Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 38:42

Ibn Idris narrated to us, from Husayn, from Umar ibn Jawwan, from al-Ahnaf ibn Qays, who said: We arrived in Medina intending to perform Hajj. We were at our lodgings, putting down our baggage, when a comer came to us and said: "The people have become alarmed and have gathered in the mosque." I set out, and behold, the people were gathered in the mosque, and behold, Ali, al-Zubayr, Talha, and Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas were there. He said: We were in that state when Uthman came to us. It was said: "This is Uthman." He entered wearing a yellow garment of his, with which he had covered his head. He said: "Is Ali here?" They said: "Yes." He said: "Is al-Zubayr here?" They said: "Yes." He said: "Is Talha here?" They said: "Yes." He said: "Is Sa’d here?" They said: "Yes." He said: "I adjure you by Allah, besides whom there is no god, do you know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: 'Whoever buys the enclosure of the sons of so-and-so, Allah will forgive him,' so I bought it for twenty thousand or twenty-five thousand? Then I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said to him: 'I have bought it.' He said: 'Place it in our mosque, and you shall have its reward.'" They said: "O Allah, yes." He said: "I adjure you by Allah, besides whom there is no god, do you know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: 'Whoever buys the well of Rumma, Allah will forgive him,' so I bought it for such-and-such? Then I came to him and said: 'I have bought it.' He said: 'Make it a watering place for the Muslims, and its reward is yours.'" They said: "O Allah, yes." He said: "I adjure you by Allah, besides whom there is no god, do you know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) looked at the faces of the people and said: 'Whoever equips these, Allah will forgive him'—meaning the Army of Hardship—so I equipped them until they lacked neither a noseband nor a hobble?" He said: They said: "O Allah, yes." He said: "O Allah, bear witness," three times. Al-Ahnaf said: I set out and came to Talha and al-Zubayr and said: "What do you command me to do, and whom do you approve for me? For I see nothing in this but that he will be killed." They said: "We command you to follow Ali." I said: "You command me to follow him and approve him for me?" They said: "Yes." He said: Then I set out to perform Hajj until I arrived in Mecca. While we were there, the news of the killing of Uthman reached us, and Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, was there. I met her and said to her: "Whom do you command me to pledge allegiance to?" She said: "Ali." I said: "Do you command me to follow him and approve him for me?" She said: "Yes." I passed by Ali in Medina and pledged allegiance to him, then I returned to Basra, thinking that the matter had been settled. He said: While I was in that state, a comer came to me and said: "This is Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, and Talha and al-Zubayr have descended at the side of al-Khurayba." I said: "What brought them?" He said: "They sent for you to seek your help regarding the blood of Uthman, for he was killed unjustly." He said: There came to me the most terrible matter that had ever come to me. I said: "Indeed, abandoning these people, while the Mother of the Believers and the disciple of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) are with them, is a grave matter. And indeed, fighting the cousin of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) after they commanded me to pledge allegiance to him is a grave matter." When I came to them, they said: "We have come to seek help regarding the blood of Uthman, for he was killed unjustly." I said: "O Mother of the Believers, I adjure you by Allah, did I not say to you: 'Whom do you command me to follow?' and you said: 'Ali.' And I said: 'Do you command me to follow him and approve him for me?' and you said: 'Yes'?" She said: "Yes, but he has changed." I said: "O al-Zubayr, O disciple of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), O Talha, I adjure you both by Allah, did I not say to you both: 'Whom do you command me to follow?' and you both said: 'Ali.' And I said: 'Do you command me to follow him and approve him for me?' and you both said: 'Yes'?" They said: "Yes, but he has changed." I said: "No, by Allah, I will not fight you while the Mother of the Believers and the disciple of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)—whose allegiance you commanded me to pledge—are with you. Choose for me one of three things: either you open the gate of the bridge for me so I may join the land of the non-Arabs until Allah decides what He decides regarding this matter, or I join Mecca and stay there until Allah decides what He decides regarding this matter, or I withdraw and stay nearby." They said: "We will consult, then we will send to you." They consulted and said: "If we open the gate of the bridge for him, the hypocrite and the deserter will join him, and if he joins Mecca, he will stir up the people of Quraysh against you and inform them of your news. That is not the matter. Place him here nearby, where you can step on his neck and watch him." So he withdrew to al-Jalha' in Basra, two leagues away, and about six thousand people withdrew with him. Then the people met, and the first to be killed was Talha, and Ka’b ibn Sur was with him holding the Mushaf, reminding these and those, until he was killed among those who were killed. Al-Zubayr reached Sha’wan of Basra, a place like Qadisiyya is to you. Al-Nadr, a man from the tribe of Banu Mujashi’, met him and said: "Where are you going, O disciple of the Messenger of Allah? Come to me, for you are under my protection; no one shall reach you." He went with him. He said: A person came to al-Ahnaf and said: "This is al-Zubayr; he has been met at Safwan." He said: "What security is there? The people have gathered between the Muslims until some of them struck the eyebrows of others with swords." Then he went to his house and his family. ’Umayr ibn Jurmuz, and some of the deviants of Banu Tamim, and Fadala ibn Habis, and Nufay’ heard of him, so they rode out in pursuit of him. They met him with al-Nadr. ’Umayr ibn Jurmuz came to him while he was on a weak horse of his and struck him a light blow. Al-Zubayr charged at him while he was on a horse of his called Dhu al-Khimar, until, when he thought he was going to kill him, he called out to his two companions: "O Nufay’, O Fadala!" They charged at him until they killed him.