The pledge of allegiance to ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan as caliph
After ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) died of his stab wound, the six-man council he had named met, and their decision ended in the pledge of allegiance to ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan (may Allah be pleased with him), the third of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) left the succession to a council of six senior Companions with whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was pleased when he died: ʿUthman, ʿAli, Talha, al-Zubayr, Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas and ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAwf.
ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAwf withdrew his own claim in order to conduct the selection, and spent three days and nights consulting the people of Madinah, until he said: I found the people preferring none over ʿUthman.
On the first of Muharram, 24 AH, ʿAbd al-Rahman pledged allegiance to ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, and the people followed. His caliphate saw the great expansion of conquests and the gathering of the people upon a single written text of the Qur'an.
Note — differing reports on the date: ʿUthman was given the pledge three nights after ʿUmar's burial, on the first of Muharram 24 AH according to the well-known view; some place it in late Dhu'l-Hijja 23 AH.