The recorders of history have narrated that when the adherents of Islâm had buried O’mar and terminated the ceremonies of condolence, Maqdâd B. Aswad approached, according to the injunction of O’mar, all the companions of the consultation, and discerning men, whereon the six candidates assembled in the public treasury of the Musalmâns, or, according to some, in the habitation of Fattimah, the sister of Asha’th B. Qays, haranguing each other on their own laudable qualities. When their voices had become very loud, A’bdu-r-rahman B. A’wuf said to them: ‘Delegate your claims to three men.’ Zobeyr then said: ‘I have left my affair to A’li.’ Ttolhah said: ‘I have placed the reins of my election into the grasp of the power of O’thmân.’ Sa’d B. Abu Woqqâss said: ‘I have empowered A’bdu-r-rahman B. A’wuf [to speak] for me.’ A’bdu-r-rahman B. A’wuf then said: ‘I and my brother Sa’d have withdrawn our necks from [bearing] the yoke of the Khalifate.’ At the conclusion of the meeting all the companions agreed to abide by the decision of A’bdu-r-rahman, and dispersed to their habitations.
After the friends had gone away, A’bdu-r-rahman despatched a confidential man to the house of A’li the Amir of the Faithful, with the following message: ‘If I do not pay allegiance to thee, whom desirest thou to become the Khalifah?’ He replied: ‘O’thmân.’ A’bdu-r-rahman then sent a person to O’thmân with the question: ‘If we do not pay homage to thee, whom wilt thou elect?’ He said: ‘A’li.’ Then he summoned Ttolhah and Zobeyr, asking them: ‘If the robe of the Khalifate will not fit your stature, to whom would you pay allegiance?’ Zobeyr said: ‘To A’li’; and Ttolhah said: ‘To O’thmân.’ A’bdu-r-rahman then said to Sa’d: ‘Neither of us two desires to be Khalifah; tell me who is deserving of this important post.’ He replied: ‘O’thmân.’ A’bdu-r-rahman then remarked: ‘I perceive that one of the two, namely, O’thmân or A’li, will become Khalifah.’
Masûd B. Makhrajah, son of the sister of A’bdu-r-rahman B. A’wuf, says: ‘During the night following the day when the hand of destiny had been stretched forth to pay allegiance to O’thmân, I went to the house of my maternal uncle, but he awoke me after I had slumbered a little, and said: “I have not had a wink of sleep during these three nights; go now to the houses of A’li and O’thmân, and say: ‘A’bdullah has sent me to call you.’” I asked to whose house I was to go first. He said: “As thou likest.” I asked: “Are they to come to thee separately or together?” He said: “Together.” As I was more favourably disposed towards A’li, I first hastened to his domicile, and found him engaged in prayer, and when he had done he asked me for the reason of my coming. On my replying that my uncle was calling him, he continued: “Has he called anyone besides me?” I said: “Yes, he has also called O’thmân.” He queried: “Which of us two has he called first?” I said: “He left me the option.” He asked: “Must we come alone or together?” I said: “You are to arrive together.” Then I told him to get ready quickly, and that I and O’thmân would join him. After that I went to the habitation of O’thmân, and the same conversation took place between us as with A’li. When I had left the domicile of O’thmân, all three of us went together to A’bdu-r-rahman, who said, after an immensely long talk to the receptacle of the Vicariate: “O A’li, wilt thou agree that we should deal according to the book of God the Most High, the Sonna of His apostle, and in conformity with the acts of Abu Bakr and O’mar?” A’li replied: “I shall do so as far as I am able, according to my capacity and power.” O’thmân thereon repeated the same promise, most gladly assenting to everything. A’bdu-r-rahman said to them: “If you have told me all you had to say, you may return to your houses, that this affair may be decided to-morrow in the assembly.”’
