He (Usamah) was told: Why don’t you go in to ʿUthmān and speak to him? He said: Do you think I speak to him only so that you may hear me? By Allah, I have spoken to him privately, without initiating a matter that I would not like to be the first to open, and I do not say of anyone who might be my ruler that he is the best of people,

after I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "A man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and thrown into the Fire, and the intestines of his belly will spill out, and he will go around with them as a donkey goes around a millstone. The people of the Fire will gather around him and say, 'So-and-so, what is wrong with you? Did you not used to command what is right and forbid what is wrong?' He will say, 'Yes; I used to command what is right but I did not do it, and I used to forbid what is wrong yet I would do it.”’

قِيلَ لَهُ: أَلَا تَدْخُلُ عَلَى عُثْمَانَ فَتُكَلِّمَهُ؟ فَقَالَ: أَتَرَوْنَ أَنِّي لَا أُكَلِّمُهُ إِلَّا أُسْمِعُكُمْ؟ وَاللَّهِ، لَقَدْ كَلَّمْتُهُ فِيمَا بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهُ، مَا دُونَ أَنْ أَفْتَتِحَ أَمْرًا لَا أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَكُونَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ فَتَحَهُ، وَلَا أَقُولُ لِأَحَدٍ يَكُونُ عَلَيَّ أَمِيرًا إِنَّهُ خَيْرُ النَّاسِ.

بَعْدَ مَا سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَقُولُ: «يُؤْتَى بِالرَّجُلِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ، فَيُلْقَى فِي النَّارِ، فَتَنْدَلِقُ أَقْتَابُ بَطْنِهِ، فَيَدُورُ بِهَا كَمَا يَدُورُ الْحِمَارُ بِالرَّحَى، فَيَجْتَمِعُ إِلَيْهِ أَهْلُ النَّارِ، فَيَقُولُونَ: يَا فُلَانُ، مَا لَكَ؟ أَلَمْ تَكُنْ تَأْمُرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَى عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ؟ فَيَقُولُ: بَلَى، قَدْ كُنْتُ آمُرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَلَا آتِيهِ، وَأَنْهَى عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَآتِيهِ».