the Friday prayer; after that he sat down wearing a shirt whose collar was patched both in front and behind.

A man said to him, “Commander of the Believers, Allah has bestowed plenty upon you—why not dress more finely?”

He replied, “The best kind of moderation is when one is well-off, and the best kind of pardon is when one has the power to punish.”(1)

Juwayriyah ibn Asmāʾ related that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said:

“My soul is ever yearning; whenever it is given something of this world it longs for what is better, and when it was granted that beyond which there is nothing better in this world, it began to yearn for what is better still—namely, Paradise.”

Hammād ibn Wāqid reported that he heard Mālik ibn Dīnār say:

“People call me an ascetic, but the true ascetic is ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, to whom the world came and he renounced it.”

Al-Fasawī narrated: Ibrāhīm ibn Hishām ibn Yaḥyā told us, from his father, from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, who said:

“Al-Manṣūr summoned me and asked, ‘How much was ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s revenue when he assumed the caliphate?’

I answered, ‘Fifty thousand dinars.’

He then asked, ‘How much was it on the day he died?’

I replied, ‘Two hundred dinars.’”

Maslamah ibn ʿAbd al-Malik said:

“I entered upon ʿUmar while his shirt was soiled, so I said to his wife—who is my sister—‘Wash it.’ She said, ‘We will.’ I returned to find the shirt unchanged, so I spoke to her again. She said, ‘By Allah, he owns no other shirt.’”

Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh reported from ʿAmr ibn Muhājir that the daily expenditure of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was two dirhams.

Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir al-Ḍubāʿī narrated from ʿAwn ibn al-Muʿtamir that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said to his wife, “Do you have a dirham with which I can buy some grapes?”

She answered, “No.”

He asked, “Then do you have any small change?”

She replied, “No. You are the Commander of the Believers and you cannot lay your hands on a single dirham!”

He said, “That is easier…"