Let's continue in our episode today with the rest of Omar's character and morals.
Actually, in the period when Omar rules…he leads Syria, Egypt, Iraq, the Arab peninsula and Asia till Azerbaijan. He dominates all these parts of the world. All his words are heard and directly achieved as he wants. All kings of his time fear and submit to him and his orders. All kings are terrified from his power and person. They all know he is the most powerful man on earth. For ten years, every word he says is achieved as he wants. Look at his power and greatness.
Let’s see his qualities and morals…let’s know why this person is distinguished from other kings and powerful men. The first quality about this man is his modesty and renunciation. Do you imagine that a person who has all this power and control and can be in control of large amounts of money can be that modest?! Just imagine if one of us is a manager of a big company. How do you think will he deal with people? How will he deal with his employees?
An example for his modesty is that once he came on the platform of the mosque and gathered all the people to tell them something important…when he joined them, he said, “Oh people, when I was young, I used to pasture for the people of Makkah and old women…I used to take sheep, water, milk and clean them. People used to give me some dates as a pay for my efforts. If anyone didn’t know this…I’m telling you as I want you all to know.“ Then he left the platform. So Ali Ibn Abi-Talib told him, “I see you did not do anything except humiliating yourself”. Omar replied, “That is exactly what I wanted... My ego made me feel I am the king, so I wanted to punish it and make it feel its real value.”
Do you imagine how modest he was?
Another great example for his modesty is that once he was in the platform of the mosque and said, “From now on, women’s dowry will not exceed 40 ounces.“ Then he heard a voice shouting in the mosque. It was a lady who said, “You can’t do this. It’s not your right.”
Imagine if you were at his place, what would you do?! The modest Omar just asked the woman why she said that. And when he heard her reply, he was convinced and said, “Yes, the woman was right and Omar was wrong”. This is not a defect in his character; on the contrary, this makes him a highly respected person by everyone.
The last two examples of his modesty and renunciation are that “Yarfaa”, the servant of Omar said, “I looked at the dress of Omar-the caliph of Muslims- and counted more than 21 patches in it, four of them are near his shoulder”. Once Omar was late in the Friday prayer, and all people were waiting for his speech….so when he came, he kept on apologising to them and said, “The reason of my delay is that I had only one garment, I wanted to wash it and I actually washed it just some minutes before I came. So please excuse me for my delay.”
Imagine the king who can have everything, just owning one garment! He had money, but he always desired to take care of the people and dress them well even if he didn’t find a garment or food for himself, he always preferred to help people first. Something more amazing is that when they had some cloth from Yemen. Omar distributed them among all people and then took what was left for him…..in fact, Omar was so tall that a piece of that cloth would not be enough to cover all his body, it can almost reach his knees, The next Friday when he talked to people and told them to obey him, a man stood up and said, “I will not obey you”, so Omar asked why and the reason was that Omar had a tall dress and they know this cloth can never be enough to cover Omar’s body, the man said that Omar for sure took more than one piece of cloth unlike all other people. Then Omar thanked him for his concern about Muslims and told his son to tell the people what happened…. Omar’s son said that he gave his father the piece of cloth he had for himself since that one piece of cloth can’t be enough for Omar. The man said, “Now we will obey you.”
Also he had some situations with young men as once he was walking near the door of Madinah. Then a boy on a riding animal passed near him. When the boy saw him walking, he said, “You should ride this and I will walk beside you”. But Omar refused and said that they should ride together. So the boy said that Omar would sit in the front and the boy would sit back. Omar refused again and said that the boy would sit on the front on the soft place and Omar would sit on the back of the animal.
The last example of his modesty is that he wanted to marry a woman and he went to propose to her at the same time when another one who was “Talha Ibn Obayd Allah” was proposing to her. The woman chose Talha and said that she chose him as Omar was a man who sold his life and bought Paradise instead. By God, whenever I see that man, I feel he is looking to God with his own eyes. I am not sure that I can live with such a great man.”
Another quality in Omar Ibn Al-khattab is his abstinence and virtue.
