Aḥmad ibn al-Barqī said, “He carried the Prophet’s banner in some of his expeditions, and he was appointed governor of Egypt on ʿAlī’s behalf.

Ibn Yūnus said, “He witnessed the conquest of Egypt, demarcated a house-plot there for himself, governed the province for ʿAlī in the year 36 AH, and was relieved of the post in 37 AH.

ʿAmr ibn Dīnār said, “Qays ibn Saʿd was a tall, heavy-set man with a small head and no beard. Whenever he rode a donkey, his feet dragged on the ground. When he arrived in Mecca someone called out, ‘Who will buy camel meat?’—alluding to Qays because he never ate camel meat. (1)

Abū Isḥāq, from Yarīm Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, related that Qays ibn Saʿd said, ‘I accompanied the Prophet ﷺ for ten years.’ (2)

Thumāma, on the authority of Anas, said, “Qays ibn Saʿd held with the Prophet ﷺ the same position that a chief of security holds with a ruler. Qays’s father spoke to the Prophet ﷺ about him, so the Prophet removed him from the task he had assigned to him, fearing he might take some step prematurely; thus he was reassigned.” (3)

This is the wording preserved by Abū Ḥātim (4), transmitted through al-Anṣārī, from his father, from Thumāma.