QMI-INS-069 · 2nd c. AH
Curse on the Killer of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, Wādī al-ʿUsaylah (Makkah)
نقش لعن قاتل عثمان بن عفان، وادي العسيلة (مكة المكرمة)
Wādī al-ʿUsaylah, Makkah region, Saudi Arabia
- لعن الله قاتل عثمان
- بن عفان وصيَّره إلى النار
May God curse the killer of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, and may He make the Fire his destiny.
A two-line curse on “the killer of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān”, asking God to make the Fire his destiny, cut on a granite boulder in Wādī al-ʿUsaylah near Makkah. The same theme appears in the graffito of Qays the Scribe, “May God curse whoever killed ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and whoever loved his killing” (QMI-INS-004a). Here the curse names a single killer, qātil ʿUthmān, and adds wa-ṣayyarahu ilā al-nār, “and may He make the Fire his destiny”.
Source: photograph first published by Ṭāriq (@6ori8) on X, 3 June 2021, without a reading; first read by Aḥmad Zuhayr in a video, 21 December 2022. Reading, division into separate texts and dating: Ahmed W. Shaker (QMI).