The virtues of Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him)

It is narrated from Imam Ja'far bin Muhammad (Ja'far al-Sadiq) (may Allah have mercy on him) that he mentioned Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), praised him highly and said: "He gave birth to me twice (that is, I am doubly related to him by lineage)."
What is meant by this saying is that the mother of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (may Allah have mercy on him), Umm Farwah, was the daughter of al-Qasim bin Muhammad bin Abi Bakr, and her mother was Asma bint Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr; in this way the Imam's lineage reaches Sayyiduna al-Siddiq al-Akbar (may Allah be pleased with him) from two sides.

It is narrated from Sa'id bin al-Musayyib that a camel of the public treasury was injured (its leg was broken), so Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) slaughtered it. Then he invited some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (may Allah be pleased with them) to eat its meat. On this occasion Sayyiduna al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "Would that you did this (arranged such a meal) every day, so that we could sit with you and talk." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I will never do the like of it again. The truth is that two companions of mine (the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him) have passed on before me who followed a particular path (of abstinence and contentment); so if I act otherwise than they did, I too will be taken along a path other than theirs."
The chain of this report is sahih (authentic), and Imam Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated it in al-Musannaf (34419).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "We, the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), had no doubt at all that the sakinah (divine tranquillity and inspired truth) speaks on the tongue of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)."
Imam Ahmad bin Mani' narrated something similar through Abbad bin Abbad, from Mujalid.

It is narrated from a man that Sayyiduna Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sat with him, then said: "Have you not considered the matter of your sister-in-law (or close female relative), to whom Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) sent a proposal of marriage, but she refused?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What kept her from marrying Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)? There is no man in Madinah, unless he be a prophet, who is more virtuous and better than Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)." (Thabit bin al-Hajjaj said:) I asked the man who narrated this hadith to me: "Was Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) in Madinah at that time?" He replied: "I do not know about that."
This narration is in Musnad al-Harith (Zawa'id al-Haythami); however, one narrator in its chain is unnamed (mubham), and for this reason it is weak in its chain.

It is narrated from Salim bin Abi al-Ja'd (may Allah have mercy on him) that the people of Najran came to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "We ask you to write (a permit) for us with your own blessed hand and to intercede for us with your tongue, that you send us back (to our homeland)." At this Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was most upright and sound of judgement in managing his affairs; if it had ever been possible to object to his decision on any occasion, he would certainly have been objected to on this day (that is, his decision was firm and correct in every respect and cannot be changed)."
Imam Musaddad (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated this report; Abdullah bin Dawud transmitted it from al-A'mash, and he from Salim bin Abi al-Ja'd.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Ammar, Jibril (peace be upon him) came to me a short while ago, and I said to him: O Jibril, tell me of the virtues and merits of Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), if I were to tell you of the virtues of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) for as long as Nuh (peace be upon him) stayed among his people, that is, 'a thousand years less fifty years' [Surah al-Ankabut: 14], even then the virtues of Umar would not be exhausted. And the truth is that Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) is but one good deed among all the good deeds of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)."
Imam Abu Ya'la narrated this hadith in his Musnad; its chain contains the narrator al-Walid bin al-Fadl, who is a kadhdhab (liar) and matruk (abandoned), and on this basis the hadith scholars have declared this narration mawdu' (fabricated).

It is narrated from Imam al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "If there could have been anyone wholly unacquainted with lying (that is, in whose life and conduct no trace of a lie was found), it was certainly Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)."
Its chain is jayyid (good), and Imam Musaddad bin Musarhad narrated it in his Musnad.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "If even a single camel were to die neglected within my domain and during my caliphate, I fear greatly that Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, would call me to account for it."
[Takhrij: Imam Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated this report in al-Musannaf (34509); its chain is munqati' (broken) because Imam al-Hasan al-Basri did not hear from Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him).]

