Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas ibn Wuhayb al-Zuhri () was a Muslim commander. He was the founder of Kufa and served as its governor under Umar ibn al-Khattab. He played a leading role in the Muslim conquest of Persia and was a close companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Sa'd was the seventh free adult man to embrace Islam, which he did at the age of seventeen. Sa'd participated in all battles under Muhammad during their stay in Medina. Sa'd was famous for his leadership in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the conquest of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon in 636. After the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Siege of Ctesiphon (637), Sa'd served as the supreme commander of the Rashidun army in Iraq, which conquered Khuzestan and built the garrison city of Kufa. Due to complaints about his conduct, he was later dismissed from his post by the caliph Umar. During the First Fitna, Sa'd was known for leading the neutral faction that contained the majority of the companions of Muhammad and their followers, who refused to be involved in the civil war. Traditions of Chinese Muslims hold that he introduced Islam to China during a diplomatic visit in 651, though these accounts are disputed.
Sunni historians and scholars regard Sa'd as an honored figure due to his companionship with Muhammad, his inclusion as one of the ten to whom Paradise was promised, and his participation in the Battle of Badr, whose participants are collectively held in high esteem.
History Sa'd was one of the first to embrace Islam. He was seventeen years old when he converted to Islam, although Ibn Abd al-Barr reported that Sa'd embraced it at age nineteen. It was said by Ibn Ishaq that Sa'd was one of several individuals invited to Islam by Abu Bakr. Sa'd's mother opposed her son's conversion and threatened to go on a hunger strike until he left Islam, but he did not heed her threat and she finally yielded due to his insistence. Chroniclers reported that Muhammad told Sa'd that God praised his firmness in his faith, but also told him to be kinder to his mother, as filial piety is an important virtue in Islam. Sa'd's brother Amir also converted, prompting their mother to undergo another hunger strike, which likewise failed to deter her second son either.
According to Ibn Hisham's version of Ibn Ishaq's sira, Sa'd and a number of other Muslims were criticized by a group of polytheists in Mecca. This criticism prompted Sa'd to wound one of the polytheists with a camel bone, which Ibn Ishaq deems "the first blood to be shed in Islam".
According to the Fath al-Bari of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Sa'd migrated to Medina before Muhammad along with Ibn Umm Maktum and Mus'ab ibn Umayr, where he continued to practice Islam.
Early life in Medina
As Sa'd and his siblings arrived in Medina, they immediately pledged allegiance to Muhammad. The Meccan migrants were termed muhajirun, while the local Muslim inhabitants of Medina were known as the Ansar. While in Medina, Sa'd was involved in most of the military operations mounted by the Muslims against the Quraysh of Mecca. His first operation occurred nine months after the migration, when he was tasked with leading 20 men to raid a Qurayshi caravan that passed Kharrar, located between Al-Juhfa and Mecca. This expedition failed, as the caravan escaped.
During a minor reconnaissance operation under Ubayda ibn al-Harith in Rabigh shortly before the Battle of Badr, the team caught the attention of opposing Qurayshi fighters that began to chase them. Sa'd and his team immediately ran away, with some accounts stating that he performed a Parthian shot as he retreated. The team returned to Medina unscathed, and Sa'd prided himself on allowing the Muslim scouts to survive.
Battle of Badr During the march to Badr, Muhammad sent Sa'd, Ali, and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam to scout the enemy's movements, as the Muslim army that marched from Medina originally intended to capture the rich caravan of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb instead of facing the main forces of the Meccan Quraysh under Abu Jahl ibn Hisham.
According to a chronicle, Sa'd's first feat of archery occurred during the Battle of Badr, in approximately 624. In this battle, the Muslims formed a phalanx. A hadith states that in the midst of battle Sa'd prayed for his arrow to hit the enemy while stringing his bow, with Muhammad also praying for God to grant Sa'd's wish. Biographers noted that Sa'd's archery skills were troublesome for the Qurayshi forces during the Battle of Badr. The 8th century historian and traditionalist, Musa ibn ʿUqba, records that Sa’d also managed to sever Suhayl ibn Amr’s sciatic nerve with an arrow during the battle.According to another hadith, he also joined the close combat during the final phase of the battle as the Muslims began to gain the upper hand. He killed a Qurayshi champion named Sa'id ibn al-As and retrieved a sword known as (), which he presented to Muhammad as a prize of war. Sa'd also reportedly managed to capture two Qurayshi soldiers during this battle.
Later historians dubbed Sa'd the first Muslim archer for his actions during this battle. His teenage brother Umayr asked to participate in the battle, but Muhammad refused him due to his young age. Umayr continued to ask for permission to fight and was eventually granted it; he died in the course of the battle.
