No securely established exact birth date or calendar year is preserved in the high-tier biographical evidence checked here. The most useful early chronological anchor is Abu Sa'id's own reported age at Uhud: al-Hakim transmits that he was thirteen when presented for the battle in 3 AH. That statement confirms that he was still an adolescent in the early Medinan period, but it should not be turned into a falsely exact birth year without additional evidence. His upbringing belongs to Medina and the Ansari Khazraj environment reflected consistently in the classical biographies.
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri was Sa'd ibn Malik ibn Sinan ibn Ubayd ibn Tha'laba ibn Ubayd ibn al-Abjar ibn Awf ibn al-Harith ibn al-Khazraj, an Ansari of Khazraj and the Khudrah branch. Classical biographers explain the nisbah al-Khudri through Khudrah, while differing over whether Khudrah was the personal name of al-Abjar or an ancestress connected with the clan. His father Malik ibn Sinan was martyred at Uhud. His mother is named in al-Mizzi as Anisa bint Abi Haritha of Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar. Ibn Sa'd preserves an early variant form, Anisa bint Abi Kharija, in the biography of Abu Sa'id's full sister al-Furay'a. Qatada ibn al-Nu'man was his maternal half-brother, so the maternal household connected him with another well-known Companion. Zaynab bint Ka'b ibn Ujra is directly identified in hadith-biographical sources as Abu Sa'id's wife. Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sa'id is independently identified as his son and as a transmitter from him. A later modern biographical roster reports additional sons, but because those names were not independently confirmed here from directly inspected early family evidence, only Abd al-Rahman is structurally represented and no unverified child identity is created.
PER-001689
Companion
Confirmed
Shared cemetery point
Cross-tradition historical
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Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, was Sa'd ibn Malik ibn Sinan, a Medinan Ansari of Khazraj and one of the younger Companions who became a major transmitter of hadith and a jurist of Medina. Classical biographers remember him for a long teaching life, wide transmission from the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and a large circle of later students.
He was thirteen when he was presented for Uhud and was not permitted to fight, but later witnessed the Trench, the Pledge of al-Ridwan and twelve campaigns after Uhud according to al-Mizzi. The leading death report places him in Medina in 74 AH. A transmitted report from his son Abd al-Rahman places his burial in al-Baqi, while the exact surviving individual grave is not securely identifiable today.
The dominant classical date for Abu Sa'id al-Khudri's death is 74 AH in Medina. Al-Dhahabi attributes this date to al-Waqidi and a group of biographers, and the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi also gives 74 AH as the accepted date. Other reports place his death earlier, including 63, 64 or 65 AH, while another report connects it to a time after the Battle of al-Harra. These variants are historically useful but are weaker than the dominant 74 AH chronology. The final record therefore uses 74 AH as the principal death year without erasing the existence of variant reports. No unsupported exact day, month, cause of death or age at death is asserted.
The strongest specific burial evidence checked here is the report transmitted by Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sa'id. It says that his father took him to the far end of al-Baqi, then a place not commonly used for burial, and instructed him to bury him there when he died. The report also describes a large funeral gathering after Abu Sa'id's death. This evidence supports al-Baqi as the cemetery of burial, but it does not identify a surviving individual grave. Al-Baqi has expanded and its internal topography has changed across many centuries; the responsible modern representation is therefore a shared-cemetery location using the canonical al-Baqi anchor, not an exact-grave point. A later maqam near Kariye in Istanbul is a separate memorial attribution. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi explicitly rejects the story that Abu Sa'id died during a siege of Constantinople and places his death and burial in Medina. The Istanbul site is therefore not treated as his primary grave in this person record.
Biography and historical profile
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, was Sa'd ibn Malik ibn Sinan al-Ansari al-Khazraji. His kunyah became so famous that it often displaced his personal name in later memory. The nisbah al-Khudri connects him with the Khudrah branch of Khazraj in Medina.
His father Malik ibn Sinan was a Companion who was martyred at Uhud. His mother is named as Anisa bint Abi Haritha of Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar, with an early variant in Ibn Sa'd's family material. His full sister was al-Furay'a bint Malik, while Qatada ibn al-Nu'man was his maternal half-brother. Zaynab bint Ka'b ibn Ujra is securely identified as his wife, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sa'id is directly attested as his son and transmitter.
When Abu Sa'id was presented to the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, for the Battle of Uhud, he said that he was thirteen years old. His father wished him to take part, but the Prophet did not permit him because of his age. Malik ibn Sinan was then martyred at Uhud, making this battle an important dividing point in Abu Sa'id's youth.
His later service belongs fully to the Medinan Companion generation. Al-Dhahabi records that he witnessed the Battle of the Trench and the Pledge of al-Ridwan, while al-Mizzi reports that after Uhud he accompanied the Prophet in twelve campaigns. These notices show the transition from a boy refused at Uhud to an active participant in the later Prophetic period.