It is narrated from Sayyidah Asma bint Umays (may Allah be pleased with her) that a man of the Muhajirun came to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was suffering from (his final) illness. The man said: "You have appointed Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) as caliph over us, although he is already harsh with us while he has no authority; so what will his state be when he becomes our ruler? Then he will become even harsher and far more severe. So what answer will you give to Allah Almighty when you meet Him?" Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Sit me up." So the people sat him up, and then he said: "Are you making me fear Allah? When I meet Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, I will say: (O my Lord,) I appointed over Your servants the best person of Your creation as caliph."
Its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

It is narrated from Sa'id bin al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "I do not know anyone at all among the people who, after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), was more learned and of deeper knowledge than Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him)."
Imam Ishaq bin Rahwayh narrated it in his Musnad, and its chain is sahih (authentic).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It is my heartfelt wish that I come out of it (that is, the office of authority and caliphate) even, with nothing for or against me, so that neither does the burden of answering for it lie upon me nor does any recompense or reward for it remain for me."
This narration will come later, if Allah Almighty wills, in full detail in the Book of the Caliphate.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna al-Husayn bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: (While still a child) I climbed up the pulpit to Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) and said to him: "Come down from the pulpit of my father (the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him) and go to the pulpit of your father." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said (with great tenderness): "My father never had a pulpit." Then he seated me in front of him, and meanwhile I began turning pebbles over in my hand. When he came down from the pulpit, he took me with him to his house and asked: "Who told you to say this?" I said: "No one told me to do this." He said: "Son, come to us often; come and visit us." Sayyiduna al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Then one day I came to him while he was in private (in some important consultation) with Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him). Meanwhile Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) came and (finding no opening to go in) went back; when I saw him going back, I too came back. After this incident, when Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) met me, he asked: "Young man, I have not seen you coming to me?" I said: "I did come, but you were in private with Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him); meanwhile Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) came and went back, and when I saw him turning back, I too returned." At this Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You are far more entitled to be granted permission than Abdullah bin Umar. You are the crown upon our heads; we see none (above us) but Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and you (the Ahl al-Bayt)." And Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) placed his hand on his (Sayyiduna al-Husayn's, may Allah be pleased with him) head.
Imam Ishaq bin Rahwayh narrated it in his Musnad (3/250, no. 1262), and its chain is sahih (authentic).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that he often used to make this supplication: 'Allahumma la taj'al qatli bi-yadi rajulin salla laka sajdah' (O Allah, do not decree my death at the hands of a man who has ever performed even a single prostration for Your sake).
This chain is sahih (authentic).

It is narrated from a man of the tribe of Muzaynah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a washed garment on Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him) and asked: "Is this garment of yours new, or merely washed?" He said: O Messenger of Allah, it is washed. At this he (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed for him in these words: 'Ilbas jadidan, wa 'ish hamidan, wa tawaffa shahidan, wa yu'tika Allahu qurrata 'ayni al-dunya wa al-akhirah' (Wear new clothes, live a praiseworthy life, attain the rank of martyrdom, and may Allah Almighty grant you the coolness of the eyes in this world and the Hereafter).
This report is mursal or munqati' (broken); however, it has also been narrated with a connected chain from the hadith of Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), and Imam Ahmad and others recorded it without its last part.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him) sent for me. I came to him, and when I reached the door I heard the sound of his bitter weeping. I said (to myself): Perhaps the Commander of the Believers has been struck by some great calamity. So I went in, took hold of his shoulder and said: "There is nothing to fear, there is no cause for worry, O Commander of the Believers!" He said: "Rather, this is a matter of the severest trial and distress." Then he took my hand and led me inside the door, and there were bundles of wealth piled one on top of another. He said: "Now the family of al-Khattab have become worthless in the sight of Allah Almighty. Had Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, willed, He would have given all of this to these two companions of mine," meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), "and they would have laid down for me some way of dealing with this wealth that I could follow." I said: "Sit with us and we will think it over together." So we fixed for the Mothers of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with them) four thousand each, for the Muhajirun four thousand each, and for all the rest of the people two thousand each (dirhams or dinars) as a stipend.
One narrator in the chain of this report is unnamed (mubham); however, Sayyiduna Umar's (may Allah be pleased with him) weeping over the abundance of wealth and this incident of distributing it are historically reliable.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna al-Miqdam bin Ma'dikarib (may Allah be pleased with him) that when Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him) was wounded, the Mother of the Believers, Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her), came to him and began calling out (in the intensity of grief and love): "O noble companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! O father-in-law of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! And O Commander of the Believers!" On hearing this, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to his son, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): "O Abdullah, sit me up, prop me up and sit me up, for I no longer have the endurance to keep hearing the words I am hearing (in my praise)." So Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) propped him up against his chest. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Sayyidah Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her): "I bind you, by the right I have over you, that after this sitting of yours you will never wail and lament over me. As for your eyes (that is, your tears), I have no control over them. (But remember that) the truth is that any deceased person who is wailed over with merits that were not in him, the angels curse him."
The chain of this hadith is hasan (good); Imam Ahmad bin Mani' and al-Harith narrated it, and all its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).

