SA'ID BEN ḤASAN OF ALEXANDRIA:
Jewish convert to Islam; lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. He was the author of an apologetic work entitled "Masalik al-Nazar fi Nubuwwat Sayyid al-Bashar." The author intended to demonstrate from Holy Scripture the genuineness of the mission of Mohammed. Like all controversialists, he accuses the Jews of corrupting the Biblical text, and of substituting other names for those of Mohammed and Ishmael. Sometimes, in quoting Biblical passages, Sa'id interpolates words of his own.
Sa'id prefaces his book with an account of his conversion to Islam, which took place in May, 1298. When seemingly on his death-bed he heard in a dream a voice saying: "Recite the sura 'Al-Ḥamd' ["Al-Fatihah"] and thou shalt escape death." Sa'id obeyed the command of the heavenly voice; and he recovered.
- I. Goldziher, in R. E. J. xxx. 1 et seq.
