Episode 32: Life of Umar ibn al-Khattab
Umar ibn al-Khattab’s Care for the Family of the Martyrs:
Umar ibn al-Khattab would take care of the families of the martyrs who died in battles.
Moderation in Wealth and Clothing:
Once, Umar sent Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays and some others on an expedition to Iraq and in the lands of Persia.
Al-Ahnaf and the group were successful in the expedition and they returned back to Madinah with a large amount of spoils of war.
Included in these spoils of war were some exquisite and luxurious fabric clothing and when Al-Ahnaf and the Muslims saw these clothes, they started to wear them.
They returned back to Madinah wearing this Persian clothing and when Umar ibn al-Khattab saw this, he wouldn’t even look at them and completely ignored them.
The Muslims were shocked by this and they went to Umar’s son, Abdullah ibn Umar and told him that they tried talking to his father but he was not even acknowledging them.
Abdullah ibn Umar’s Response:
Abdullah ibn Umar knew just by looking at them exactly why his father was not talking to them and he said: I know exactly why he is not talking to you, because the clothing that you are wearing, he does not like it. This is not the type of clothing that the Prophet ever wore, and it is not the type of clothing Abu Bakr ever wore. He dislikes seeing you in this clothing.
The Muslims Change their Clothes:
The Muslims then went home and changed into their regular clothes and went back to Umar ibn al-Khattab.
This time, Umar greeted them very happily and hugged each one of them individually.
The Khabees:
Umar ibn al-Khattab distributed the spoils of war equally amongst them and included in the spoils of war was a sweet dish called Khabees, which the Persians were known for making.
Umar tasted the Khabees and it was delicious and unlike anything that he ever tried before.
He addressed the Muslims and said: O Muhajirin and Ansar, this food is so good that I am afraid that children will kill their fathers and brothers will kill their own brothers over it.
Umar ibn al-Khattab ordered for all of the Khabees to be taken and distributed to the children of the martyrs.
Balancing Jihad and Family Responsibilities:
During the Caliph of Umar ibn al-Khattab, a man named Umayyah ran into Talhah ibn Ubaydallah and Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwm, two of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Umayyah asked them: what is the best deed in Islam? Talhah and As-Zubayr replied: The best thing that you can do is fight in the way of Allah.
Umayyah went to Umar and enlisted himself to join the army. When the time came to fight, Umayyah realised that physically he would not be able to participate in the battle as he was an elderly man.
Umayyah told Umar: If it wasn’t for my old age, I wish I could have gone.
Umayyah’s son, Kilab ibn Umayyah heard this conversation between Umar ibn al-Khattab and his father.
Kilab told Umar: As for me O Amir al-Mu’minin, I am young. My father is old, so I would rather go. Let me go. I will sell myself to Allah SWT and I will sell my Dunya for the Akhirah.
Umayyah became afraid by this and said to his son Kilab: If you go, who is going to look after me and your mother in our old age?
Kilab convinced his father to let him go and fight in the way of Allah.
Umayyah cried so much over a period of time that he lost his eyesight, out of sadness for missing his son. One day, he asked to be taken to the Masjid to meet Umar ibn al-Khattab.
Umayyah said to Umar: O Amir al-Mu’minin, my son has been gone for so long and you still haven’t ordered for him to come back. I have become so old and my wife has become so old, we are missing him so much and you still haven’t called him back.
Umar ibn al-Khattab understood this and sent a messenger to go and bring Kilab back to Madinah.
Kilab was shocked by this and he didn’t understand why he had been taken out of the battlefield. When he arrived back in Madinah, before visiting his parents, he went to Umar ibn al-Khattab to ask why he was called back.
Prioritising Parental Care Before Jihad:
Umar ibn al-Khattab asked him: Before you left for Jihad, how good were you with your parents? Give me an example of the treatment that you gave to your parents.
Kilab replied: I tried to always honour my parents and respect them with the utmost respect. Such to the extent that if my father ever said I feel like drinking milk, I would go out and I would look at the camels and see which camel had the biggest udder. I would go to it, let it relax for a while and wash the udder with cold water, so the milk inside would become cold. I would then milk the camel, and the milk that would come out would be fresh and cold. I would then present it to my father and he would be refreshed with this milk.
Balancing Jihad with Honouring Parents:
Umar ibn al-Khattab was very happy to hear this and he called for Kilab’s father, Umayyah, to be brought to him.
Umar then asked Umayyah: How are you today? Umayyah was depressed and he replied: I am at a stage now that nothing will make me happy and nothing will make me sad.
Umar asked: What is the thing that you would love to have the most today? Umayyah replied: Nothing.
Umar ibn al-Khattab continued to insist with this question and eventually, Umayyah informed him: I wish that I could just see my son one more time, and I could just smell him and give him a hug one more time before I die.
When Umar ibn al-Khattab heard this, he started to cry. He went back to Kilab and said: Go and bring some milk from a camel, the same way you used to do before.
Kilab then brought the milk in a bowl and gave it to Umar, who he took the bowl and gave it to Umayyah.
Umayyah took the bowl in his hand and said: Wallahi, I can smell the smell of the hands of Kilab. Umar ibn al-Khattab replied: Yes, you are correct and your son is here!
Kilab and Umayyah then embraced and hugged each other. When Umar and the rest of the gathering saw this moment, they all began to cry.
Umar ibn al-Khattab told Kilab: As long as your parents are alive, stay with them and your Jihad is for them. Serve them and take care of their needs. After they pass away, if you are still around, you are free to fight in Jihad.
Kilab understood this and served his parents for the rest of his life until they passed away.
Testing and Assisting Women in Need:
Umar ibn al-Khattab was once patrolling around Madinah and he heard a woman reciting some poetry.
The woman said: I wish my husband was here with me, it has been so long. I haven’t seen my husband and I’m so lonely. If it wasn’t for my fear of Allah, my modesty, my respect and honour for my husband, I would have fallen into something haram.
Umar knocked on the woman’s door, and she asked: Who is it?
Umar ibn al-Khattab wanted to test her to see if she would open the door for a strange man, so he didn’t tell the woman who he was and told her: Open the door!
The woman refused and Umar kept insisting for her to open the door, but she said: I am going to complain to Amir al-Mu’minin about you, he is going to punish you.
Umar ibn al-Khattab realised that she passed the test and she was not interested in doing anything haram. He said: I am Umar, Amir al-Mu’minin, open the door, I want to see if I can help you.
The woman refused to believe it was Umar and she replied: you are not Amir al-Mu’minin, he would not be in the streets randomly going to people’s houses in the night.
Umar then shouted: Yes, I am Amir al-Mu’minin. I am Umar.
The woman now recognised his voice and realised that he actually was the Amir al-Mu’minin.
Umar ibn al-Khattab asked her: what is your problem? What is the issue I heard you talking about?
The woman replied: My husband is a soldier, he has been out fighting in the path of Allah for so long. It is hard for me to remain patient without my husband for so long.
Umar replied: Don’t worry. I will take care of it. What is your husband’s name and which regiment was he sent with?
The woman told him this information and Umar ibn al-Khattab immediately dispatched a messenger to go and bring him back to Madinah.
The man came back and Umar ibn al-Khattab instructed him to go back to his wife.
Umar ibn al-Khattab Adjusts the Policies:
Umar ibn al-Khattab realised that there would be so many women in the same position, so he went to his daughter Hafsa and asked: O Hafsa, how long can a woman remain patient without their husband?
Hafsa replied: we can go without our husbands for up to four months but not more than four months, it is very hard to remain patient after four months.
Umar ibn al-Khattab issued an order that no soldier should be in the battlefield for more than four months.
Expansion of Masjid Al-Nabawi:
Umar ibn al-Khattab was always looking at ways to serve the needs of the society and he realised that they had to expand the Prophet’s mosque (Masjid Al-Nabawi), because of the Muslim population and the Muslim lands increasing.
Dispute with Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib:
The house of Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib was attached to the Masjid in the same area that Umar ibn al-Khattab wanted to expand the Mosque.
Umar went to Abbas and said: O uncle of the Messenger of Allah, your house is attached to the Masjid and I want to expand the Masjid. Let us have the house and we will build a bigger house elsewhere.
Abbas was not interested with this suggestion and Umar said to him: Look, this is for the good of the community. I need this land. If you are not going to give it to me, I will have to take it off you by force.
Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib refused again and said: Let’s have someone that you trust and I trust that can judge between us in this dispute.
Umar ibn al-Khattab agreed to do this and asked: who do you suggest we go to? Abbas replied: Let’s go to Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman.
Umar agreed with this suggestion and they explained the situation to Hudhayfah.
Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman said: Regarding this, I know something. I heard that when Dawud wanted to expand Masjid al-Aqsa, there was a house of an orphan that was in the way of that expansion. Dawud went to the orphan and said: I need to buy this property from you. The orphan refused. Dawud, who was the king, considered taking the orphan’s house by force. But Allah then revealed to Dawud: The house that is farthest away from any type of injustice or oppression is my house. There cannot be any oppression or injustice to anyone involved in the House of Allah. Dawud did not take the property of the orphan and left the house alone.
Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib then turned to Umar and said: Do you still want to take my house after hearing this. Umar ibn al-Khattab replied humbly: No. I don’t want to take it.
Abbas Grants Umar Permission to Expand:
After clearing this up, Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib told Umar ibn al-Khattab: Now, I give it to you to expand the Masjid of the Prophet.
Umar ibn al-Khattab then built a bigger house for Abbas in another part of Madinah and expanded the Masjid of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Expansion of Masjid Al-Haram:
In addition to this, Umar ibn al-Khattab also expanded Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah.
Umar bought all of the houses in proximity to the Kabah and demolished them to expand Masjid Al-Haram and make it all an area of prayer.
Umar ordered for a gate/wall to be constructed around the whole area and he put lights on top of the wall to illuminate it.
Umar ibn al-Khattab was the first one to cover the Kabah with Egyptian cloth. Before this, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Abu Bakr used to cover the Kabah with Yemeni cloths.
At that time, during the Caliph of Umar, the Kabah was covered with white fabric.