Protecting Muhammad in Uhud
At the Battle of Uhud, Sa'd served in an archer regiment. As the Muslim army gained the upper hand, they were routed by a flanking maneuver by Khalid ibn al-Walid. The Muslim forces scattered, and Muhammad was separated from his soldiers except for about a dozen men, including Sa'd, the muhajirun warrior Talha, the Medinan swordsman Abu Dujana, and about six or seven Ansari soldiers. The group was surrounded by enemy cavalry under Khalid as the Muslim fighters formed a close defensive formation and Sa'd shot his arrows next to Muhammad, who suffered an injury to his shoulder. The outnumbered and encircled Muslims fought until most of them were killed, except Muhammad, Talhah, Abu Dujana, and Sa'd, who tried to assist his comrades with his bow, despite the close combat. Sa'd resorted to firing multiple arrows at once in the dire situation.
Realizing how Sa'd was affecting the enemies, Muhammad gathered arrows for him and stood next to him while he continuously shot, allowing the encircled Muslims to retreat. As they managed to escape, Muhammad praised Sa'd for his actions.
Later, after Muhammad killed one of the remaining enemy pursuers with his javelin, Sa'd uttered a vow to kill his own brother, Utbah ibn Abi Waqqas, who fought on the side of the enemy, as Utbah had injured Muhammad during the encirclement.
After Uhud until the Ridda Wars
Along with Abu Bakr, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, Bilal ibn Rabah, Abbad ibn Bishr, and Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Sa'd was a member of the Haras (personal bodyguard) unit of Muhammad. When Muhammad and Aisha participated in military expeditions, Sa'd was the one who guarded their tent at night.
Sa'd became one of the most important members of Medina's Muslim political and religious community after he participated in the Pledge of the Tree, as those who participated in the pledge were collectively praised in the Al-Fath. On the same day as the pledge, Sa'd also witnessed the ratification of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah that created a ceasefire or non-aggression pact between Medina and Mecca. Until the Expedition of Tabuk, Sa'd was recorded as participating in all battles under Muhammad, including the Battle of the Trench, the Expedition of al-Muraysi', the Siege of Khaybar, the Conquest of Mecca, the battles in Hunayn and Awtas, and the Siege of Ta'if.
When Muhammed died and Abu Bakr was named the first caliph, the Ridda Wars broke out throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Abu Bakr dispatched his elite forces under Usama ibn Zayd to pacify the northern border, while he gathered the rest of the army, including Sa'd, to engage the rebel invaders led by Tulayha in the Battle of Zhu Qissa. Ibn al-Jawzi and Nur ad-Din al-Halabi recorded that Sa'd instead joined the Expedition of Usama bin Zayd along with Umar, Sa'id ibn Zayd, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, and Qatada ibn al-Nu'man. After the rebels were routed, Sa'd joined the army marching towards Dumat al-Jandal to crush several Bedouin rebels there.
Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
In 636, after the ascension of Umar ibn al-Khattab as caliph, he sent Sa'd to lead a corps towards Iraq to assist Abu Ubayd al-Thaqafi in the Muslim conquest of Persia. Al-Basalamah stated that Umar gathered 12,000 soldiers in Medina to serve under Sa'd. Before the army could be dispatched from Medina, a message from the Iraq front arrived, stating that Abu Ubayd was killed in action during the Battle of the Bridge and the Rashidun soldiers were forced to withdraw to south-west Iraq. This development caused Umar to change his plans, instructing Sa'd to march to Iraq with 6,000 soldiers, while also instructing the Rashidun armies in Iraq to merge with Sa'd's forces, the forces of Arfajah, who brought 400 to 700 Azd cavalry, Jarir ibn Abdullah of al-Bajali and al-Muthanna ibn Haritha of the Banu Shayban, as those three commanders have just defeated the Sassanid vanguard in the Battle of Buwaib. Umar appointed Sa'd as the commander and placed the other three under his command. Sa'd scavenged the Rashidun soldiers left in Iraq during his marches until he managed to collect 30,000 soldiers. According to al-Basalamah, Rostam Farrokhzad, the Sassanid commander who led a massive army to confront the caliphate, deliberately marched slowly as a strategy to cause Sa'd's army to lose their patience and incite a battle. However, al-Muthanna advised Sa'd to move to the periphery of Iraq's desert and avoid moving their army deep into Sassanid territory. Sa'd agreed, and he instructed his army to move according to al-Muthanna's advice.
Sa'd engaged in routine correspondence with the central government in Medina, as Sa'd diligently wrote about all developments, major and trivial, and sent at least two messengers every day to Umar. The caliph responded with a message that forbade Sa'd from preemptive attacks.
Pre-battle activities According to Tabari's account, the Persian faction of the Sassanid civil war that steered the policies of the young Yazdegerd III was at odds with Rostam, the commander of the empire's most powerful army. Rostam urged patience and protracted warfare instead of outright assault on the Arab troops and exchanged letters with Zuhra ibn Hawiyah with the intention of making peace. Zuhra stated that if the Sassanids converted to Islam, the Arab armies would withdraw and return only to Persia as merchants. Parvaneh Pourshariati speculates that this points to trade being a motivation behind the invasion of Persia. Tabari's narrative states that Rostam was prepared to convert in order to avoid military confrontation, but other factions in the Sassanid government refused to agree to such terms, and battle became an inevitability.