''The last day of Uthman Ibn Affan [may Allaah be pleased with him]
As the rebels, led by the Yemeni Jew-AbdAllaah ibn Saba, may Allaah curse him, attacked his home, Uthman ibn Affan [may Allaah be pleased with him] went to pray.
The Sahaba there-which was in the hundreds, there, including: Al-Mugheerah ibn al-Akhnas, al-Hasan ibn Ali, Muhammad ibn Talhah, Sa'eed ibn al-Aas, Marwaan ibn Al-Hakam and Abu Hurayrah.
He, Uthman, told them to not fight, and begin to read Surah Ta-Ha:
Ta-Ha.
We have not sent down this Qur'an unto you, to cause you distress.
But only as a reminder to those who fear Allaah.
Uthman was a fast reader, and he was not disturbed by what he heard. He carried on reading and did not make any mistake or stumble, until he came to the end of the Soorah before the rebels reached him.
Then he recited a du'aa and sat down and recited another verse: [Surah Imran, Verse 137]:
قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ سُنَنٌ فَسِيرُواْ فِي الأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذَّبِينَ
English: Many similar ways and mishaps of life were faced by nations [believers and disbelievers] that have passed away before you, so travel through the earth and see what was the end of those who disbelieved in the Oneness of Allah, and disobeyed Him and his Messengers.
On that day, four young men of Quraysh were injured: Al-Hasan ibn Ali, Abd-Allah ibn Az-Zubayr, Muhammad ibn Haatib and Marwaan ibn al-Hakam.
Al-Mughreerah ibn Al-Akhnas, Niyaar ibn Abd-Allaah al-Aslami and Ziyaad al-Fihri were killed.
Uthman managed to persuade the defenders to leave the house and leave him alone with the rebels.
So no one was left in the house except Uthman and his family, and there was no defender or guard between him and the people, then he opened the door of his house.
After those who had wanted to defend him had left the house, Uthman spread the Mus-haf before him and began to read from it, and at that time he was fasting.
Then one of the besiegers, whose name is not mentioned in the reports, entered upon him.
When Uthman saw him he said to him: Between me and you there is the Book of Allaah.
So the man went out and left him alone.
But no sooner had he left but another one came in.
He was a man from Banu Sadoos who was called al-Mawt al-Aswad [the Black Death].
He strangled him before striking him with the sword.
He said: by Allaah, I never saw anything more soft when strangling.
I strangled him until I felt that his soul was moving in his body like a Jinni.
Then he struck him with his sword, and Uthman tried to protect himself with his hand, but he cut it off.
Uthman said: by Allaah, it was the first hand to write al-Mufassal. That was because he was one of the scribes who wrote down the Revelation, and he had been the first one to write the Mus-haf as dictated by the Messenger of Allaah.
Uthman was killed when the Mus-haf was in front of him, and when his hand was cut off, the blood spilled onto the Mus-haf that was in front of him, and it fell upon the verse:
فَإِنْ آمَنُواْ بِمِثْلِ مَا آمَنتُم بِهِ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَواْ وَّإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَإِنَّمَا هُمْ فِي شِقَاقٍ فَسَيَكْفِيكَهُمُ اللّهُ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
''So Allaah will suffice for you against them. And He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.''
[Al-Baqarah, Verse 137:]
According to one report, the first one to strike him was a man who was called Rumaan Al-Yamaani, who struck him with a short, hooked staff.
When they surrounded him, Uthmans' wife Naa'ilah bint Al-Faraafisah said: Whether you kill him or spare him, he used to stay up all night, reciting the entire Qur'an in a single rak'ah.
Naa'ilah defended her husband Uthman and shielded him, and she received several blows of the sword on her hands.
Sawdaan ibn Hamraan went to her and struck her fingers, and cut them off.
She turned away and he poked her in the hips.
When one of the slaves of 'Uthman, whose name was Nujayh,
saw what was happening, he was distressed by the killing of
'Uthman. Nujayh attacked Sawdaan ibn Hamraan and killed him,
and when Qutayrah ibn Fulaan al-Sakooni saw that Nujayh had
killed Sawdaan, he attacked Nujayh and killed him. Then another
slave of 'Uthman, whose name was Subayh, attacked Qutayrah
ibn Fulaan and killed him. So there were four who were killed in
the house, two martyrs and two criminals. The martyrs were
'Uthman and his slave Nujayh, and the criminals were Sawdaan
and Qutayrah, who were both from the tribe of Sakoon. When
'Uthman had been killed, a caller from among the Saba'is
cried out: It cannot be the case that the man's blood is permissible
for us and his property is forbidden for us; his property is
permissible for us too. So they ransacked the house, and the Saba'i
thugs did a lot of mischief in the house. They ransacked
everything, even taking the jewellery that the women were
wearing. One of the Saba'is whose name was Kultkoom al-Taleebi
attacked 'Uthman's wife Naa'ilah and took the abayah that she
was wearing, then he poked her in the hips and said to her: Woe
to your mother, what a perfect backside. 'Uthman's slave Subayh
saw that and heard the ugly words he said to Naa'ilah, so he
attacked him with a sword and killed him.['] Then one of the
Saba'is attacked the slave and killed him. After the Saba'is had
finished ransacking the house of 'Uthman, they called out: Let us
go and raid the bayt al-maul before anyone else gets there, and take
whatever is in it. The guards of the bayt al-maul heard their voices,
but there was nothing in it except two containers of food, so they
said: Save yourselves, for these people are after worldly gains.
The Saba'is attacked the bayt al-maal and ransacked it.
The Saba'i rebels achieved their aim of killing the caliph. But
after that, many of the thugs and hooligans who had followed
them stopped and thought. They had never thought that it would end with them killing him, but the devilish Saba'is had fooled
them and used them to stir up trouble against 'Uthman. But killing him was something that they found abhorrent and could
not accept. These thugs regretted it, and there happened to them''
the same as happened to the Children of Israel when they worshipped the calf:
