He had ten children, sons and daughters alike, and one of his wives was Umm al-Banin bint al-Hakam ibn Abi al-ʿAs, the sister of Marwan ibn al-Hakam.
When Saʿid felt that death was approaching, he gathered his sons and said to them, “Let my companions lose nothing of me but my face. Keep in touch with them as I used to do, continue to give them what I used to allot, (1) and spare them the trouble of asking. When a man must ask for help, his limbs tremble and his body quivers for fear of being turned away. By Allah, a man who writhes on his bed, seeing you as the place to fulfil his need, confers upon you a greater favor than whatever you give him.
“He then gave them many instructions, among them: to settle every debt and promise that was upon me; not to marry your sisters except to suitable men; and to grant seniority to your eldest brother.”
His son ʿAmr ibn Saʿid al-Ashdaq undertook all of this. When Saʿid died, he buried him in al-Baqiʿ, then rode to Muʿawiyah and offered condolences. Muʿawiyah said, “Indeed we belong to Allah,” grieved for him, and asked, “Did he leave any debts?” ʿAmr replied, “Yes.” “How much?” “Three hundred thousand dirhams”—in another report, three million dirhams. Muʿawiyah said, “They are on me.” ʿAmr answered, “Commander of the Faithful, he instructed me not to pay his debts except from the price of his lands.” So Muʿawiyah bought from him lands equal to the amount of the debt and asked ʿAmr to have them conveyed to Madinah, which he did.
ʿAmr then set about discharging all that his father owed until no creditor remained. Among those who came was a young man holding a strip of leather on which was written twenty thousand. ʿAmr asked, “How did you come to have this claim against my father?” The youth replied, “One day he was walking alone and I wished to accompany him until he reached his home. He said, ‘Bring me a piece of leather.’ I went to a butcher, obtained this strip, and brought it to him. He wrote this amount for me and apologized, saying he had nothing on hand that day.” ʿAmr paid him the sum and added a generous amount besides.
It is related that Muʿawiyah said to ʿAmr ibn Saʿid, “One who leaves someone like you behind has not died.” Then he added, “May Allah have mercy on Abu ʿUthman. People older than I and younger than I have already died.” He then recited:
When those below a man have moved ahead of him
and he is left bereft of his brothers, he too is on the way. (2)
Saʿid ibn al-ʿAs died in this year; others say in the previous year, others in the following year. Some held that he passed away one week before ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmir. Allah knows best.
Shaddad ibn Aws (3): son of Thabit ibn al-Mundhir ibn Haram, Abu Yaʿla al-Ansari al-Khazraji—an eminent Companion and the nephew of Hassan ibn Thabit.