Narrated It was narrated that Abu Salih, the freed slave of `Uthman bin `Affan (رضي الله عنه) said:
I heard `Uthman (رضي الله عنه) say on the minbar: O people, I concealed from you a hadeeth that I heard from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for fear that you would scatter away from me, then I thought that I should tell it to you, and let each one choose for himself what he thinks is best. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: `Guarding the border for one day for the sake of Allah is better than a thousand other days doing other deeds.”
`Abdullah bin ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Abi Dhubab narrated... A similar hadeeth]
I said to ‘AbdurRahman bin ‘Awf: How could you swear allegiance to ‘Uthman (رضي الله عنه) and not to `Ali (رضي الله عنه)? He said: It is not my fault. I started with `Ali and said: I swear allegiance to you in accordance with the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger, and the way of Abu Bakr and ʼUmar (رضي الله عنهما) . He said: As much as I can. Then I offered it to `Uthman (رضي الله عنه) and he accepted it.
I heard ‘Uthman (رضي الله عنه) delivering a khutbah from the minbar. He said: I used to buy dates from one of the Jewish clans who were called Banu Qainuqa`, and sell them at a profit. News of that reached the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who said: `O `Uthman, when you buy, take your dues with nothing extra, and when you sell, give (the other party`s) dues with nothing less.`
`Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Awf met al-Waleed bin `Uqbah Al-Waleed said to him: Why do I see you keeping away from Ameer al-Mu`mineen `Uthman (رضي الله عنه)? `AbdurRahman said to him. Tell him that I did not flee on the day of `Ainain - ` Asim said: The day of Uhud - and I did not stay behind on the day of Badr, and I did not turn away from the way of ‘Umar (رضي الله عنه). So he went and told that to `Uthman (رضي الله عنه), who said: As for his saying that he did not flee on the day of `Ainain, how could he shame me for a fault for which Allah has pardoned me and said: `Those of you who turned back on the day the two hosts met (i.e. the battle of Uhud), it was Shaitan (Satan) who caused them to backslide (run away from the battlefield) because of some (sins) they had earned. But Allah, indeed, has forgiven them.` ? As for his saying that I stayed behind on the day of Badr, I was tending Ruqayyah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), when she was dying, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) allocated to me a share (of the booty), and whoever was allocated a share by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was present.... and he quoted the hadeeth at length to the end.
