He kept talking to him, still unaware that his companion was ʿUmar, while ʿUmar walked on foot leading the man’s mount. As they approached Madinah the townsfolk began to greet ʿUmar with the salutation due to the ruler. The rider then realised who he was and exclaimed, “May Allah have mercy on you, O Commander of the Believers! Why did you not tell me that you are the caliph?” ʿUmar replied, “There is no blame on you, my brother.”
We have already mentioned that Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) was afflicted with ulcerous sores and ʿirq al-nasā (sciatica), which prevented him from taking part in the fighting. He therefore sat in the upper chamber of the fortress, supervising the army’s affairs. Even so, he never barred the palace door (a mark of his courage); had the troops fled, the Persians could have seized him with their bare hands, for he had left himself no means of escape. With him was his wife Salmā bint Khasafah, who had earlier been married to al-Muthannā ibn Ḥārithah.
When part of the cavalry broke and fled that day, she panicked and cried, “Alas for al-Muthannā—there is no al-Muthannā for me today!” Saʿd was provoked by her words and struck her on the face. She retorted, “Is this jealousy or cowardice?”—rebuking him for remaining in the citadel while the battle raged. This was mere obstinacy on her part, for she knew better than anyone the illness that (1) kept him from the field.
In the fortress there was also a man imprisoned for drinking wine, a crime for which he had been flogged repeatedly—seven times, it is said. Saʿd had ordered him to be fettered and confined in the palace. When he saw the horses milling about the perimeter—he was a man of proven bravery—he said (2):
[long meter]
Enough sorrow it is that steeds press upon the warrior (3)
while I am left bound, my fetters tight upon me.
Whenever I rise, the iron sings its clanking tune (4)
and doors are bolted before me, deaf to the petitioner.
I once possessed abundant wealth and brothers—
yet they have left me solitary (5), bereft of any ally (6).
He then asked Zabraʾ (7), Saʿd’s umm walad, to free him and lend him Saʿd’s horse, pledging that he would return by sunset and place his leg back in the shackle. She released him; he mounted Saʿd’s horse and rode out, fighting with extraordinary valour. Meanwhile Saʿd kept watching his own mare—at times recognising her, at times doubting—and the rider reminded him of Abū Mihjan, yet he hesitated to believe this, thinking the man was still chained in the palace (8).
When evening came the rider returned, slipped his leg back into the fetter, and Saʿd went down to find his horse drenched in sweat. “What is this?” he asked. They told him the story of Abū Mihjan; Saʿd was pleased with him and set him free (may Allah be pleased with him).