A Muslim man once said of Saʿd—may Allah be pleased with him—(1):

[long meter]
We fought on until Allah sent down His help,
while Saʿd stood secure at the gate of al-Qādisiyyah.
We returned to find many women left widowed,
but none of Saʿd’s womenfolk was bereaved.

It is related that Saʿd came down to the troops and excused himself, showing them the ulcerous sores on his thighs and buttocks; the people accepted his excuse. It is also mentioned that he prayed against the author of those two verses, saying, “O Allah, if he is lying, or if he said what he said for ostentation, fame, and falsehood, then cut off his tongue and his hand.” (An arrow then struck him) while he was standing between the two lines; it pierced his tongue and paralysed one side of it, and he never spoke again until he died.

Sayf (2) narrated this from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr on the authority of Qabīṣah ibn Jābir, and he mentioned it. Sayf also transmitted it from al-Miqdām ibn Shurayḥ al-Ḥārithī, from his father.

He said: Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Bajalī (3) proclaimed:

[rajaz]
I am Jarīr; my kunyah (4) is Abū ʿAmr—
Allah granted the victory while Saʿd stayed in the fortress.

Saʿd then looked out from his fortress and replied (5):

[wāfir]
From Bajīlah I expect nothing, save that
I hope for its reward (6) on the Day of Reckoning.
Their steeds have already met opposing steeds,
and the horsemen have closed in, trading blows (7).
Chargers (9) have surged (8) into their very yard,
so that their swelling mass is like mangy camels (10).
Had it not (11) been for the host of Qaʿqaʿ ibn ʿAmr—
with Ḥammāl who drove them on from the saddle (12)—
without them you would have found but rabble,
your ranks flowing away like flies (13).