حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّزَّاقِ، أَنْبَأَنَا ابْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سُوقَةَ، عَنْ مُنْذِرٍ الثَّوْرِيِّ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ
قَالَ جَاءَ إِلَى عَلِيٍّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ نَاسٌ مِنْ النَّاسِ فَشَكَوْا سُعَاةَ عُثْمَانَ قَالَ فَقَالَ لِي أَبِي اذْهَبْ بِهَذَا الْكِتَابِ إِلَى عُثْمَانَ فَقُلْ لَهُ إِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ شَكَوْا سُعَاتَكَ وَهَذَا أَمْرُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي الصَّدَقَةِ فَمُرْهُمْ فَلْيَأْخُذُوا بِهِ قَالَ فَأَتَيْتُ عُثْمَانَ فَذَكَرْتُ ذَلِكَ لَهُ قَالَ فَلَوْ كَانَ ذَاكِرًا عُثْمَانَ بِشَيْءٍ لَذَكَرَهُ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَعْنِي بِسُوءٍ
Some people came to Ali (رضي الله عنه) and complained about Uthman’s tax collector. My father said to me: take this letter to Uthman (رضي الله عنه) and tell him: The people are complaining about your tax collector, and this is the instruction of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) about collecting zakah, tell them to follow it.
So I went to Uthman and told him about that, He (the narrator) said: If he had wanted to say anything about Uthman, he would have said it on that occasion – i.e., saying something bad.