Ibn Saʿd relates: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar informed us; Ibn Abī al-Zinād narrated to us, from his father, who said:

When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz reached Medina as its governor, he led the ẓuhr prayer and then summoned ten men: ʿUrwah, ʿUbayd Allah, Sulaymān ibn Yasār, al-Qāsim, Sālim, Khārijah, Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Abū Bakr ibn Sulaymān ibn Abī Ḥathmah, and ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah. After praising and extolling Allah he said:

“I have called you for a task in which you will be rewarded and by which we may assist one another in upholding the truth. I do not wish to decide any matter without your counsel—or the counsel of whoever among you is present. If you see anyone overstepping, or if news reaches you of an injustice on the part of any official, then I adjure by Allah whoever hears of it not to withhold it from me.”

They invoked Allah’s goodness for him and dispersed.

Al-Layth ibn Saʿd said: Qādim al-Barbarī told me that he once discussed with Rabīʿah ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān a ruling given by ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz during his time in Medina. Rabīʿah retorted, “You speak as though he erred. By Him in whose hand is my soul, he never erred—not once.”

Abū Zurʿah ʿAbd al-Aḥad ibn Abī Zurārah al-Qiṭbānī said: I heard Mālik say:

“Some young men came to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and said, ‘Our father has died and left money with our uncle, Ḥumayd al-Amajī (1).’

So ʿUmar had him brought. When he entered, ʿUmar asked, ‘Are you the one who recited:

Ḥumayd—whose dwelling is in Amj—
 Companion of wine, the bald-headed greybeard;
Old age found him still drinking it,
 Yet he was generous and did not desist?’

He answered, ‘Yes.’

ʿUmar said, ‘It seems I must impose the ḥadd (prescribed punishment) on you, for you have confessed to drinking wine and to not giving it up.’

Ḥumayd replied, ‘Far from it! Where are you going with this? Have you not heard Allah’s words: “And the poets are followed by those who stray … and that they say what they do not do” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 224–226)?’”