2360 – Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Husayn related to us: ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAli al-Qatiʿi told us; he said: Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Farrāʾ narrated to us; he said: ʿĀrim Abū al-Nuʿmān narrated to us; he said: Abū ʿAwnah narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr, from Jābir ibn Samurah, who said:
“The people of Kūfah complained about Saʿd (ibn Abī Waqqāṣ) to ʿUmar, even claiming that he did not pray properly. Saʿd replied, ‘As for me, I would lead them in the two ʿIshāʾ prayers—Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ—exactly as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed them: I lengthened the recitation in the first two units and shortened it in the last two.’
ʿUmar said, ‘That is what we thought of you, Abū Isḥāq.’ He then sent men to investigate the matter in Kūfah. Whenever they entered one of its mosques, the worshippers praised Saʿd and spoke well of him—until they came to a mosque of Banū Abs, where Abū Saʿdah said, ‘Since you have put us on oath, he neither judges fairly, nor distributes equitably, nor accompanies the army.’
Saʿd then prayed, ‘O Allah, if this man is lying, take away his sight, prolong his life, and expose him to trials.’
ʿAbd al-Malik said, ‘Later I saw him—blind—molesting women in the alleyways. When people asked him, “How are you?” he would answer, “An old man afflicted; the supplication of Saʿd has struck me.”’
Recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.