And ʿAlī ibn Zayd relates, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said:

“When turmoil first arose among the people, a man began asking about the most outstanding of the Companions. Whomever he questioned directed him to Saʿd ibn Mālik.”

ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥakam likewise narrated, from ʿAwānah:

“Saʿd once entered upon Muʿāwiyah and did not greet him with the salutation due to a ruler. Muʿāwiyah said, ‘Had you wished to say something else, you could have.’ Saʿd replied, ‘We are believers, yet we did not appoint you. You are enamoured of the station you occupy; by Allah, it would not please me to be in your position—not even were I to shed a mere cupping-bowl of blood to attain it.’”

I say: Saʿd kept completely aloof from the civil strife; he was present at neither the Battle of the Camel, nor Ṣiffīn, nor the Arbitration. He was, however, worthy of the caliphate, a man of great stature—may Allah be pleased with him.

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād transmitted to us; Ibn Idrīs, from Hishām, from Ibn Sīrīn, who said:

“Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ visited nine bondwomen in a single night. When the tenth awoke and tried to rouse him, he had fallen asleep, and she was too shy to wake him again.”

Ḥammād ibn Salamah reported, from Simāk, from Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, who said:

“My father’s head was in my lap as he lay dying, and I began to weep. He lifted his head toward me and said, ‘My son (1), what makes you cry?’ I answered, ‘Your condition and what I see happening to you.’ He said, ‘Do not weep, for Allah will never punish me; I am indeed one of the people of Paradise (2).’ I responded, ‘By Allah, he has spoken the truth—how blessed he is!’”

Al-Layth narrated, from ʿUqayl, from al-Zuhri:

“When Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ was at the point of death, he asked for a worn woollen cloak and said, ‘Shroud me in this, for in it I faced the idolaters on the Day of Badr.’”