Age and death of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him)

The narrator states: "Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), whose kunyah was Abu Abd al-Rahman, died in Makkah after the Hajj and was buried at al-Muhassab, while some people say at Fakh. As for his age: when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted him to fight on the day of al-Khandaq, he was fifteen years old, and al-Khandaq took place in Shawwal of the year 4 AH, so at the time of his death he was eighty-four years old."

Imam Malik bin Anas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) lived for sixty years after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and delegations of people kept coming to him."

Imam Malik bin Anas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) lived for sixty years after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and delegations of people kept coming to him."

Imam Malik bin Anas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) was eighty-four years old at the time of his death."

Al-Waqidi said: "Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) died in the year 74 AH and was buried at Fakh; at that time he was eighty-four years old."

Atiyyah said: I asked a freed slave of Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): How did Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) die? He said: "The spear of a man from the people of Syria wounded him in his leg. Then al-Hajjaj came to visit him in his illness and said: If I knew who wounded you, I would strike off his neck. He said: It was you who wounded me. He asked: How? He said: On the day you brought weapons into the Sanctuary of Allah."

Makhul (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I was with Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was walking, when a black man carrying a spear passed by him and placed the butt-spike of the spear between the index toe and the big toe of Sayyiduna Ibn Umar's (may Allah be pleased with him) foot. The old man was carried and taken inside, and his shin became swollen. Al-Hajjaj came to visit him and said: O Abu Abd al-Rahman, who inflicted this wound on you, so that I may take retribution from him for you? He said: "Would you really take retribution from him?" He said: By Allah, I will surely take retribution from him for you. He said: "What is the matter, that weapons are carried in the Sanctuary of Allah and His place of security?" The narrator said: Then he died of that wound.

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "My father brought me to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of Uhud when I was fourteen years old, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not permit me. Then he brought me on the day of al-Khandaq when I was fifteen years old, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted me." Nafi' said: I related this to Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him), and he ordered that only boys of fifteen years be enrolled in the army.

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I was presented before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when I was fourteen years old. Then the narrator mentioned something like the hadith of Abdullah bin Umar, except that he said: Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) would not fix a stipend for anyone until he reached puberty, except for one hundred dirhams, and he would not fix a stipend for a newborn until it was weaned. One night, while he was making his rounds at the prayer-ground, a child began to cry, so he said to its mother: Suckle him. She said: The Commander of the Believers does not fix a stipend for a newborn until it is weaned, and I have weaned him. Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "I almost killed him! Suckle him, for the Commander of the Believers will fix a stipend for him." After that he fixed a stipend for every newborn from the time of its birth.

Nafi' said: Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) would keep the night alive with prayer, then he would say: "O Nafi', has the pre-dawn time come?" I would say: No, so he would return to the prayer. Then he would say: "O Nafi', has the pre-dawn time come?" and I would say: Yes. Then he would sit and keep seeking forgiveness and supplicating until morning came.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: "Since I accepted Islam, I have never eaten my fill."

Nafi' said: Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) would distribute thirty thousand in a single sitting, while a month would pass over him in which he did not eat even a piece of meat. Burd said: I asked Nafi': Did he eat meat? He said: When he was fasting or travelling, meat was most of his food.

Nafi' said: A man came to Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and said: Why do you hold back from this matter, when you are a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the son of the Commander of the Believers? He said: "What holds me back from it is only that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has made the blood of my Muslim brother sacred for me." He said: But Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: "And fight them until there is no more fitnah and the religion is entirely for Allah" [Surah al-Anfal: 39]. At this Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "We fought them until there was no more fitnah and the religion was entirely for Allah, whereas you want me to fight so that fitnah arises anew and the religion becomes for other than Allah."

Nafi' said: "When Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was martyred, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and said: You are beloved among the people, so set out for Syria. Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: By my kinship with you, my companionship with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the ties of relationship between us! (I will not do it.) So he did not press him again."

The narrator states: Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf wrote to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): It has reached me that you have sought the caliphate, and the caliphate is not fitting for one who is inarticulate, nor a miser, nor one who is excessively jealous. So Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) wrote to him: "As for what you mentioned about the caliphate, that I sought it, I did not seek it, nor is it on my mind. And as for what you mentioned of inarticulateness, miserliness and jealousy: whoever has gathered the Book of Allah is not inarticulate, and whoever pays the zakah of his wealth is not a miser. As for the jealousy you mentioned, the thing most deserving of my jealousy is my children, that someone other than me should share in them with me."

Abdullah bin Hanash said: I saw on Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) two garments of Ma'afiri cloth, and his garment reached to the middle of the shin.

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) was given silk cloaks as a gift, among which was a red cloak, and he distributed them among his sons.

Yunus bin Abi Ya'fur narrates from his father, who said: I heard Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) when a man asked him: What kind of clothes should I wear? He said: Such that the foolish do not look down on you in them and the wise do not find fault with you for them. He asked: What are they? He said: "Clothes between five dirhams and twenty dirhams."

