Sa'id ibn Zayd

Sa'id became a Muslim not later than 614.: 116 : 299 His wife Fatima was also an early convert.: 116 At first they kept their faith secret because Fatima's brother Umar was a prominent persecutor of Muslims.: 144, 156 Khabbab ibn al-Aratt often visited their house and read the Qur'an to Fatima.: 156 One day Umar entered their house while Sa'id was reading and demanded to know what the "balderdash" was. When they denied that anything had been read, Umar seized Sa'id and knocked him to the floor. Fatima stood up to defend her husband, and Umar hit her so hard that she bled. The couple admitted that they were Muslims. At the sight of the blood, Umar was sorry for what he had done, and asked to see what they had been reading. It was Ta-Ha, later to become the twentieth Surah of the Qur'an. Impressed by the beauty of the words, Umar decided to become a Muslim.: 156–157 : 205–206

Sa'id joined the general emigration to Medina in 622 and at first lodged in the house of Rifa'a ibn Abdul-Mundhir. He was made the brother in Islam of Rafi ibn Malik of the Zurayq clan;: 299 but an alternative tradition names his brother in Islam as Talha ibn Ubaydallah.: 165 Sa'id and Talha missed the Battle of Badr because Muhammad sent them ahead as scouts to report on the movements of Abu Sufyan's caravan. When they heard that they had missed the caravan, they returned to Medina, only to find that Muhammad and his army had already reached Badr. They set out for Badr and met the returning victorious army at Turban. However, Muhammad gave them a share of the Maal-e-Ganimat (spoils of war) as if they had participated in the war.: 329 : 299–300 Sa'id participated in all the other battles in which Muhammad personally fought.: 300 He served as Muhammad's secretary and recorded the verses of the Quran.

In the time of Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan (r. 661–680) he was Governor of Kufa.: 301

He died in 671 CE (51 AH) during the reign of Muawiya at al-Aqiq. His body was carried back to Medina and buried there by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas and Abdullah ibn Umar.: 300–301 Sa'id said that Muhammad once guaranteed Paradise to ten men who were then present and named nine of them. Then he hinted that the tenth man had been himself.: 300 This story of the ten to whom Paradise was promised was corroborated by another of the Ten, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf.

He was the son of Zayd bin Amr, from the Adi clan of the Quraysh in Mecca, and of Fatima bint Ba'ja of the Khuza'a tribe.: 296 : 301 His father was murdered in 605.: 103 : 298