It is narrated from Sa'id bin al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) that when Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him) returned from Mina after Hajj, he made his she-camel kneel at al-Abtah, then made a heap of the soil and pebbles there and lay down on it, so that his clothes became covered with dust. Then he stretched out his hands towards the sky and made this supplication: 'Allahumma da'ufat quwwati, wa kaburat sinni, wa intasharat ra'iyyati, fa-qbidni ilayka ghayra mudayyi'in wa la mufarrit' (O Allah, my bodily strength has become weak, my age has advanced, and the bounds of my subjects under my rule have become very wide; so take me to Yourself in a state in which I have neither neglected Your commands nor fallen short in my responsibilities). After that he (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Madinah and, delivering a sermon, said: "O people, I have made clear for you the ways of the highway of guidance, I have fixed for you the obligations and duties, and I am leaving you upon a bright and clear path (to emphasise this, the narrator of the hadith, Yahya, struck his two hands together), lest you lead the people right and left into the paths of misguidance." And the narrator related the full hadith.
Sa'id bin al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The month of Dhu al-Hijjah had not yet ended when Sayyiduna Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him) was martyred.

It is narrated from Amr bin Maymun (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: I was present on the morning when Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) was stabbed. I was standing in the second row, and nothing kept me from standing in the first row except the awe and majesty of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him); for when the prayer was established he would face the row, and if he saw anyone ahead of or behind the row, he would put him right with his whip. It was only this that kept me from standing in the first row, and so I was in the second row. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came intending to pray, and Abu Lu'lu'ah, the slave of al-Mughirah bin Shu'bah, confronted him. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) spoke with him privately, close by, then left him; spoke with him privately again, then left him; spoke with him privately a third time, and then left him. Then that (wretch) stabbed him with a dagger. I saw Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gesturing with his hand like this, saying: "Seize the dog, for he has killed me." The people were thrown into turmoil. Then someone called out: "O servants of Allah, the prayer! The sun has risen." So Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) led the people in prayer with the two shortest surahs of the Noble Qur'an: "When the help of Allah and the victory comes" [Surah al-Nasr: 1] and "Indeed, We have granted you al-Kawthar" [Surah al-Kawthar: 1]. The narrator said: Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was carried away, and he said: "O Abdullah (bin Umar), hand me that shoulder blade (on which something was written), for had Allah Almighty wished to put into effect what is written on it, He would have put it into effect." Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I will spare you that; I will erase it." He said: "No, by Allah, no one but I shall erase it." So Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) erased it with his own hand, and on it was written the ruling on the grandfather's share of inheritance. Then he said: "Call Ali, Uthman, Talhah, al-Zubayr, Abd al-Rahman bin Awf and Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with them) to me." The narrator said: They were called, and he spoke to none of them except Sayyiduna Ali and Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with them both). He said: "O Ali, perhaps these people will recognise your right because of your kinship with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the understanding (fiqh) and knowledge that Allah Almighty has granted you; so if they make you the guardian of this matter (the caliphate), fear Allah in it." Then he said: "O Uthman, perhaps these people will recognise your being the son-in-law of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and your nobility and eminence; so if they make you the guardian of this matter, fear Allah, and never set Banu Abi Mu'ayt (your relatives) upon the necks of the people." Then he said: "O Suhayb, lead the people in prayer for three days, and put these (members of the council) into a house; then, when they agree upon one man, whoever opposes them, strike his neck." When they went out, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If they make the one whose hair has receded from his forehead (Sayyiduna Ali) their guardian, he will lead them on the straight path." At this Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Then what prevents you (from nominating him as caliph)?" He said: "I dislike bearing its (the caliphate's) responsibility both in my life and after my death."
This hadith is sahih (authentic); Imam al-Bukhari narrated it with a more complete wording than this, and I (Ibn Hajar) have aimed here at the additional points that are not found there.