Uthman bin Affan said on the Day of the House, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave me a covenant, and I will remain patient upon it."Qays said, "They considered him to be that on that day."
أن عثمان بن عفان قال يوم الدار: إن رسول الله ﷺ عهد إلي عهدا، فأنا صابر عليه. قال قيس: فكانوا يرونه ذلك اليوم.
Tirmidhi (3711), Ahmad (407), and Bazzar (402) all narrated it via Ismail bin Abu Khalid, from Qays bin Abu Hazim, who said, "Abu Sahlah told me," and then he related it. Tirmidhi said, "Hasan sahih, we do not know it except through the hadith of Ismail bin Abu Khalid." Its isnad is hasan because of Abu Sahlah, for he is hasan al-hadith.Qays's statement, "so they used to think that on that day," refers to what was mentioned in the earlier hadith of Ayesha about the Prophet's ﷺ words with Uthman in private. The hadith relates to two different occasions, as is apparent from the context, but because the story is unified, Ibn Majah and Ibn Hibban presented it as a single narrative. Qays bin Abu Hazim heard the first part of the hadith from Ayesha, and heard the last part of the hadith from Abu Sahlah, the freed slave of Uthman, on the authority of Uthman, and both parts are sahih.