Siege of Uthman

The siege of the house of the caliph Uthman ibn Affan in Medina, known in the chronicles as "the Day of the House" (Yawm al-Dar), ended with his killing on Friday, 18 Dhu'l-Hijja 35 AH; he was buried the following night in Hashsh Kawkab in al-Baqi' ¹.

Al-Suyuti transmits from al-Zuhri that Uthman ruled twelve years: six in which the people found no fault and in which he was dearer to Quraysh than Umar had been; then in the last six he appointed his kinsmen and wrote for Marwan the fifth of Ifriqiya, so the provinces complained against him ². In the same account, Uthman was reproached for governors he did not remove, and the people of Egypt came complaining of Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh — among the events that led to the siege of his house ³.

Uthman was killed in the middle days of tashriq in 35 AH — in al-Suyuti's preferred dating, Friday 18 Dhu'l-Hijja, though other days are reported — and was buried the next night, between maghrib and isha', in Hashsh Kawkab in al-Baqi', the first to be buried there ¹. He was eighty-two years old on the most common account ¹.

• The record's filed source is Tarikh al-Tabari, but the harvested Tabari volumes do not cover the year 35; al-Suyuti's transmission from al-Zuhri, Ibn Sa'd and others is used here instead. Checking against Tabari's own narrative remains required before finer detail is added.