Sa'id ibn Salm al-Bahili was an Arab governor and military commander of the early Abbasid Caliphate.
Sa'id was the scion of a prominent family of the Bahila tribe: his father, Salm ibn Qutayba, had served both the Umayyads and the Abbasids as governor of Basra, and his grandfather had been the distinguished general Qutayba ibn Muslim.
[4] According to an account preserved by al-Tabari, Sa'id held the highest rank at court under al-Hadi, succeeding his own brother Ibrahim.
One account holds that the raid was provoked by Sa'id executing al-Munajjim al-Sulami—probably the local ruler of Derbent—prompting his son to go to the Khazars and ask for their help in obtaining revenge.
[2] In 807, Harun appointed him as commandant of the fortress town of Mar'ash, at the border with the Byzantine Empire.