Ibn Isḥāq narrates:

When the Aws spoke to him, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “O company of Aws, are you not satisfied that one of your own should decide their fate?” They replied, “Indeed we are.” He said, “Then the matter is referred to Saʿd ibn Muʿādh.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had placed Saʿd ibn Muʿādh in a tent belonging to a woman of Aslam named Rufaydah, set up inside the Mosque, where she treated the wounded. When the Prophet appointed him to judge Banū Qurayẓah, his clansmen came, seated him on a donkey over whose back they had spread a leather cushion—for he was a tall and handsome man—and brought him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while saying, “Abū ʿAmr, be kind to your protégés, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has entrusted this matter to you only so that you might show them benevolence.”

When they repeated their plea, he said, “The time has come for Saʿd to refrain, for Allah’s sake, from the blame of any blamer.” Some of his people turned back to the quarter of Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal and announced the doom of the men of Banū Qurayẓah before Saʿd even reached them, based on what they had heard him say.

When Saʿd arrived before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the Muslims, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Stand for your chief.”

The Emigrants from Quraysh remarked, “He means the Helpers,” while the Helpers said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has addressed all Muslims.” They rose to him, saying, “Abū ʿAmr, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has placed the affair of your clients in your hands so that you may judge concerning them.”

Saʿd replied, “Do you bind yourselves by Allah’s covenant and pledge that my ruling regarding them will be carried out?” They answered, “Yes.” He added, “And upon those present here”—indicating the side where the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was seated, while averting his gaze out of reverence—“is it likewise binding?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “Yes.”

Saʿd then declared, “My judgment is that the fighting men be killed, their property divided, and their women and children taken captive.”

Ibn Isḥāq further says: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatadah related to me, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr ibn Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, from ʿAlqamah ibn Waqqāṣ al-Laythī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told Saʿd, “You have judged them with Allah’s judgment from above seven heavens.”

Ibn Hishām reports—on the authority of a scholar he trusts—that while the Muslims were besieging Banū Qurayẓah, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib called out, “O battalion of faith!” He advanced together with al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, saying, “By Allah, I shall taste what Ḥamzah tasted or else storm their fortress.” Thereupon they said, “O Muḥammad, we submit to the judgment of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh.”

Imām Aḥmad relates: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar told us, Shuʿbah narrated from Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm—who said: I heard Abū Umāmah ibn Sahl say, and I heard Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī say—the people of Qurayẓah surrendered to the verdict of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore sent for Saʿd, who arrived riding a donkey. When he drew close to the Mosque, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Stand for …”