The Companions of the Prophet: Said Ibn Zayd

The Prophet (PBUH) had many companions (Sahaba). Today, we will be discussing one of them, Said Ibn Zayd. His full name is Said Ibn Zayd Ibn Amr Alkarashay, and he was the cousin of Omar Ibn Al-Khatab. He married Omar’s sister, Fatima. His mother’s name was Fatima too. He was born 13 years before Al-Batha, which was the time when the Prophet (PBUH) received his message from Jibreel. He died 51 years after the Hijra at the age of 73. It is estimated that he married about 10 wives, and had several children; about 15 sons and 20 daughters.

Said Ibn Zayd was raised in a faithful household.

His father believed in Prophet Abraham (PBUH), he never worshiped a temple. One day, he asked a Jewish scholar to teach him about their religion because he was considering converting. The Jewish man warned Said’s father to stay away from his religion because of Allah’s anger towards the Jewish. Although his father passed away before the Prophet (PBUH) started the message of Islam, he was a good man who only followed Abraham.

Said Ibn Zayd became an Islam very early; he was the 14th man to become a Muslim. His wife, Fatima, also declared herself a Muslim alongside her husband. He used to hide his religion from Omar, his cousin, because he feared that he would be angry with him or even harm him. However, when Omar found out, he would tie up Said and tried to force him to leave Islam. Said Ibn Zayd made Hijra with his wife to Medina. Later on, after Omar became a Muslim, him and Said openly expressed that they were making Hijra, and they were not worried or scared from the disbelievers.

After this, Said Ibn Zayd and the Prophet (PBUH) were always close; they would always attend the battles together, except for Badr. The reason why he didn’t attend this battle was because he was already sent by the Prophet (PBUH) on a mission to spy on the disbelievers. By the time he returned from his mission, the Prophet (PBUH) was also returning from Badr. After the Prophet (PBUH) died, Said Ibn Zayd joined Abu Bakr and was sent to many battles including Al-Sham (Yarmouk). Said Ibn Zayd was very successful during the Battle of Yarmouk. The Muslim army that consisted 24,000 people won against a Roman army that was made up of 120,000 men. Said Ibn Zayd was not present during the Fitna time after Othman’s death.

During the last days of his life, he was living around the suburban areas of Medina. Many of the Sahabas shared in the prayers of him.