Al-Ḥumaydī said, reporting from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah through ʿAmr ibn Dīnār: “Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ and Ibn ʿUmar were present at Dūmat al-Jandal on the day of the two arbiters.”

It is authentically recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim ⦗1⦘ that his son ʿUmar came to him while he was keeping to himself among his camels and said, “People are vying for leadership while you are sitting here!” Saʿd replied, “My son, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Allah loves the servant who is affluent, devout, and unobtrusive.’ ”

Ibn ʿAsākir relates that some scholars mentioned: Saʿd’s nephew Hāshim ibn ʿUtbah ibn Abī Waqqāṣ came to him and said, “Uncle, there are one hundred thousand swords ready; they consider you the most deserving of this matter.” Saʿd answered, “From those hundred thousand swords I want only one— a sword which, if I strike a believer with it, will not harm him or sever anything, yet if I strike a disbeliever it will cut.” ⦗Or he said: “I want a sword that can distinguish the believer from others so that I do not harm him.”⦘ ⦗2⦘

ʿAbd al-Razzāq reported—[from Maʿmar] ⦗3⦘—through Ibn Jurayj, who said: Zakariyyā ibn ʿAmr informed me that Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ visited Muʿāwiyah and stayed with him throughout the month of Ramadan, shortening the prayer and not fasting. ⦗4⦘ Another transmitter said: he pledged allegiance to Muʿāwiyah, and Muʿāwiyah granted him whatever he asked.

Abū Yaʿlā ⦗5⦘ stated: Zuhayr narrated to us, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, from Qays ibn Abī Ḥāzim, who said: Saʿd declared, “I was the first man to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah against the idolaters, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had never combined his father and mother in invocation for anyone before me. I heard him say: ‘Shoot! May my father and mother be ransomed for you.’ ”

Aḥmad ⦗6⦘ related: Yazīd ibn Hārūn told us, Ismāʿīl narrated to us, from Fayṣ, that I heard Saʿd ibn Mālik say: “By Allah, I was the first of the Arabs to shoot an arrow in the path of Allah. We used to go on campaign with no food to eat except the leaves of the ḥublah plant and this samur tree ⦗7⦘—so much so that one of us would relieve himself like a sheep, with nothing mixed in. Yet now the clan of Asad reproaches me about the religion; if that is so, then I have failed and my deeds are lost.”

This narration was also transmitted by Shuʿbah, Wakīʿ, and others from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid.