Episode 23: Life of Umar ibn al-Khattab
Detachment From Luxury:
Ziyad ibn Abdullah narrated that once he went to meet Umar ibn al-Khattab and was wearing fancy clothes. When Umar saw this, he started hitting Ziyad’s socks with his stick.
Ziyad mentioned that his feet started to hurt because of this, but he understood what Umar was trying to convey to him by continuously hitting him.
The next day, Ziyad went to meet Umar ibn al-Khattab again but this time, he was wearing basic cotton clothes and wore cheap-style socks. Ziyad realised that wearing these fancy clothes was a type of detachment from this world.
Umar ibn al-Khattab, when he saw this, was now very happy and said: This is how it should be, O Ziyad!
Umar noticed the socks that Ziyad was wearing and asked him: How much did you buy these socks for? Ziyad replied: It was only one dirham.
Umar ibn al-Khattab got out a dirham from his pocket and told Ziyad: Go buy me one like this too.
Humility as a Leader:
Once, Umar ibn al-Khattab was on the outskirts of Madinah on a hot day and he did not have a riding animal with him.
To protect himself from the sun, he put his upper garment above him and he was walking towards Madinah.
A young boy then came on a donkey and passed by Umar ibn al-Khattab, who asked the young boy: Can I take a ride with you?
The young boy realised it was Umar and replied: O Amir al-Mu’minin, I will get off the donkey. You sit on the donkey and go to Madinah and I will walk.
Umar refused to do this and said: I just want to take a ride with you. The young boy replied: you can take a ride with me, but you sit at the front and I will sit at the back.
Umar ibn al-Khattab said: No, it will never happen this way! You will stay at the front and I will sit at the back.
The young boy accepted this and Umar ibn al-Khattab sat at the back of the donkey and they entered Madinah.
When they entered Madinah, the residents of Madinah saw Umar sitting at the back of the donkey and they were amazed at the humbleness of their leader.
Umar’s Sense of Duty:
Once, Mu’awiyah ibn Hudayj, who was part of the Muslim army that conquered Egypt, came back to Madinah to inform Umar ibn al-Khattab about the good news.
Mu’awiyah arrived in Madinah at noon, which was a time where the Muslims would often have a short nap before Dhuhr.
Umar ibn al-Khattab called for Mu’awiyah and asked him: what brings you to Madinah? Mu’awiyah replied: We have successfully conquered Egypt.
Umar then asked: Why did you not come directly to me? Why did I have to find out from someone else that you are in town?
Mu’awiyah replied: The reason for this was because I came around noon, and I thought you were having a nap, so I thought I would wait a few hours and tell you the news after the Dhuhr prayer.
Umar replied: What a bad thought that you have! How can you think that I was sleeping? If I sleep during the day, then I would not be able to take care of the affairs of my people. I am in charge of the Muslim Ummah, how do you think I can sleep in the day?
The sleep of Umar ibn al-Khattab after he became the Khalifah was in small periods and he would sleep for very short intervals from time to time.
Umar did not have a sleep schedule and this is how seriously he took his responsibility as the leader of the Muslim Ummah.
Strictness with His Family:
Umar ibn al-Khattab was very severe upon his own family as he didn’t want his family to get any unfair advantages just because he was the leader of the Muslims.
He gathered his family and said: The people will be looking at what you do, like a hawk. They will have their eyes on you. They will see that if you are obeying my order, then they will also obey. But if they see you disobeying me, they will say: Look, if his own family can disobey him, then we can as well.
Umar continued: I am going to be the most strict with you. I am going to be more strict with you than the general public. If I find any of you disobeying my orders, the punishment for them will be doubled than what it would be for the general public.
Refusal of Gifts:
Umar made sure that he never accepted any gifts from anyone because of his position and authority and he also would not allow any of his family members to accept gifts from people either.
Once the governor of Basra, Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari, sent a small prayer rug to one of the wives of Umar, Atiqa as a gift.
