Commander of the Believers! What you see here will be enough to get us through the noonday rest.” (1)

Ibn Wahb reported: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar told me, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar:

When ʿUmar reached Syria he said to Abū ʿUbaydah, “Take us to your home.”

Abū ʿUbaydah replied, “And what will you do there? You only wish to squeeze tears from your eyes over me.”

They entered. ʿUmar saw nothing and asked, “Where are your furnishings? I see nothing but a felt mat, a wooden plate (2) and a water-skin, yet you are a commander. Do you have any food?”

Abū ʿUbaydah went to a small leather bag, took from it a few crumbs, and ʿUmar began to weep. Abū ʿUbaydah said, “Did I not tell you that you would cry over me, O Commander of the Believers? What suffices you until the siesta is enough.”

ʿUmar responded, “The world has changed every one of us except you, Abū ʿUbaydah.” (3)

Abū Dāwūd included this report in his Sunan through the chain of Ibn al-Aʿrābī.

By Allah, this is genuine renunciation—unlike the ‘asceticism’ of one who is simply poor and destitute.

Maʿn ibn ʿĪsā narrated from Mālik:

ʿUmar sent Abū ʿUbaydah four thousand—or four hundred—dīnārs and told the envoy, “Watch what he does with them.”

Abū ʿUbaydah distributed the entire amount, then sent the same sum to Muʿādh.

Muʿādh also distributed it all, save for a small portion his wife said they needed. When the envoy informed ʿUmar, he exclaimed, “Praise be to Allah who has placed among the Muslims those who behave in this way….”