Abū al-Malīḥ al-Raqqī (1) relates—on the authority of Maymūn ibn Mihrān—that he said:

Muʿāwiyah sent ʿAmr in secret, wishing to find out what Ibn ʿUmar intended. ʿAmr came to him and said, “Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, what is holding you back from stepping forward so the people may pledge allegiance to you? You were a Companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the son of the Commander of the Believers; you are the person most entitled to this affair.”

Ibn ʿUmar asked, “Have all the people truly agreed on what you claim?”

He answered, “Yes—except for a small number.”

Ibn ʿUmar replied, “Were there to remain only three rustic men in Hajar, I would still have no need of it.”

The narrator continues: At that, ʿAmr realized he had no desire to fight.

So he said, “Would you then pledge allegiance to the one upon whom the people have almost united, and he will grant you lands and wealth?”

Ibn ʿUmar retorted, “Fie on you! Leave me. My religion is not for sale with your dinars and dirhams.” (2)

Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd reports—from Nāfiʿ—that he said:

Ibn ʿUmar used to greet the Khashabiyyah (3) and the Khārijites while they were fighting, saying, “Whoever says, ‘Come to prayer,’ I answer him; but whoever says, ‘Come to killing your Muslim brother and seizing his property,’ I do not.” (4)

Nāfiʿ narrated:

A man came to Ibn ʿUmar and said, “Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, what makes you perform Hajj one year and ʿUmrah the next, yet you leave off jihad?”

He replied, “Islam has been built on five: believing in Allah and His Messenger, performing the five prayers, fasting in Ramadan, paying the zakah, and making pilgrimage to the House.”

The man said, “Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, do you not hear His words: ‘If two groups of the believers fight, make peace between them’ (al-Ḥujurāt 8)?”

He answered, “For me to apply this verse and not fight is dearer than for me to act upon the verse in which He says: …”