and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām al-Makhzūmī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth al-Zuhrī, and Abū Juhm ibn Ḥudhayfah. Some people alleged that Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ was also present, while others denied that he attended.
Ibn Jarīr ⦗1⦘ states that ʿUmar ibn Saʿd went out to his father, who had withdrawn to a watering place belonging to the Banū Sulaym in the desert, and said, “Father, you have surely heard what happened among the people at Ṣiffīn. The people have appointed Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ as arbiters, and a number of men from Quraysh have joined them. Go and take part, for you are a Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, a member of the Shūrā council, and you have kept clear of everything this ummah detests. Attend, for you are the one most entitled to the caliphate.”
He replied, “I will not. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘A fitnah (time of turmoil) will occur, and the best of people in it will be the one who keeps himself hidden and is God-fearing.’ By Allah, I shall never involve myself in this affair.”
Imam Aḥmad ⦗2⦘ narrated: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī ʿAbd al-Kabīr ibn ʿAbd al-Majīd told us; Bukayr ⦗3⦘ ibn Mismār told us; from ʿĀmir ibn Saʿd that his brother ʿUmar came to Saʿd while he was tending sheep outside Madinah. When Saʿd saw him he said, “I seek refuge in Allah from the evil of this rider.” When he reached him, ʿUmar said, “Father, are you content to live like a Bedouin among your sheep while people in Madinah are vying for power?” Saʿd struck ʿUmar on the chest and said, “Be quiet! I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Allah loves the servant who is God-fearing, self-sufficient, and obscure.’”
Muslim likewise recorded it in his Ṣaḥīḥ ⦗4⦘.
Aḥmad ⦗5⦘ also reported: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAmr related to us; Kathīr ibn Zayd al-Aslamī related to us; from al-Muṭṭalib; from ʿUmar ibn Saʿd; from his father that his son ʿĀmir came to him and said, “Father, people are fighting ⦗6⦘ over worldly power while you are sitting here ⦗7⦘!” He replied, “My son, would you have me be a leader in a fitnah? Never, by Allah—unless I am given a sword that, were I to strike a believer with it, would turn aside, and were I to strike an unbeliever with it, would kill him. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Allah loves the one who is self-sufficient, obscure, and God-fearing.’”
This version is the reverse of the first. It appears that ʿUmar ibn Saʿd enlisted his brother ʿĀmir to press their father to attend the arbitration, hoping that the arbiters might set aside both Muʿāwiyah and ʿAlī and invest him instead. Saʿd, however, refused in the strongest terms, satisfied with his sufficiency and obscurity—just as is authentically reported in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim ⦗8⦘ that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Successful indeed is the one who has embraced Islam, been granted what suffices him, and whom Allah has made content with what He has given him.” ʿUmar ibn Saʿd, on the other hand, loved worldly status and authority, and he persisted in that ambition until he became the commander