When a man wished to accompany Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) on a journey, he would set him the condition that he not accompany him riding a camel that eats filth (jallalah), that he not dispute with us over the call to prayer (adhan), and that he not fast without our permission.

Nafi' said: A man used to accompany Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) on journeys, and he ordered us to wake him and to prepare his pre-dawn meal (suhur) for him.

Zayd bin Aslam said: Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) passed by a shepherd of goats and said: O shepherd, is there an animal (for sale)? The shepherd said: Its owner is not here. Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: You can say that the wolf ate it. The shepherd raised his head towards the sky, then said: Then where is Allah? So Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) bought that shepherd and also bought the goats, then set him free and gave him the goats.

Al-Sha'bi said: Whenever Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) met Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Ja'far (may Allah be pleased with them both), he would say: "Peace be upon you, O son of Dhu al-Janahayn (the one with two wings)!"

It is narrated from Muhammad (bin Sirin) that Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) was asked about musk, and he said: "Is it not the best of your perfumes?"

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) saw a man supplicating with his two fingers, so he closed one of his fingers and said: "Allah is only One God."

Abu Mijlaz said: I kept asking Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) near the House (the Ka'bah) about the witr, and he would say: "In the last part of the night." I said: What do you think if such were the case, what do you think if such were the case (what would the ruling be)? He said: "Put that 'what do you think if such were the case' by that star," and he pointed to the sky, "The night prayer is two by two, and the witr is one rak'ah in the last part of the night."

Yahya al-Bakka' said that a man said to Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both): I love you for the sake of Allah. Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "But I detest you for the sake of Allah." He said: Why? He said: "You put on an affected voice in your call to prayer (adhan), and you take a wage for it."

Yahya al-Bakka' said that Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) saw a storyteller telling stories in the Sacred Mosque, and his son was with him. His son asked him: What is this man saying? He said: "This man is saying: Know me, know me."

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "People have never exchanged among themselves anything better than tarq (that is, lending one's male animal for mating). A man lends his horse for mating and its reward keeps flowing to him; a man lends his stallion camel for mating and its reward keeps flowing to him; and a man lends his ram for mating and its reward keeps flowing to him."

Al-Azraq bin Qays (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I was sitting with Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) when a man asked him: O Abu Abd al-Rahman, I have entered ihram and I have gathered my hair together. He said: "Did you not hear that Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said during his caliphate: Whoever braids the hair of his head or mats it, let him shave it?" He said: O Abu Abd al-Rahman, I did not braid it, I only gathered it together. At this Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "A she-goat, and a he-goat, and the he-goat of a she-goat."

Salim narrates from his father, Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), that he used to say: The believer is not one who taunts much, nor one who curses much. (The narrator said:) "And I never heard Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) curse anyone except for one man."

Muhammad bin Sirin said: "Garlic would be crushed for Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), then threaded on a string, put into the broth along with the string, then taken out with the string and thrown away, and then he would eat (the broth)."

Muhammad bin Sirin said: Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Indeed, the part of fine food that is picked out from (where it gets stuck in) the molars weakens the molars."

Qurrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I asked Ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him): Did the Companions joke? He said: They were just like ordinary people. Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to joke and recite poetry, and he would say: "Wine is loved when it comes from the wealth of one's drinking companions, but it is disliked that one's own money should part from him."

Nafi' said that Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) fell ill, and a bunch of grapes was bought for him for a dirham. Just then a poor man came, and he said: "Give it to him." A man went ahead and bought it from him for a dirham, then brought it (to Ibn Umar). Then the same poor man came again asking, and he said: "Give it to him." Again a man went ahead and bought it from him for a dirham. The poor man wanted to come back, but he was prevented. "And had Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) known the story of that bunch, he would never have tasted it."

Nafi' narrates from Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that when he entered the bathhouse, the bathhouse keeper would apply nurah (a depilatory paste) to him, and when he reached his waist, he would say to the bathhouse keeper: "Go out."

Sukayn bin Abd al-Aziz narrates from his father: I went to Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) while a slave girl was shaving his hair, and he said: "Nurah (lime depilatory) makes the skin thin."

Nafi' narrates: "When Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) performed the ritual bath (ghusl), he would open his eyes and put his fingers into his navel."

Ata' bin Ya'qub narrates: Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) borrowed one thousand dirhams from me as a loan, then repaid me with dirhams better than them. I said to him: Your dirhams are better than my dirhams. He said: "Whatever excellence was in them has reached you from me (as a gift, not as part of the loan)."

Abu Hazim (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) passed by a man who had some goats with him, and he asked him: For how much will you sell these goats of yours? He said: For such and such. Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will take them for such and such. At that, the man swore that he would not sell them. Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) went off and attended to his need, then passed by him again, and he said: O Abu Abd al-Rahman, take them for what you offered me. Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You swore an oath, so I will not help Satan against you by making you break your oath."

Abu Hazim narrates: We bought a house from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), and he sat at its door and a great deal of dust rose. We said: O Abu Abd al-Rahman, we take only what is rightfully ours, and we do not regard you as dishonest. He said: "I fear (people's) suspicion."