They asked, “Then who is it?”
I opened the document, and there it was: “ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.”
The faces of the sons of ʿAbd al-Malik fell, but when they heard the words “and after him, Yazīd,” they relaxed. ʿUmar was sought, and he was found in the mosque. They went to him and offered him the salutation of the caliphate. He was so overcome (1) that he could not stand until they took him by both arms, escorted him up to the pulpit, and he sat for a long while without speaking.
Rajāʾ said, “Will you not rise to the Commander of the Faithful and pledge your allegiance to him?”
So they rose toward him, and he extended his hand to them. When Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik stretched out his hand, ʿUmar said, “Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we return.”
Then he added, “Yes, to Allah we belong—now that the leadership of this community has fallen to you and to me.”
He rose, praised Allah, extolled Him, and said, “People, I am no legislator; I am but an executor. I am no innovator; I am but a follower. If the regions around you obey as you have obeyed, then I am your governor; but if they refuse, then I am no governor for you.”
He then descended. The superintendent of the caliphal mounts approached him, but he said, “No—bring me my own mount.”
After that he wrote to the governors of the provinces.
Rajāʾ said, “I had thought he would prove weak, but when I saw the manner in which he composed that letter, I knew he would prove strong.”
ʿAmr ibn Muhājir related: “ʿUmar performed the Maghrib prayer and then led the funeral prayer for Sulaymān.”
Ibn Isḥāq said: “Sulaymān died on Friday, the tenth of Ṣafar, in the year ninety-nine.”
Khālid ibn Mirdās reported from al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUmar: “I was present with ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz when the keepers of the caliphal mounts came asking for fodder and stipends for their attendants. He said, ‘Send the mounts to the Syrian garrison-cities so they may be sold, and place their price in the treasury of Allah. My own grey mule is enough for me.’”
And al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn ʿUthmān said: “When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz left Sulaymān’s grave, they brought him Sulaymān’s mounts, and he said: