he withheld his testimony, asking that he be afflicted with leucoderma, and he was afflicted. He also prayed that Zayd ibn Arqam would become blind, and he became blind.” (1)

The answer is that this is found among the Companions to an even greater extent than in him, and among those who come after the Companions, for as long as a believer remains on earth. No supplication of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās went unanswered. In an authentic report, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“O Allah, make his aim true and answer his supplication.” (2)

Sahīh Muslim relates that when ʿUmar sent someone to Kufa to ask about Saʿd, the people spoke well of him, until a man from Banū ʿAbs was asked about him. He said: “Now that you have asked us about Saʿd, he did not go out on military expeditions, did not treat his subjects justly, and did not distribute shares equally.”

Saʿd said: “O Allah, if he is lying and has stood up merely to be seen and heard, prolong his life, increase his poverty, and expose him to temptations.”

He was subsequently seen as a very old man, his eyebrows drooping with age, accosting young women in the streets and making suggestive gestures at them. He would say: “I am an old man beset by temptation; Saʿd’s supplication has struck me.” (3)