Al-Lalaka'i preserves a report in which Abu Qilaba, while traveling in Syria, encountered a blind man who had lost his hands and legs. The man said that he had been among those who entered the house of Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, during the siege, and that he struck Uthman’s wife when she came out. He then recalled that Uthman prayed that Allah take away his hands, legs and sight and enter him into the Fire. According to the man’s own account, he later found himself without his hands and legs and blind, and he understood his condition as the fulfillment of Uthman’s prayer. Al-Lalaka'i included the report among the karamat of Uthman.
The man said that years earlier he had been among those who entered the house of Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, during the siege of the caliph’s home. According to his own confession, when Uthman’s wife came out, he struck her. The report leaves the man unnamed and keeps the focus on what he himself admitted to Abu Qilaba.
The man then described Uthman’s response. He said that Uthman prayed against him, asking Allah to take away his hands and legs, remove his sight and enter him into the Fire. Hearing the supplication frightened him, and he said that he fled from the house in fear.
The extraordinary part of the account follows. The man told Abu Qilaba that during the night an agent came to him, and that afterward he was left in the condition Abu Qilaba could now see: without his hands and legs and without sight. He understood these physical afflictions as the answer to Uthman’s supplication.
In recounting his own condition, the man added that, in his understanding, the physical parts of the prayer had already occurred while the final part concerning the Fire still remained. The story does not continue beyond his statement about himself, and it does not describe his final fate. Its remembered scene is the encounter in Syria and the man’s confession about what had happened during the siege of Uthman’s house.
Al-Lalaka'i placed this report in the section devoted to the karamat of Amir al-Mu'minin Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him. Later works also repeated the Abu Qilaba story. In public form, the account is therefore best kept as the source tells it: Abu Qilaba meets the afflicted man, hears his confession, and records the man’s belief that the severe condition before him followed Uthman’s supplication.
Conclusion
The report closes with Abu Qilaba facing a blind and severely afflicted man who confessed his role during the siege of Uthman and said that he regarded his condition as the result of Uthman ibn Affan’s supplication.