels, and all of the people’. He-asws said: ‘Then he (Usman) looked at me-asws, smiled, then said, ‘O Abu Al-Hassan-asws, was I just with two of them? ’ I said, ‘Yes, by Allah-azwj, you have conveyed and spoken the truth. Allah-azwj will not but humiliate the two of them’. I-asws sympathised with Usman, and I-asws knew that he only intended to please me-asws by that, and he was similar to the two of them (Abu Bakr and Umar) in unjust, and held back from us-asws (our rights) more than the two of them, and it was not an excuse for him, nor an argument that he could construct against us-asws and his claim over our-asws rights’’. [152]