When al-Madaen, the capital of Persia was conquered, the treasures of the Persian Emperor (Kesra) were carried and transported into the Prophet mosque in Madinah. These treasures were so precious and valuable that they could make their carrier very wealthy. Omar wondered saying that people who delivered all these jewels, antiques, and other precious treasure are highly honest. Ali Ibn Abi-Talib replied telling him: “you have abstained so they did so as well, and if you had luxuriated they would have done so.”
Omar had a great compassion with the people of the book as he ordered that any woman, child, or old man should have an amount of money as a “tender” from the finance house of Muslims. Remember what happened to Muslims in Andalusia when they were exiled .. Can you draw a comparison between their situation and that of the people of the book in Omar’s age?
A Christian man is the one who distributes money among the people of the book. That man came to Omar one day and gave him an embroidered cloak as a present. Omar was so concerned to save the money of people of the book. So he asked the man “is that from your money? Or it is the money of the people of the book?” The man said “No, it is my own money”. Omar said,”is there any blemish in it?” as he was afraid to be unjust with them.
So Omar repeated, “Be careful that this gift would not have a flaw.” The man said, “No, but there is only one threat that is from the people’s money”. So Omar said “By God, you will either show me the place of this thread so I will take it off. Or I do not want it”. Then the man showed Omar its place, so Omar kept on removing it and said, “Oh God, please purify this gift from any money that is unjust for Omar”.
Another example is about Omar’s son, Abdullah Ibn Omar, who entered camels into a shelter. Afterwards, Omar went to that shelter to find thin camels and other fat ones. So he asked about the owner of the fat camels to know they were his son’s.
Omar searched for his son and hit him, when his son asked about the reason of hitting him, Omar answered, “They feed those camels well as they were yours, and they treated you well and respected you as you were my son…… Take your money and leave those camels. Your profit is in the finance house. “ He also hit all those who fed his son’s camels, and said, “Nothing enters the mouth of my son’s camels unless it is lawful and available for all Muslims.”
Here is another amazing example shows Omar’s honesty… He used to distribute donations reaching the treasury among Muslims giving each according to a certain criteria. One day, while he was doing so, he gave a man whose father witnessed the Battle of Uhud 4000 Dirhams, and gave Abdullah, his son, only 3000 Dirhams.
Thus, people asked why he gave Abdullah a lesser sum, note how his reply showed how conscious of Allah he was!! He said that the father of that young man showed more steadfastness on the Battle of Uhud than Abdullah’s father –he meant himself-. His point was that as the young man’s father did better, so the son was worthy of taking more than his own son.
Also, one day, Omar beat a man with his stick for doing something that he recognised as wrong. But later, he realized he had wronged the man. So Omar told the man “take the stick and beat me as I did to you.” But it wasn’t that easy that the man told Omar he might do so later. Then the man went ahead to his house. Next morning, he found Omar at his door asking him to take his revenge on him. We wrong many people without feeling, a little bit sorry for it, and we never care about apologising to people. You should perceive how sinful it is to hit someone wrongfully. We should be as keen as Omar was correcting ourselves; shouldn’t we? The man woke to find Omar waiting for him. Then Omar gave him the stick begging him to beaten back. But the man again said he wouldn’t do so that day. Then Omar told him he hadn’t slept the previous night for that reason. Then he said that the man should either retaliate or forgive him. The man then said he forgave the caliph!
Amazing still, Omar used to weep so much out of piety that there were two dark lines under his eyes. This was as a reason of his excessive weeping. You may recognize Omar on the Day of Judgment by searching for a man with two dark lines under his eyes. When was the last time you cried out of piety, or moved on hearing a Qur’anic verse?
He liked to recite chapter of Joseph when leading the Muslims during the dawn prayer. Whenever Omar recited that chapter, and reached the verse when Jacob says “I only complain of my sorrow and grief to God...” He would stop reciting and burst into tears, and his sound would be heard by those in the 4th or 5th row.
Also, he would also seek to know things related to piety, for instance, he called Ubai Ibn Kaab and asked him to tell him how one should be pious. Omar, the truly pious man, would ask such a question?! In a reply, Ubai says “what one would do if one was to walk through a thorny field what would you do?” Omar said that one should lift up one’s clothes and try to walk carefully without being hurt, Ubai said, that was the likeness of a pious man.
He should take care to avoid sins and obey Allah.
