He pleaded with Allah that martyrdom be written for him, and Allah chose for him what is with Him. During the night his wound burst open, the blood kept flowing, and he died—may Allah be pleased with him.

Ibn Isḥāq (1) said: When the affair of Banū Qurayẓah came to an end, Saʿd ibn Muʿādh’s wound split open and he died of it as a martyr.

Muʿādh ibn Rifāʿah al-Zurqī related: “Any man you choose from my clan will tell you that Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the middle of the night, at the very moment Saʿd ibn Muʿādh passed away, his head wrapped in a turban of brocade. He said, ‘O Muḥammad, who is this deceased for whom the gates of heaven have been opened and for whom the Throne has quaked?’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ rose quickly, his cloak trailing behind him, and reached Saʿd to find him already dead—may Allah be pleased with him.” This is how Ibn Isḥāq recorded it—may Allah have mercy on him.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī reports in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (3): Abū ʿAbd-Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ told us, Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb told us, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam told us, my father and Shuʿayb ibn al-Layth both said: al-Layth ibn Saʿd narrated to us, from Yazīd ibn al-Hād, from Muʿādh ibn Rifāʿah, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd-Allāh, who said:

“Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, ‘Who is this righteous servant who has died, for whom the gates of heaven have been opened and the Throne has trembled?’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out—and it was Saʿd ibn Muʿādh. He sat by his grave while he was being buried, and as he sat he said twice, ‘Subḥān-Allah,’ whereupon the people glorified Allah with him. Then he said, ‘Allāhu akbar, Allāhu akbar,’ and the people pronounced the takbīr. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then remarked, ‘I am amazed at this righteous servant: he was constricted in his grave until this moment, when relief was granted to him.’”

Imām Aḥmad and al-Nasāʾī likewise narrated—through the isnād of Yazīd ibn ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Usāmah ibn al-Hād and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Muʿādh ibn Rifāʿah, from Jābir—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said of Saʿd on the day he died while he was being buried: “Subḥān-Allah! This righteous servant, for whom the Throne of the Most Merciful shook and the gates of heaven were opened, was pressed hard, then Allah granted him deliverance.” (4)

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (5) said: Muʿādh ibn Rifāʿah related to me, from Maḥmūd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Jamūḥ, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd-Allāh, who said:

“When Saʿd was buried and we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he declared ‘Subḥān-Allah,’ and the people followed him; then he uttered the takbīr and the people did likewise. They asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, why did you glorify Allah?’ He replied, ‘The grave of this righteous servant became so tight for him that Allah then expanded it for him.’”

Imām Aḥmad (6) narrated the same through Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, from his father, from Ibn Isḥāq.