Name
The noble Companion of Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ, his Caliph and Leader of the Believers after Abū Bakr, Allāh be pleased with them. He is also one of the most senior scholars of the Companions, and a great statesman. The Ummah expanded and strengthened greatly during his office. He died in 23 AH.
Author
It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – wrote (by way of instructions):
Learn Sūrah Al-Barāʾah (At-Tawbah), and teach your women Sūrah Al-Nūr. And have them wear silver for adornment.
Saʿīd b. Manṣūr, Al-Sunan #1003; Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān #2213.
Anas b. Mālik – Allāh be pleased with him – reports:
A female slave once entered upon ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – and he recognised her as having been owned by some of the Muhājirūn or the Anṣār, but she was wearing a jilbāb covering her head with it, so he asked her, “Have you been freed?” To which she replied, “No.” So he said, “Then why the jilbāb? Remove it from your head, the jilbāb is only to be worn as a duty by the free women of the believers.” She hesitated and was slow to comply so he raised his stick and hit her on the head with it until she cast [the jilbāb] from her head.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf ḥadīth 6240. Graded ṣaḥīḥ according to the conditions of Muslim by Al-Albānī in Irwāʾ Al-Ġalīl 6:204.
It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
There are three types of men and three types of women. As for the women, then [one] is the chaste, Muslim, gentle, loving and childbearing woman. She helps her family in difficult situations and does not help situations to overcome her family. Rarely will you find such women. Another is a vessel, she does nothing more than bear children. The third type is a shackle, Allāh puts her around the neck of whomever he wills, and when he wills to remove it, he removes it. Men are [also] three kinds. [The first is] a chaste, easy, gentle man who possesses opinion (insight) and is worthy of being consulted; and when a matter befalls him, he follows his insight, and approaches matters as they should be. [The second is] a man who has no opinions of his own, and when a matter befalls him he goes to the one who does have insight and should be consulted, and he adopts his opinion on the matter. The third is a man who is confused, lost and aimless; he neither follows (seeks) guidance, nor obeys any guide.
Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān 10:39 ḥadīth 7131.
It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said to a young man while exhorting him:
A man might have ten qualities, nine of them good and one bad, but the nine good ones can be spoiled by the one bad quality. Beware of the slips and faults of youth.
ʿAbd Al-Razzāq Al-Ṣanʿānī, Al-Muṣannaf 8240.
It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
Do not expose yourself to what does not concern you, stay away from your enemy, beware of [taking as] your friend anyone except the trustworthy amongst people – and there is no one who is trustworthy except one who fears Allāh; and do not accompany the sinner in case you learn his sinfulness, and do not let him know your secrets, and consult those who fear Allāh for your affairs.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf 34476.
A young man who had stolen was brought to ʿUmar (for punishment). He said, “By Allāh I have never stolen before this time.” So ʿUmar responded, “You lie, Allāh would not (or does not) surrender a servant of His on the first sin.”
Abū Dāwūd, Al-Zuhd article 56, and others. Graded ṣaḥīh by Ibn Kathīr and others.
It is reported from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar:
When ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb arrived in Al-Shām, he said to Abū ʿUbaydah – Allāh be pleased with them: “Take us to your home.” Abū ʿUbaydah said, “And what will you do with my home?” ʿUmar replied, “Just take us there.” Abū ʿUbaydah said, “You only want to cry your eyes out over me.” So he entered his house and saw nothing [by way of furnishings] in it. ʿUmar asked, “Where are your things? I see nothing but rags, a water-skin and a dish (tray), and you are a governor! Do you have food?” So Abū ʿUbaydah went over to an old pail (bucket) and took out some scraps, and ʿUmar began to weep. Abu ʿUbaydah said to him, “I told you you would cry your eyes out over me. O Commander of the Believers, sufficient for you from the dunyā is what delivers you to your place of rest.” ʿUmar said, “The dunyā changed us all except you Abū ʿUbaydah.”
Abū Dāwūd, Kitāb Al-Zuhd article 123, and others.
It is reported that Harim b. Ḥayyān – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
“Beware of the sinful scholar (al-ʿālim al-fāsiq).” This reached ʿUmar, so he wrote to him in fear, “Who is the sinful scholar?” He wrote back, “I did not intend but good; this is when there is an imām (leader, taken as an example) who speaks knowledge, but practices sins, confusing the people, and thus they go astray.”
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 4:49.
A man from his people, from the Anṣār, went out one night to pray ʿIshāʾ with his people [during the Caliphate of ʿUmar], but some jinn abducted him, and he went missing. His wife went to ʿUmar and told him [of her missing husband]. ʿUmar asked his people about him, and they confirmed that he had gone out to pray ʿIshāʾ but had gone missing. [ʿUmar] told the woman to wait for four years. When four years had passed, the woman went back to ʿUmar and informed him [of her case]. He asked her people and they confirmed the case. He told her she could now marry, and she did. But her [first] husband returned and raised a dispute [over the marriage] to ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him. ʿUmar said, “One of you disappears for ages, his family does not know whether he is alive or not [and then he turns up, making claims]!” The man replied, “O Leader of the Believers, I have an excuse.” He asked, “And what is your excuse?” The man replied, “I went out to pray ʿIshāʾ one night, but some jinn captured me, and I [was held captive] by them for a long time. Then, some Muʾmin – or Muslim (one of the reporters, Saʿīd, was not sure of the exact word used) jinn waged an attack on them, fought them and beat them, and took captives. They took me amongst the captives, but said, ‘We see that you are a Muslim man, and it is not allowed for us to keep you captive.’ So they gave me the choice of staying with them or returning to my family. I chose to return to my family. They set off with me. By night, no one would say anything to me; but by day there would be a stick I would follow.” ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with him – asked the man, “What was your food when you were amongst them?” He replied, “Difficult [stolen?] food, and what had not had the name of Allāh mentioned over it.” ʿUmar asked, “And what did you drink when you were amongst them?” He replied, “Al-jadaf (a type of drink that does not ferment).” ʿUmar ruled that the man had a choice to either get back the ṣadāq (dowry) he had given [and have his marriage stay nullified], or take back his wife.
Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Sunan Al-Kubrā 7:445,446. Al-Albānī graded its chain of transmission ṣaḥīḥ in Irwā Al-Ghalīl 4:151
Jābir b. ‘Abdillāh reports that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattāb – Allāh be pleased with them – used to say:
Abū Bakr is our sayyid (master/leader), and he freed our sayyid – meaning Bilāl.
Al-Bukhārī, Al-Sahīh, hadith 3754.