Once he met Abu Musa Al-Ashaari who used to recite the Qur’an well. He said to him “Oh Abu Mussa! Make us long for Allah!” He wanted this by listening to his recitation of Qur’an.
Another time he asks Ubai Ibn Kaab about dying. He wanted to know what feelings one would experience while dying. Ubai’s reply was that he asked Omar to imagine the pain one would feel when a thorny branch of tree was put in his mouth, and every thorn would penetrate through every part of his mouth, and then, that branch was suddenly plucked out?! Omar, terrified, silenced him saying he’d realised how painful dying would be.
Omar was so pious and God-fearing that he said were the Heavens to be split, and he was to see Paradise and Hell, his faith wouldn’t increase due to that! This means that his faith reached the highest degree.
A very moving story of Omar’s piety and how he was firm dealing with himself. The Prophet used to confide his secrets to a companion of his; that confidante was companion Hudhaifa Ibn Al-Yaman. He told him about the afflictions that will befall Muslims after his death; he even told the names of the hypocrites. So that the Muslims would not offer the funeral prayer for any of them. All the Companions knew Hudhaifa had all those names.
So, one day, when Omar met him, he asked him about something that was not expected from someone like Omar…He adjured him to tell him if the Prophet cited his name among the hypocrites, and repeated his words… Hudhaifa did not answer, for he was not allowed to do so till any of the hypocrites died.
But Omar said to Hudhaifa he would not let him go unless he would tell him if his own name was mentioned among them… Do we have such worries? Are we attached to our religion as much as he was?!! Are we that God fearing? Finally Hudhaifa told him that his name was not included. And that he would not tell anyone else about anything in that concern.
One day, Al-Ahnaf Ibn Qais, an eminent Iraqi lord visited Omar while he was in the public pasture among Muslims, while cleaning an animal of those allocated for charity. Of course there were many servants to do so, but he preferred to do it himself.
Al-Ahnaf Ibn Qais was with an Iraqi delegation who came to meet the Commander of believers for an important issue… Imagine how he would be looking cleaning a camel! When he saw Al-Ahnaf, Omar told him to take off his clothes to help him clean the charity-allocated animals. Omar was seeking to be rewarded for that work because of being charity-oriented. Al-Ahnaf wondered at that, and then one of the Iraqi delegation said, “O Commander of believers, why don’t you order a servant to clean it?”
Omar said, “Are these servants more qualified than me and Al-Ahnaf to do so? He who is responsible for any of the Muslims’ affairs owes to them what a servant owes to his master.”
Omar considered himself and Al-Ahnaf as servants responsible for the welfare of their masters i.e.: The Muslims!
Note how the Muslim community was united, and how Omar was acting like a caring father looking after his own. Moreover, he would visit fighter’s wives and ask them if they wanted to send letters to their men, and tell those who could not write to dictate to him what they wanted to tell their husbands about. He would tell them to dictate whatever they wished, without being embarrassed at all. Omar wanted them to say it all, being like a brother to them. That was how keen he was looking after fighter families.
Also he would think first of them wherever he was to distribute anything amongst the Muslims. When he would receive any delicious food he would swear that none of his family or the Muslims would taste it, before the children of the martyrs. Then he would look at these children smiling and ask if they were satisfied, adding that their martyred fathers were then, in paradise eating more delicious food. He assured them their fathers led a better existence.
Again, Omar used to wander by night to make sure his subjects were fine. Once, while doing so, he saw a worried man setting by his tent and he heard a woman’s voice crying. He asked the man, who did not recognise him, what was wrong. He said his wife was in labor and did not know what to do. Omar assured him, then went home and said to his wife, Umm Kalthoum, “do you like to have a reward from Allah?” She asked what to do, and he told her about the woman and told her to help her deliver the baby. What a way of thinking that man had. His wife entered the tent to help the woman, and he sat with the man. By the way Omar used to keep vigil at night, either praying or waking around to see if people needed anything. He sat with the man by the tent trying to assure him everything would be fine. The man still didn’t know who was speaking to him. Meanwhile, Umm Kalthoum called in a loud voice “Oh, commander of believers! Tell your fellow he was a boy.” The man was taken aback. He didn’t believe the caliph was there. Omar assured him it was alright, telling him that they were like brothers. See to what extent he was simple dealing with people.
