5 of 5 · 36–55 AH · 656–675 CE · Al-'Aqiq, near Madinah
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas رضي الله عنه
Withdrawing from the Fitnah
When the community split after 'Uthman's death, Sa'd was one of those who did not join either side. He withdrew to his estate at al-'Aqiq outside Madinah, and kept to himself, giving his support to neither army.
His son 'Amir once came to him and urged him to take part, saying people were fighting over rule. Sa'd replied that he had heard the Prophet ﷺ say that Allah loves the servant who is mindful of Allah, self-sufficient and unseen (Sahih Muslim 2965). He chose to stay out of the fighting.
He lived on, the last of the ten promised Paradise to die, and passed away around 55 AH, aged more than seventy. He asked to be shrouded in a woolen cloak that he had worn at Badr, saying he had kept it for this purpose. He was buried at al-Baqi' in Madinah.
Sometimes the wise choice in a time of confusion is to refuse to add to the harm.
When have you chosen silence or distance rather than adding to a conflict?
- Sahih Muslim 2965 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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