once more, and his hand swelled. When he saw this he supplicated, “O Allah, do not take my soul until my eyes are cooled by what You decree for the Banū Qurayẓah.” His vein then held fast; not a single drop dripped from it until they had submitted to Saʿd’s judgement. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ summoned him, and he ruled that their men be killed and their women and children taken captive. He added, “They were four hundred, and when the killing was finished his vein burst open.” (1)
Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Hād narrated—from Muʿādh ibn Rifāʿah, from Jābir—who said:
The Prophet ﷺ sat beside Saʿd’s grave while he was being buried and said, “Glory be to Allah!” twice, so the people glorified Allah with him. He then said, “Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest,” and they likewise magnified Him. He continued, “I am amazed at this righteous servant: he was subjected to such constriction in his grave that only now has relief come to him.” (2)
Ibn Isḥāq reported: someone I do not suspect related to me, from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, who said:
Saʿd was a stout man, yet when they carried him they found him remarkably light. Some men among the hypocrites therefore said, “By Allah, he was surely…"
(1) Reported by Ahmad, 3/350; al-Darimi, 2/238 (Siyar, “Chapter: The Banū Qurayza surrender under the judgment of Saʿd b. Muʿādh”); and Ibn Saʿd, 3/2/8.
It is also recorded by Ahmad, 3/312 and 386, through Zuhayr—Abu al-Zubayr—Jabir in a shortened form; by Muslim, no. 2208 (Kitab al-Salam, “Chapter: For every illness there is a remedy”) through Abu Khaythama—Abu al-Zubayr—Jabir; by Abu Dawud, no. 3866 (Kitab al-Tibb, “Chapter on cauterisation”), under the wording: “The Messenger of Allah cauterised Saʿd b. Muʿādh for his arrow-wound”; and by al-Tirmidhi, no. 2051 (Kitab al-Tibb) from Anas. The chain is hasan (reliable).
(2) Muʿādh b. Rifaʿa—despite being cited by al-Bukhari—was graded weak by Ibn Maʿin, and al-Asadi said that his reports are not used as proof.
Ahmad, 3/327, transmits the tradition through Muhammad b. Bishr—Muhammad b. ʿAmr—Yazid b. ʿAbd Allah b. Usama al-Laythi and Yahya b. Saʿid—Muʿādh b. Rifaʿa al-Zurqi—Jabir b. ʿAbd Allah: “The Messenger of Allah, ﷺ, said of this righteous servant whose death made the Throne tremble and for whom the gates of heaven were opened: ‘Put him under strain, then Allah relieved him’.”
He (Ahmad) also narrates it, 3/360 and 377, via Abu Ishaq—Muʿādh b. Rifaʿa al-Ansari al-Zurqi—Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Rahman b. ʿAmr b. al-Jamuh—Jabir.