Once Talha Ibn Obayd Allah saw Omar going out late at night. He followed him while Omar was unaware of that. Talha kept following him till he saw Omar entering a house. He wondered who Omar would be visiting at that late time. Omar stayed in for some time then went out. Then Talha entered the house and found an old blind disabled woman. He asked her who had just visited her. She said she didn’t know him. He had been paying her a visit once a week for ten years to clean the house, bringing her what she would need, collect the rubbish, and take it out with him too. When she would ask him who he was he would say he was a servant of Allah’s, and then asked her to pray for him. See how he was concerned for the welfare of his subjects? He would serve them day and night.
He used to care about all his subjects, the very young of them, the wives of the martyrs, the wives of the fighters, and mothers of the believers, and other Muslims. He had an overall goal to keep the nation united and steadfast.
On reciting the chapter of the Confederates, when Omar reached the verse “Oh wives of the Prophet: you are not like any other women. If you fear God, speak not in an affected tone…” Then he raised his voice at his loudest and people did not know why he was raising his voice reciting that verse. He wanted the Prophet’s wives whose rooms were adjacent to the mosque to hear him. So why would he recite loudly then. He meant to remind them of their duties referred to that Qur’anic verse. He was keen on seeing the whole nation steadfast in faith.
One day, he saw a young man swaying in a pervert way. Many are such men in our streets nowadays. What would Omar do with them were he alive now? Omar held that young man and asked him firmly if he was sick. The boy said no. Thus Omar hit him, and ordered him to walk in a manly way, not in a feminine way. He would play with Muslim kids. He would tell them to align before him, then he would open his arms to see who would be the first to hold him. The kids would run, each vowing to be first. Some would hug him and some would hold him at the back. See how he was compassionate and tender?
A blind man once missed the dawn prayer. So Omar asked about him wondering why he didn’t attend the prayer. Later on, he asked the man why he had missed the prayer. So he said there was none to lead the way. Omar didn’t like that any Muslim would miss offering prayer at the mosque. Thus he ordered that a man would be appointed, in return for a pay, to lead the man to the mosque. Moreover, he reminded the man in charge of that task of the importance of having the intention that he would be doing that for Allah’s sake.
In the year of Ramadan, Omar would implore Allah to end the famine; and not put an end to the nation of Muhammad. Due to the severe famine, the companions would pay asking Allah to end their plight for the sake of Omar, not only for the sake of their kids. They deeply feared for Omar as he was terribly worried about his nation.
His concern for Muslim armies sent for fighting was so deep too. Whenever messages would come to Madinah from the fighters, he would wait at the gates of Madinah for the messengers bringing the news. And once, one of those messengers approached Madinah with the news. And as the messenger had not seen the caliph when Omar asked him about the battle news, he told him to wait until he would tell the caliph. He didn’t expect the caliph there. Omar following him adjuring him to tell the news, but the man told him he was ordered to tell none but the caliph. They both reached the mosque. Then Omar said he was the caliph, and the man said Muslims had triumphed. Thus, Omar prostrated himself before Allah.
I would like to ask you: are you concerned about Islam like Omar?
One of the amazing things about him is that he used to walk in Madinah holding a camel, loaded with dates, water and raisins. Whenever anyone would come to ask him about anything, Omar would offer him some of those things before raising his question. Omar would make sure they would eat and drink first.
Another great example is that he used to walk in the market after the end of the day activities, holding a camel and picking up the things people had left behind them. Hence, when some would miss any stuff, people would assure them that the caliph would bring the missing items for them. Thus they would see Omar entering the market putting on the back of his camel something like a rack with the things they had missed. Omar would pause and tell people he had got tired carrying the things they had left behind. Then he would beg them to be more careful. Omar would go where the camels allocated for zakah were kept, ask for a note and a pen and start to make an inventory of the camels, their colours, weights, number, categories, etc. seeing that, Ali Ibn Abi-Talib looked at Othman Ibn Affaan and reminded him of a verse “the best.. you can hire is.. the strong and trustworthy” then Ali appointed towards Omar and said twice that he was strong and trustworthy.
Can you, folks, be as mindful of Islam as Omar was. Isn’t it high time we did so?
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