is unhappy with this.’ He answered, ‘Yes.’ Saʿīd then declared, ‘I will not involve myself in anything he dislikes.’ He withdrew and took none of the money (1).

Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Dimashqī said: “The Arabic of the Quran was fashioned upon the tongue of Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, for his accent was the closest of theirs to that of the Messenger of Allah (2) ﷺ.”

Al-Wāqidī relates that Saʿīd suffered a penetrating head wound (3) on the Day of the House; thereafter, whenever he heard thunder, he would lose consciousness.

Hushaym said: “Al-Zubayr arrived in Kūfa while Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ was its governor, and Saʿīd sent him seven hundred thousand (dirhams), which he accepted.”

Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān said: “Because of the head wound that had struck him, Saʿīd was sometimes light-headed, yet for all that he was among the most bountiful and forbearing of men.”

Ibn ʿAwn, reporting from ʿUmayr ibn Isḥāq, said: “Marwān used to revile ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—during the Friday sermons. He was replaced by Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and Saʿīd did not revile him.”

Ibn ʿUyaynah said: “When a petitioner came to Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ and he had nothing at hand, he would say, ‘Write out a note of your request against me until ease comes.’”

ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Ḥammād reported that Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ once asked for water from a certain house; they gave him to drink, and it later happened that the owner wished to sell the house to pay off a debt. Saʿīd settled the debt for him—four thousand dinars.

It was also said that he fed the people during a famine until the treasury was exhausted; he even borrowed money for that purpose, whereupon Muʿāwiya relieved him of his post.