Abu Sa'id became one of the best-known transmitters among the younger Companions. Al-Mizzi's narrator list shows him transmitting from the Prophet and also from senior Companions including Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, as well as other contemporaries. His material therefore preserves both direct Prophetic reports and memories circulating within the first Muslim generation.
His importance was not limited to the quantity of hadith. Al-Dhahabi describes him as an imam, a mujahid and the mufti of Medina, and counts him among the jurists capable of independent legal judgment. The Musnad of Baqi ibn Makhlad was reported to contain about one thousand one hundred and seventy narrations from him when repeated routes are included, illustrating the scale of the corpus attached to his name.
His students and transmitters formed a wide bridge into the Tabi'i generation. Classical lists include Ibn Umar, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, Anas ibn Malik, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Hasan al-Basri, Ata ibn Yasar, Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Rahman and Muhammad al-Baqir, among many others. His wife Zaynab and his son Abd al-Rahman also appear in the transmission network, showing that his hadith legacy was carried through both public scholarly circles and family channels.
The leading biographical date for his death is 74 AH in Medina. Al-Dhahabi preserves this as the view of al-Waqidi and a group of authorities, while also recording substantially earlier or post-Harra variants. The safer historical presentation is therefore to treat 74 AH as the dominant date while preserving the existence of minority alternatives rather than forcing all reports into one chronology.
A report transmitted by his son Abd al-Rahman says that Abu Sa'id took him to the far end of al-Baqi, then an unused burial area, and asked to be buried there. This gives substantial early support for the cemetery association, but the wording cannot be converted into a precise modern individual grave because al-Baqi's internal landscape changed over the centuries. A later Istanbul maqam near Kariye belongs to a separate memorial tradition; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi rejects the claim that Abu Sa'id died in a Constantinople siege and treats Medina as his actual place of death and burial.
His father Malik ibn Sinan was a Companion who was martyred at Uhud. His mother is named as Anisa bint Abi Haritha of Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar, with an early variant in Ibn Sa'd's family material. His full sister was al-Furay'a bint Malik, while Qatada ibn al-Nu'man was his maternal half-brother. Zaynab bint Ka'b ibn Ujra is securely identified as his wife, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sa'id is directly attested as his son and transmitter.
When Abu Sa'id was presented to the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, for the Battle of Uhud, he said that he was thirteen years old. His father wished him to take part, but the Prophet did not permit him because of his age. Malik ibn Sinan was then martyred at Uhud, making this battle an important dividing point in Abu Sa'id's youth.
His later service belongs fully to the Medinan Companion generation. Al-Dhahabi records that he witnessed the Battle of the Trench and the Pledge of al-Ridwan, while al-Mizzi reports that after Uhud he accompanied the Prophet in twelve campaigns. These notices show the transition from a boy refused at Uhud to an active participant in the later Prophetic period.
Abu Sa'id became one of the best-known transmitters among the younger Companions. Al-Mizzi's narrator list shows him transmitting from the Prophet and also from senior Companions including Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, as well as other contemporaries. His material therefore preserves both direct Prophetic reports and memories circulating within the first Muslim generation.
His importance was not limited to the quantity of hadith. Al-Dhahabi describes him as an imam, a mujahid and the mufti of Medina, and counts him among the jurists capable of independent legal judgment. The Musnad of Baqi ibn Makhlad was reported to contain about one thousand one hundred and seventy narrations from him when repeated routes are included, illustrating the scale of the corpus attached to his name.
His students and transmitters formed a wide bridge into the Tabi'i generation. Classical lists include Ibn Umar, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, Anas ibn Malik, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Hasan al-Basri, Ata ibn Yasar, Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Rahman and Muhammad al-Baqir, among many others. His wife Zaynab and his son Abd al-Rahman also appear in the transmission network, showing that his hadith legacy was carried through both public scholarly circles and family channels.
The leading biographical date for his death is 74 AH in Medina. Al-Dhahabi preserves this as the view of al-Waqidi and a group of authorities, while also recording substantially earlier or post-Harra variants. The safer historical presentation is therefore to treat 74 AH as the dominant date while preserving the existence of minority alternatives rather than forcing all reports into one chronology.
A report transmitted by his son Abd al-Rahman says that Abu Sa'id took him to the far end of al-Baqi, then an unused burial area, and asked to be buried there. This gives substantial early support for the cemetery association, but the wording cannot be converted into a precise modern individual grave because al-Baqi's internal landscape changed over the centuries. A later Istanbul maqam near Kariye belongs to a separate memorial tradition; the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi rejects the claim that Abu Sa'id died in a Constantinople siege and treats Medina as his actual place of death and burial.