When Umar ibn al-Khattab came home, he saw his wife with this prayer rug and he asked her where she got it from.
Atiqa informed him that it was a gift from Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari, and this angered Umar ibn al-Khattab and he ordered for Abu Musa to be brought to him.
Umar told his people: Bring him to me in a very harsh way. Grab him and drag him to me. They did this and when Abu Musa was brought to Umar ibn al-Khattab, he asked Abu Musa: what is this? Why are you giving these types of gifts to my family?
Abu Musa replied: it was just a gift. There is nothing behind it. Umar said: We don’t need any of your gifts. Don’t ever do this again!
Umar ibn al-Khattab took the prayer rug and started hitting Abu Musa with it on his head.
Justice with Abdullah ibn Umar’s Business:
Once the son of Umar, Abdullah ibn Umar bought some thin camels to do business with them. His intention was to take the camels and make them become fat and strong, in order to sell the camels for even more money.
Abdullah ibn Umar took these camels to the public grazing area where the camels would graze and he would then sell them.
His father, Umar ibn al-Khattab saw him with these camels and asked: What is this? Where did you get these camels from?
Abdullah ibn Umar said: O my father, I bought these thin weak camels and I took them to the grazing lands for some time, until they became fat and now I want to sell the camels just like everyone else is doing.
Umar ibn al-Khattab replied: Your camels became fat in the grazing lands? Why do you think everyone else was letting your camels eat there, and they are being careful not to let their camels eat when your camels are eating. Why do you think they are doing that? When they see the son of Amir al-Mu’minin, they will stand back and let your camels eat everything. They will neglect their own camels so your camels can eat. That is what they were doing and that is how your camels became fat. Don’t think that this is because of your own work.
Umar continued: This is because everyone saw who you are and they let this happen. Go ahead and sell the camels, but you can only take back the amount that you paid for the camels. You cannot take any profit. Whatever profit you make, you have to give it to the Bayt-al-mal (Muslim treasury).
Justice with His Sons in Trade:
Two of the sons of Umar, Abdullah ibn Umar and Ubaydallah ibn Umar participated in the conquest of Iraq and when they were heading back to Madinah, they met Abu Musa al-Ash’ari.
Abu Musa told the two sons of Umar: I have some money that I have to send to Madinah. Can you take this money and deliver it to your father?
Abu Musa continued: I can give it to you right now as a loan, and you can use that money to buy goods here in Iraq. You can sell the goods in Madinah and you will make a big profit. The original money I gave you, give to your father and whatever profit you make, you can keep it.
Abdullah and Ubaydallah agreed to do this and they bought some goods in Iraq and sold them in Madinah, generating a lot of profit from this.
They were going to give the original amount that Abu Musa gave to their father as part of the Bayt-al-mal (Muslim treasury).
When they reached Madinah, Umar ibn al-Khattab called his two sons and asked: Did Abu Musa give the rest of the army loans like he gave you two? Or did he only give it to you?
Umar’s sons replied: He only gave it to us. Umar ibn al-Khattab said: Give me the original amount and give me all of the profits too.
Abdullah ibn Umar was quiet but Ubaydallah tried to argue and said: O my father, if we made a loss from the money, wouldn’t we be responsible for making it up from our own pockets?
Umar ibn al-Khattab replied: Yes, you would be. Ubaydallah then said: Okay, we made profit, so if we would be responsible for the loss, why can’t we keep the profit?
Umar told Ubaydallah ibn Umar: Give me the money and the profit!
One of Umar’s advisors suggested: Let them keep half of the profits and you can take the other half of the profit, for the Bayt-al-mal (Muslim treasury).
Umar ibn al-Khattab agreed to do this and told his sons that they could keep half of their profits.
The sons then gave Umar ibn al-Khattab the original money that Abu Musa gave to them in addition to the other half of the profits they obtained.