He was the foster-brother of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, for his mother had suckled ʿUthmān. He served as a scribe of revelation, but later apostatized from Islam and joined the idolaters in Mecca. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ conquered the city—and had already placed his name among those whose blood was to be lawfully shed—he sought refuge with ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, who asked that he be granted safety. The Prophet ﷺ gave him amnesty, as we have mentioned in the account of the Conquest, and thereafter the Islam of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd became truly exemplary.

Abū Dāwūd said: “Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Marwazī narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related, from his father, from Yazīd al-Naḥwī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ‘ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ used to write for the Prophet ﷺ. Satan caused him to slip, so he joined the unbelievers. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered that he be killed, but ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān sought protection for him, and the Prophet ﷺ granted it.’ ” Al-Nasāʾī transmitted the same report through the chain of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid.

I say: He commanded the right flank of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ when ʿAmr opened Egypt in the twentieth year of ʿUmar’s caliphate, during which ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb appointed ʿAmr governor of the province. When the caliphate passed to ʿUthmān, he removed ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and, in 25 AH, appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd governor of Egypt, instructing him to campaign in Ifrīqiyah. He conquered the region, and the army acquired immense wealth: each cavalryman received three thousand gold dinars and each infantryman one thousand. Three of the renowned “Abd Allāhs” accompanied him—ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr.

After Ifrīqiyah he campaigned against the Asāwid of Nubia, concluded a truce with them that endures to this day (31 AH), and later led the great naval expedition of al-Ṣawārī against the Byzantines, whose details will be given in due course, God willing.

When dissent arose against ʿUthmān, he left Egypt—appointing a deputy—to go and support the caliph. After ʿUthmān was killed he settled in ʿAsqalān, though some say in al-Ramla, and prayed that Allah would take his soul while he was in prayer. One day he performed the dawn prayer, reciting Sūrat al-Fātiḥah and al-ʿĀdiyāt in the first rakʿah and Sūrat al-Fātiḥah and another sūrah in the second. When he completed the tashahhud he gave the first salām; as he turned for the second, he died between the two, may Allah have mercy on him. That occurred in 36 AH—though some say 37, and others 59, yet the first date is soundest.

I add: No ḥadīth of his is found in the Six Books, nor in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad.

Among them as well was ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān, Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq; as promised, his biography will appear in due course.