ANECDOTE OF ʾOMAR'S JUSTICE.
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this is what ʾOmar has purchased from Such-an-one—The injustice which she has suffered from the time he began to reign over the Khalifate, to such and such a day, for five-and-twenty dinârs out of what she may claim from him on his appearance at the Resurrection before God Almighty—and ʾOmar is exempted from it.[1] Witnesses to this—ʾAly, and the son of Masʾûd."
Then ʾOmar gave the writing to his son, and said, "When I am dead, lay this in my winding-sheet, that I may appear with it when I rise in the presence of my Lord.[2]
- ↑ Attention to the affairs of the poor, and almsgiving, are amongst the first principles of Muhammadism. But the old woman condoned the injustice she had experienced by receiving compensation for it at the time.
- ↑ The circumstance related in the above anecdote would seem to have occurred on the return of ʾOmar to el-Medînah after the reduction of Jerusalem in the 16th year of the Hijrah. After several conferences between the patriarch of that place and the Muslim general, it was finally agreed that the city should be surrendered to the Arabs on condition that the inhabitants should receive from the Khalîfah's own hands the articles of their security and protection. On receiving tidings of which, ʾOmar therefore set out from el-Medînah, attended by a numerous retinue. He rode upon a red camel, and carried with him two sacks—one of which contained his provision, consisting of barley, rice, or wheat, sodden and unhusked, and the other fruits. Before him he carried a leathern bottle to contain
