I say: Indeed, he is known, for al-Bukhārī mentioned him in "al-Tārīkh," as did Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and narrated from Ibn Maʿīn that he said: "ʿUthmān ibn Bishr al-Thaqafī is trustworthy." And the rest of the narrators in the isnād are trustworthy, the men of Muslim, with a slight weakness in al-Ṭāʾifī, other than ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥakam, who appears to be al-Balawī mentioned in "al-Tārīkh" and "Thiqāt Ibn Ḥibbān" (7/30), as he is from this generation, so the isnād is ḥasan. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṭāʾifī has another isnād more authentic than this, which is the second path: narrated by Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān who said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṭāʾifī narrating from his uncle ʿAmr ibn Awīs from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ who said: The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) appointed me while I was the youngest of the six who came to him from Thaqīf, because I had recited Sūrah *al-Baqarah*, so I said: O Messenger of Allāh! The Qurʾān slips away from me, so he placed his hand on my chest and said: "O devil! Leave the chest of ʿUthmān." After that, I did not forget anything I wanted to memorize. It was recorded by al-Bayhaqī in "Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah" (5/308). And its isnād is ṣaḥīḥ. The third: narrated by al-Ḥasan from him, he said: I complained to the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) about my poor memory of the Qurʾān, so he said: "That is a devil called: (Khanzab), come close to me, O ʿUthmān!" Then he placed his hand on my chest, and I felt its coolness between my shoulders, then he said: (and he mentioned it). After that, I did not hear anything except that I memorized it