“Call the headman of the village for me.” When he was brought, ʿUmar said, “Have my shirt washed and sewn, and lend me a shirt.” They produced a linen shirt. “What is this?” he asked. “Linen,” they replied. “And what is linen?” When they explained, he removed his own shirt; they washed it, patched it, and he put it back on.

The village chief then said, “You are the king of the Arabs, and this is a land where camels do not do well.” So a mule was brought, and ʿUmar threw a blanket over it with neither saddle nor gear. After he had ridden a short distance he said, “Stop! I never imagined people would ride the devil. Bring me my camel.”

Al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ziyād narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĪsā: Two black streaks ran down ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb’s face from weeping so much.

Al-Ḥasan said: When ʿUmar came upon a verse during his daily recitation he would collapse, and would be tended for days because of it.

Anas related: I went out with ʿUmar; he entered an orchard, and while a wall separated us I heard him say, “ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Commander of the Believers—well done! By Allah, either you will fear Allah, son of al-Khaṭṭāb, or He will punish you.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah said: I saw ʿUmar pick up a straw from the ground and say, “Would that I were this straw! Would that I had been nothing! Would that my mother had never given birth to me.”

ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Ḥafṣ said: ʿUmar once carried a waterskin on his neck. When asked why, he said, “My soul admired itself, so I wanted to humble it.”

Al-Salt ibn Bahrām, reporting from Jamīʿ ibn ʿUmayr al-Tamīmī, narrated from Ibn ʿUmar: “I was present at Jalūlāʾ and bought items from the spoils for forty thousand. When I came to ʿUmar he asked, ‘If you were brought before the Fire and told, “Ransom yourself,” would you ransom yourself with that?’ I replied, ‘By Allah, there is nothing that would harm you except that I would ransom you from it.’ He said, ‘I can almost see the people gathering and saying, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him…”’