Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 17181 — I came to Nu'aym bin Abi Hind

Muhammad bin Suqah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I came to Nu'aym bin Abi Hind (may Allah have mercy on him), and he brought out a written document for me. In it was written: From Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah and Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with them both) to Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him): Peace be upon you. To proceed: We knew you when only the affair of your own self mattered to you, and now you have become the guardian of the affairs of all the people of this Ummah, the red and the black. The lowly and the noble, the enemy and the friend all sit before you, and each one has his share of justice. So consider, O Umar, where you stand in this matter. We warn you of a Day on which faces will be humbled, hearts will dry up, and all arguments will be cut off except the argument of the King who will have subdued them with His might, while the creation will be humbled before Him, hoping for His mercy and fearing His punishment. We used to speak among ourselves that the affair of this Ummah in its last age will come to this: that they will be brothers outwardly and enemies inwardly. We seek refuge in Allah that this letter of ours should be taken in any sense other than that in which it came down from our hearts; we have written it only out of sincere goodwill for you. And peace be upon you. So Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote to the two of them: From Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab to Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah and Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with them both): Peace be upon you both. To proceed: Your letter reached me, in which you remind me that you knew me when only the affair of my own self mattered to me, and that now I have become the guardian of the affairs of all the people of this Ummah, the red and the black; that the noble and the lowly, the enemy and the friend all sit before me, and that each one has his share of justice. You wrote: 'So consider, O Umar, where you stand in this matter' - and indeed, in this matter they have no power and no strength except through Allah. And you warned me of that of which the nations before us have been warned since ancient times. Indeed, the alternation of the night and the day, with the appointed terms of people, brings every distant thing near, brings every new thing, and brings every promised matter, until people reach their abodes in Paradise or Hell. You warned me that the affair of this Ummah in its last age will come to this: that they will be brothers outwardly and enemies inwardly. But you are not those people, nor is this that age. That will be an age in which desire and fear will appear, and people's inclination towards one another will be only for the betterment of their worldly affairs. You wrote that you seek refuge in Allah that I should take your letter in any sense other than that in which it came down from your hearts, and that you wrote it out of sincere goodwill for me. You have spoken the truth, so do not stop writing to me, for I cannot do without you both. And peace be upon you both.