Work among those who came after the Ṣaḥābah (May Allāh be pleased with them)

Sa’īd ibn Musayyib (May Allāh have mercy on him) Was An Olive Seller
Sa’īd ibn al-Musayyib¹⁹ ibn Ḥazan ibn Abī Wahb ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Āidh ibn ‘Imrān ibn Makhzum ibn Yaqdhah ibn Murrah ibn Ka’b ibn Lu’ay ibn Ghālib al-Quraishi al-Makhzūmī [d. 94 Hijri] was the Imām of the Tābi’īn, and one of the seven jurists of Madīnah²⁰. His father and grandfather were both companions of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ who embraced Islām on the day that Makkah was conquered. Sa’īd was born during the Khilāfah of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb²¹, and was the son-in-law of Abū Hurairah (May Allāh be pleased with him).

He studied [with companions the likes of] ‘Umar, ‘Uthmān, ‘Alī, Sa’d ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Ibn ‘Abbās, Ibn ‘Umar, Jubair Ibn Mut’im, Abdullah Ibn Zaid ibn ‘Āṣim, Hakīm ibn Ḥizām, Abū Hurairah, Mu’āwiyah, ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ, Abū Mūsā al-‘Ashārī, Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah and his father (May Allāh be pleased with them all), to name just a few. Amongst those who narrate from him were great Tābi’īn like ‘Ātā ibn Abī Rabāḥ²² (May Allāh have mercy on him), Muḥammad al-Bāqir (May Allāh have mercy on him), ‘Amr ibn Dīnār (May Allāh have mercy on him), and Al-Ẓuhrī (May Allāh have mercy on him), etc.

Qatādah (May Allāh have mercy on him) said, “I have not seen anyone with more knowledge of the lawful and prohibited than Sa’īd ibn al-Musayyib,” and ‘Ali ibn al-Madīnī (May Allāh have mercy on him) said, “I don’t know anyone among the Tābi’īn with such vast knowledge as Sa’īd ibn al-Musayyib.”

Yahya Ibn Sa’īd said that Sa’īd ibn al-Musayyib hardly ever gave a faṭwā, or said anything, without praying: O Allāh, save me and save [people] from me.”²³

Aḥmad ibn ‘Abdullāh described Sa’īd as a pious jurist who would not take anything given to him. He further states that Sa’īd had four hundred dīnār which he used to conduct business in olives.²⁴