408 - 'Abd al-Malik informed me, saying: I heard Abu Salamah al-Tabudhakhi say: "'Uthman was the best of them on the day they appointed him as caliph, and on the day he was killed he was better than he had been on the day they appointed him as caliph. Regarding his compilation of the Qur'an, he was like Abu Bakr during the apostasy (Ridda)."
٤٠٨ - وَأَخْبَرَنِي عَبْدُ الْمَلِكِ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا سَلَمَةَ التَّبُوذَكِيَّ، يَقُولُ: «كَانَ ⦗٣٢٢⦘ عُثْمَانُ خَيْرَهُمْ يَوْمَ اسْتَخْلَفُوهُ، وَكَانَ يَوْمَ قُتِلَ خَيْرًا مِنْهُ يَوْمَ اسْتَخْلَفُوهُ، وَكَانَ فِي جَمْعِهِ الْقُرْآنَ كَأَبِي بَكْرٍ فِي الرِّدَّةِ»
