Al-Wāqidī reported: Ṭalḥah ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab informed us, on the authority of his father, that Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said, “Having few dependents is one of the two kinds of ease.” (1)

Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, who said: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab said to me, “Tell your guide to stand up and look at that man’s face and body.” The guide rose, came back, and said, “I saw the face of a black man, while the rest of his body is fair.” Saʿīd remarked, “This man cursed these Companions—Ṭalḥah, al-Zubayr, and ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with them. I forbade him, but he persisted, so I prayed against him. I said, ‘If you are lying, may Allah darken your face.’ A sore then appeared on his face, and it turned black.” (2)

Mālik transmitted from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who said: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab was asked about a Qur’anic verse, and he replied, “I will not say anything about the Qur’an.” (3) The biographer adds: For this reason, very little exegesis has been transmitted from him.

A Note on His Clothing:

Ibn Saʿd states in al-Ṭabaqāt (4): Qabīṣah related from ʿUbayd ibn Nistās, who said, “I saw Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab wearing a black turban whose tail he let fall behind him, and I saw on him an izār (waist-wrap), a ṭaylasān (mantle), and leather socks.”

Maʿn reported to us, Muḥammad ibn Hilāl narrated: He saw Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab wearing a light skull-cap with a white turban that had a red stripe; he let its end hang behind him about a hand-span. (4)

Al-Qaʿnabī informed us, ʿUthaym related: “I saw Ibn al-Musayyab wearing, on the day of Eid al-Fiṭr…"