The next morning the noble Mohâjer, the Anssâr, and the pious followers [Tabi’yn] assembled in the mosque, no other place being spacious enough to hold them, and after holding the matutinal prayers A’bdu-r-rahman took up his position by the side of the pulpit of the apostle, gave praises to God, and said: ‘O ye electors, has the duty of appointing a Khalifah been delegated to me or not?’ They said: ‘Yes.’ He continued: ‘I have also according to my capacity and power investigated the matter, so as not to incline to the side of the conquered one, despite the conqueror.’ He then said: ‘O A’li, arise, and come to my side.’ A’li the Commander of the Faithful then approached A’bdu-r-rahman, who took him by the hand, repeating the same question he had asked on the previous night, whereon his lordship the receptacle of the Vicariate gave the same reply as already mentioned above. Then A’bdu-r-rahman let go his hand, whereon he returned to his place. After that he called O’thmân and repeated to him what he had said on the preceding evening, and O’thmân most willingly assented, omitting the condition of capacity and power [which A’li had made]. A’bdu-r-rahman then turned his face up to the roof of the mosque, and said: ‘O God, hear and be witness that I have placed the yoke of the Khalifate upon the neck of O’thmân.’ Having said these words, he placed his hand upon that of O’thmân, and thus paid him homage. The people around the mosque having begun to move, great crowding ensued; A’li, however, and A’bbâs remained in their places as they were. Some allege that A’li the Commander of the Faithful intended to depart from the mosque without paying allegiance, and it is, at any rate, in conformity with such a supposition that A’bdu-r-rahman said: ‘O A’li, God the Most High has said, Who violates an oath violates it against himself.’* Hereon A’li the Commander of the Faithful approached O’thmân and paid him allegiance.
In some books it is stated that the candidates [for the Khalifship] having assembled in a house, A’bdu-r-rahman said: ‘Who of you will resign his claims to the Khalifate?’ Hereon all stretched their heads forward, but gave no reply. A’bdu-r-rahman continued: ‘I have abdicated my own claims, but you are to abide by my decision.’ All assented to this proposal, but A’li said: ‘On condition that thou disregardest not justice, and actest not according to the suggestions of thy own wishes.’ A’bdu-r-rahman replied: ‘I shall do so, but you must promise me to accept him as the Khalifah, whom I select.’ All having made a covenant to this effect, the Qoraish chiefs, the great Mohâjer and Anssâr, all the Amirs, nobles, and notables assembled on the fourth morning after the demise of O’mar in the mosque, whereon A’bdu-r-rahman said: ‘O people, tell me who is worthy of the dignity of the Khalifate, and deserving of the masnad of government and administration.’ A’mmâr Yâser said: ‘If thou art unwilling that dissensions should arise among the adherents of Islâm, thou must pay homage to A’li, who is the prince of the nation.’ Some agreed with A’mmâr; Sa’d Abu Sarj, however, who was the milk-brother of O’thmân, said: ‘If thou wishest no opposition to arise among the Qoraish, thou must pay homage to O’thmân.’ A’bdullah B. Rabya’h then continued: ‘What has passed over the tongue of Abu Sarj is but the truth, and perfectly convenient.’ Hereon A’mmâr B. Yâser asked A’bdullah B. Sa’d [supra B. Rabya’h]: ‘At what time hast thou been the adviser of the people of Islâm, and when hast thou been engaged in directing them?’ Then a conversation ensued between the Bani Hâshem and the Bani Ommyah, whereon A’mmâr said: ‘O ye Musalmâns, God the Most High has bestowed on us His prophet, has honoured and ennobled us with His religion; then why would you surrender the guidance of the nation to another family and deprive that of the prophet thereof?’ A man of the Bani Makhzûm then said: ‘O son of Samiah, thou hast gone beyond thy tether, and hast said more than thou art competent to speak; what hast thou to do with the appointment of a Khalifah?’ On this occasion Sa’d B. Abu Woqqâss said to A’bdu-r-rahman: ‘Terminate this affair before hostilities break out.’ Accordingly, A’bdu-r-rahman said: ‘O A’li, makest thou a covenant before God that, if thou art appointed Khalifah, thou wilt act in conformity with the book of God, the Sonna of the apostle, and the advice of the two Sheikhs?’ [sic]. A’li the Commander of the Faithful replied: ‘I entertain hopes that I shall do so, although I am not conversant with the administration of affairs.’ His lordship the receptacle of the Vicariate had uttered these words implying that he would strive [to do his duty]. After that A’bdu-r-rahman addressed O’thmân in a similar manner, and he replied: ‘I accept with my heart and mind what thou hast said.’ A’bdu-r-rahman thereon turned his face heavenwards, saying: ‘O God, be witness that I have thrown the garland of the Khalifate on the neck of O’thmân.’ A’li the Commander of the Faithful said: ‘O son of A’wuf, thou hast made this move to gain the favour of the people; this is not the first time that you have overcome [i.e., outwitted] me; however, patience is most becoming, and Allah’s assistance is to be implored [to enable me to support the misfortune] which ye relate.’*
According to one tradition, Ttolhah had gone to his estate when O’mar was about to die, and had made an arrangement with his lordship that the candidates should wait for him; but after the time had expired and O’thmân had been elected Khalifah, Ttolhah returned the next day to Madinah, and some people, on learning what had taken place, said to him: ‘If thou disagreest with what the companions have done, we shall hold another meeting with reference to the Khalifate;’ but Ttolhah replied: ‘Allah forbid that I should be a stumbling-block; I agree to what the people have agreed to.’ It is said that at the time of the election A’bdu-r-rahman had made inquiries among the Qoraish chiefs, and found most of them in favour of O’thmân.
When O’thmân had become established as Khalifah, the first question which occurred, and concerning which discussions took place, was the affair of A’bdullah B. O’mar B. Alkhattâb, whom Ssahyt B. Sanân had, from religious ardour,* kept in close confinement for slaying Hormyzân and Johaynah the Christian. The details of this occurrence are: That Hormyzân—who had been the Governor of Ahwâz and Khozistân, and had leave from the Persian court to sit on a throne and to wear a crown on his head— had, after many contests, been captured by the Musalmâns and sent to Madinah. Having reached the seat of the Khalifate, he had interviews and conversations with O’mar, after which he pronounced the formula of monotheism, and lived in that pleasant locality in the shadow of the protection of the Bani Hâshem, who paid him a slender stipend from the public treasury. He was on good terms with Johaynah the Christian, and with Abu Lûlû, who [as has been narrated above] had inflicted several wounds on O’mar and fled from the mosque. A man of the Bani Tamym ran, however, after Abu Lûlû, killed him, and having taken his poniard, gave it to A’bdu-r-rahman B. Abu Bakr, which the latter handed to A’bdullah, saying: ‘I saw Abu Lûlû going one day to the domicile of Hormyzân with this dagger in his hand.’ A’bdu-r-rahman had no idea that A’bdullah would kill in Islâm anyone without first consulting some of the great companions [of the prophet]; nevertheless, as soon as A’bdullah B. O’mar had heard these words of A’bdu-r-rahman, he immediately slew Hormyzân and Johaynah. When the people had finished [the ceremony of] paying homage, Ssahyt brought A’bdullah into the assembly of the chiefs of the religion, and O’thmân asked them concerning A’bdullah’s act. A’li said: ‘He must be punished according to the law of retaliation.’ All the other companions, however, said: ‘The people will say, “One day they have killed the Khalifah of the apostle, and the next day his son.”’ Others were of opinion that, as this event had not occurred during the Khalifate of O’thmân, it would be better not to retaliate in haste. O’thmân then paid the blood-ransom for Hormyzân from his private means, and discharged A’bdullah. When, however, [afterwards] the masnad of the Khalifate became adorned and embellished by the noble person of the lord of the Vicariate [i.e., Ali], A’bdullah, still fearing retaliation, took refuge with Moa’wiah B. Abu Sofiân, was wounded in the battle of Ssafyn, and surrendered his life to the grasper of souls, as the reed of explanation will narrate.