Umar Ibn Al-Khattab: His Life and Times (Part 1)

by Imam Anwar Al-‘Awlaki (hafidhullah)

Section on Umar’s Night Patrols

 

“During one of his patrols, he saw a wool tent, it wasn’t there before, this is the first time he saw the tent, so he said let’s go and check that tent out. So he goes there and he finds a man sitting out of the tent, and there was a woman in the tent and she was moaning in pain. So ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab asked the man, “What’s going on?” The man said “May Allah reward you; carry on with your business.” He doesn’t know that this is ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said “I insist on you to tell me what is happening.” He said, “This woman, my wife, is giving birth.” ‘Umar bin al-Khattab asked “Is there anyone with her?” He said “No, she is alone.”

 

So this poor woman was delivering and they were on a journey – they were traveling – so they had to stop there and they set their tent; they knew nobody in Madinah, they had no one to help them, and the man was just sitting outside and his wife was delivering. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab immediately left and he went back home. He went to his wife Umm Kulthum, he told her, “Do you want to accept some good that Allah ‘Azza wa Jall has sent to you?” Do you want to accept some rewards that Allah has sent to you? She said “Yes, if that pleases you.” He said “Come with me, there is a woman who is delivering.” He then carries with him some flour, and also some fat animal shortening – they used to cook the flour in water and they would add to it animal fat, and they would mix it together. So they went there, Umm Kulthum went in the tent, inside the tent to help this woman, and ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab sat outside and he told the man “Set a fire for me”, make a fire. So the man made a fire, and then ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab started cooking. While he was cooking his wife calls him from inside the tent and says “Ya Ameer Al-Mumineen, congratulate your friend, Allah has blessed him with a boy.”

 

Now the man, was obviously very happy to hear the news, but there was something that was quite terrifying to him; he heard this woman say “Ya Ameer Al-Mumineen“, so he started walking away from ‘Umar – ‘Who am I dealing with, I can’t believe it, this is the Khalifah?!’ – ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “Don’t be afraid, come back, come here, help me out, take this pot and you have your dinner and take it to your wife.” So the man put the pot next to the entrance of the tent, so Umm Kulthum took it, and she was the one feeding the woman who just delivered. Then before they left, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab told him, “Tomorrow morning you come to me and I’ll give you the pension -or the payment- for your newborn child.”

 

LESSONS LEARNED

 

I want to make a note on the statement of ‘Umar “Would you like to accept a reward that Allah has sent to you?” Dear brothers and sisters, sometimes while you are walking down your path, going on with life, Allah ‘Azza wa Jall would drop in front of you – just like that – it would just drop in front of you, an invitation to good. You didn’t ask for it, you didn’t work to get it; it just drops in front of you. And you are left with the option of accepting it or rejecting it. It’s an opportunity that Allah ‘Azza wa Jall gives you, and if you don’t accept it, it might be present to you again, but it is very likely that you will never ever have that chance again. So the choice is yours to accept it or not accept it. And these invitations come in different forms, and it is the tawfeeq of Allah ‘Azza wa Jall for you, it is a blessing if Allah ‘Azza wa Jall presents such opportunities to you and you accept them, and it is a wrath from Allah ‘Azza wa Jall if you get all of these opportunities and you turn them down because when Allah ‘Azza wa Jall sends good to you and you refuse it, it’s worse than not getting it at all. With Fir’awn – because Allah ‘Azza wa Jall was sending him one sign after another – because he kept on turning (away from) them again and again, his status was becoming lower and lower in the eyes of Allah ‘Azza wa Jall until he reached to the rock bottom. And Allah ‘Azza wa Jall said about him and the likes of him, “If they see every sign they’re not going believe in them;” whatever sign you present them with, it is not going to be sufficient to convince them that this is the truth.

 

- Anwar Al Awlaki

~ by fesabilillah on March 27, 2008.