Then the two of you teamed-up an uncouth Bedouin who was...

Then the two of you teamed-up 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 the Messenger of Allah -saww neither from the Emigrants nor from the Helpers who testified to that apart from the two of you and that Bedouin. أما والله، ما أشك أنه قد كذب على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وكذبتما عليه معه.

ولكني أجيز شهادتكما على أنفسكما فاذهبا فلا حق لكما. فانصرفتا من عنده تلعنانه وتشتمانه. فقال: ارجعا، أليس قد شهدتما بذلك عند أبي بكر؟ قالتا: نعم. قال: فإن شهدتما بحق فلا حق لكما، وإن كنتما شهدتما بباطل فعليكما وعلى من أجاز شهادتكما على أهل هذا البيت لعنة الله والملائكة والناس أجمعين. But, by Allah -azwj , there is no doubt that he lied against the Messenger of 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. So, the two of them left from his presence cursing and insulting him. So 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’. قال عليه السلام: ثم نظر إلي فتبسم ثم قال: يا أبا الحسن، أشفيتك منهما؟ قلت: نعم، والله وأبلغت وقلت حقا، فلا يرغم الله إلا آنافهما.

فرققت لعثمان وعلمت أنه إنما أراد بذلك رضاي وأنه أقرب منهما رحما وأكف عنا منهما، ح وإن كان لا عذر له ولا حجة بتأميره علينا وادعائه حقنا. 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 -asws 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 (for him being accused there), and I -asws knew that he (Usman) only intended to please me -asws by that, but 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’ .