Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 14181 — Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab sent Umayr

Sayyiduna Umayr bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) sent Umayr bin Sa'd as governor over Hims. He stayed there for a year and no news of him reached Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), so Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to his scribe: "Write to Umayr. By Allah, I can only think that he has betrayed us. (Write:) When this letter of mine reaches you, come at once, and bring with you whatever you have collected from the Muslims, as soon as you look at this letter." The narrator said: Umayr took his bag and put his provisions and his bowl in it, hung up his water-skin and took his short spear; then he set out on foot from Hims until he entered Madinah. The narrator said: When he arrived, his colour had turned pale, his face was covered with dust and his hair had grown long. He came in to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "Peace be upon you, O Commander of the Believers, and the mercy of Allah." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "What is your condition?" Umayr said: "You can see for yourself what my condition is. Do you not see me with a healthy body and pure blood? I have the world with me; I am dragging it by its horn." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "What do you have with you?" (Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) thought that he had brought wealth.) Umayr said: "I have with me my bag, in which I keep my provisions; my bowl, from which I eat and in which I wash my head and my clothes; my water-skin, in which I carry water for ablution and for drinking; and my short spear, on which I lean and with which I fight an enemy if one confronts me. By Allah, the world is nothing but a follower of these belongings of mine." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "So you came on foot?" Umayr said: "Yes." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Was there no one there who would have given you an animal to ride?" Umayr said: "They did not do so, and I did not ask them for it." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "What bad Muslims they are, those from whom you have come!" Umayr said: "O Umar, fear Allah! Allah has forbidden you from backbiting. I saw them praying the dawn prayer." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "Where is your share, and what have you done?" Umayr said: "What sort of question is this of yours, O Commander of the Believers?" Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Subhan Allah!" Umayr said: "Were it not that I fear I would grieve you, I would not tell you. You sent me, and when I reached the city I gathered its righteous people and appointed them to collect their fay' (public revenue). When they had collected it, I spent it in its proper places. Had any of it been due to you, I would certainly have brought it to you." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "So you have brought us nothing?" Umayr said: "No." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Prepare a letter of appointment for Umayr." Umayr said: "That is something for which I will work neither for you nor for anyone after you. By Allah, I did not remain safe (in that responsibility); rather, I did not remain sound at all, even though (my slip was only that) I said to a Christian: 'May Allah disgrace you.' O Umar, this is what you exposed me to. And O Umar, the most wretched of my days was the day I took the oath with you." Then he asked permission and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gave him permission, so he returned to his home, and between his home and Madinah there was a distance of several miles. When Umayr had left, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I think he has betrayed us." So he sent a man called al-Harith, gave him a hundred dinars and said to him: "Go and stay with him as a guest would stay. If you see any trace of wealth, come back and tell me; and if you see severe poverty, give him these hundred dinars." So al-Harith set out, and he found Umayr sitting beside a wall, picking lice out of his shirt. The man greeted him, and Umayr said: "Dismount, may Allah have mercy on you." So he dismounted. Then Umayr asked him: "Where have you come from?" He said: "From Madinah." Umayr asked: "In what state did you leave the Commander of the Believers?" He said: "Well." Umayr asked: "In what state did you leave the Muslims?" He said: "Well." Umayr asked again: "In what state did you leave the Commander of the Believers?" He said: "Well." Umayr asked: "Does he not establish the prescribed punishments (hudud)?" He said: "Indeed he does. He punished one of his sons who had committed fornication, and he died from that punishment." Umayr said: "O Allah, help Umar, for I know nothing of him except that his love for You is intense." The narrator said: He stayed for three days, and they had nothing but a single loaf of barley bread, which they set aside for this guest while they themselves went hungry, until severe hardship befell them. Umayr said to him: "O man, you have made us go hungry; it would be better if you left us." The narrator said: So he took out the dinars, gave them to him and said: "The Commander of the Believers has sent these for you; make use of them." The narrator said: Umayr cried out and said: "I have no need of them; take them back." His wife said: "If you need them, keep them; otherwise spend them in their proper places." Umayr said: "By Allah, I have nothing in which to put them." So his wife tore off the lower part of her shift and gave him a piece of cloth, and he tied the dinars in it. Then he went out and distributed them among the children of the martyrs and the poor. Then he came back, and that messenger was thinking that he would give him something too, but Umayr said to him: "Convey my greetings of peace to the Commander of the Believers." Al-Harith returned to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who asked: "What did you see?" He said: "O Commander of the Believers, I saw severe poverty." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "So what did he do with the dinars?" He said: "I do not know." The narrator said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote to him: "When this letter of mine reaches you, do not put it down from your hand until you come to me yourself." So he came to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and entered upon him, and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "What did you do with the dinars?" Umayr said: "I did what I did; why do you ask about it?" Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I adjure you to tell me what you did with them." Umayr said: "I sent them ahead for myself (to the Hereafter)." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "May Allah have mercy on you." Then he ordered a wasq of grain and two garments for him. Umayr said: "As for the grain, I have no need of it. I have left two sa' of barley at home, which will suffice me until Allah sends more provision." And he did not take the grain. As for the two garments, he said: "The wife of so-and-so has nothing to wear." So he took them and returned to his home. Not long passed before he died, may Allah have mercy on him. When this news reached Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), he was deeply grieved and prayed for mercy for him. He went out on foot with his companions to Baqi' al-Gharqad and said to his companions: "Let each of you state one wish." One man said: "O Commander of the Believers, I wish that I had enough wealth to free so many slaves for the sake of Allah." Another said: "I wish that I had wealth so that I could spend it in the path of Allah." A third said: "I wish that I had the strength to draw water from Zamzam with a bucket for the pilgrims to the House of Allah." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I wish that I had a man like Umayr whose help I could seek in the affairs of the Muslims."