Historical importance and legacy
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, is historically important as one of the younger Companions who carried Prophetic teaching far into the next generation. His long Medinan life allowed Tabi'i scholars to receive a substantial body of hadith from a witness of the Prophet's later Medinan period.
His legal standing adds another dimension to that legacy. Al-Dhahabi's description of him as a jurist, mujtahid and mufti of Medina reflects the way later scholarship remembered him not merely as a transmitter, but as an interpreter of Prophetic practice whose reports entered discussions of worship, law, ethics and communal life.
His biography also joins scholarship to lived early Islamic history. He was rejected from Uhud because of age, lost his father there, and later witnessed the Trench, the Pledge of al-Ridwan and numerous campaigns. This chronology makes his life a bridge between the formative Medinan events and the scholarly world of the Tabi'in.
The breadth of his transmission network is itself historically significant. Major Companions and leading Tabi'in appear around his reports, while family transmitters such as his wife Zaynab and son Abd al-Rahman show that his teaching also moved through household channels.
His reported burial in al-Baqi adds a place-based dimension to his memory. The early transmitted instruction to his son supports the cemetery association, while the absence of a securely identified individual grave today requires a shared-cemetery presentation rather than an exact-grave claim. That distinction preserves both the historical evidence and the integrity of the modern location record.
His legal standing adds another dimension to that legacy. Al-Dhahabi's description of him as a jurist, mujtahid and mufti of Medina reflects the way later scholarship remembered him not merely as a transmitter, but as an interpreter of Prophetic practice whose reports entered discussions of worship, law, ethics and communal life.
His biography also joins scholarship to lived early Islamic history. He was rejected from Uhud because of age, lost his father there, and later witnessed the Trench, the Pledge of al-Ridwan and numerous campaigns. This chronology makes his life a bridge between the formative Medinan events and the scholarly world of the Tabi'in.
The breadth of his transmission network is itself historically significant. Major Companions and leading Tabi'in appear around his reports, while family transmitters such as his wife Zaynab and son Abd al-Rahman show that his teaching also moved through household channels.
His reported burial in al-Baqi adds a place-based dimension to his memory. The early transmitted instruction to his son supports the cemetery association, while the absence of a securely identified individual grave today requires a shared-cemetery presentation rather than an exact-grave claim. That distinction preserves both the historical evidence and the integrity of the modern location record.
Family relationships
Sources
تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال | جمال الدين المزي | ج 10، ص 295-300، ترجمة سعد بن مالك بن سنان | https://sunna.alifta.gov.sa/BookToc/ViewServicePage?bookId=48&mainId=445410 | lineage, parents, rejection from Uhud due to youth, father's martyrdom, twelve later campaigns and transmission networkسير أعلام النبلاء | شمس الدين الذهبي | ج 3، ص 168-172، ترجمة أبي سعيد الخدري | https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/maktaba/nindex.php?ids=44&page=showalam | Khazraji identity, Trench, Pledge of al-Ridwan, juristic standing, transmitter network and death-date variants
المستدرك على الصحيحين | الحاكم النيسابوري | ج 4، ص 733-734، أخبار أبي سعيد ووصيته بالدفن | https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/74/6283/ | burial instruction in al-Baqi and the 74 AH report; cemetery association
الطبقات الكبرى | محمد بن سعد | ترجمة الفريعة بنت مالك؛ ترقيم الصفحات يختلف بحسب الطبعة | https://hadithportal.com/index.php?show=bab&bab_id=10631&book=800 | early maternal-name variant, full sister al-Furay'a, maternal half-brother and family context for the wife
تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال | جمال الدين المزي | ج 35، ص 187، ترجمة زينب بنت كعب بن عجرة | https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/1001/11263/ | Zaynab bint Ka'b ibn Ujra identified as Abu Sa'id's wife
تهذيب الكمال في أسماء الرجال | جمال الدين المزي | ج 17، ص 135، ترجمة عبد الرحمن بن سعد بن مالك بن سنان | https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/1001/4167/ | Abd al-Rahman identified as Abu Sa'id's son and transmitter
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi — EBÛ SAÎD el-HUDRÎ | Raşit Küçük | ج 10، ص 223-224؛ النسخة الإلكترونية | https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ebu-said-el-hudri | modern reference biography, 74 AH, al-Baqi burial and rejection of the Istanbul maqam as the actual grave
Saudipedia — Al-Baqi Cemetery | Saudipedia | مقالة الموقع والتاريخ؛ النسخة الإلكترونية | https://saudipedia.com/en/al-baqi-cemetery | current geography and historical identity of al-Baqi as Medina's principal cemetery southeast of the Prophet's Mosque
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