Abu al-Fath al-Azdi said: “Muhammad ibn ʿAbdah the judge informed us; ʿAli ibn al-Madini narrated to us, saying:

‘I said to Yahya al-Qattan, “ʿAbd al-Rahman says, ‘I keep away from every leading hadith scholar who is involved in an innovation.’” Yahya laughed and replied, “What will you do about Qatadah? What will you do about ʿUmar ibn Dharr? What will you do about Ibn Abi Rawwad?” Yahya then named other men whose names I withhold, and he added, “If he abandons that entire group, he will be leaving behind a great many hadiths.”’

Ribʿi ibn Ibrahim reported: A neighbour of ours named ʿUmar told me that one of the caliphs asked ʿUmar ibn Dharr about the divine decree (qadar). He answered, “Here is something that diverts one from speculating about qadar.” The caliph asked, “What is that?” He said, “A night whose morning is the Day of Resurrection.” The caliph wept, and ʿUmar wept with him.

Ibn Abi Khaythamah relates, through Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Rifaʿi: I heard my uncle say, “I travelled with ʿUmar ibn Dharr to Mecca. Whenever he proclaimed the talbiyah, no one else would respond, so captivating was his voice. When we reached the Sacred Sanctuary he said:

‘We have kept on descending into hollows, climbing over knolls, scaling heights; a marker would appear and disappear until we brought these mounts to You— their hooves worn thin, their backs rubbed raw, their humps shrunken. The greatest burden upon us is not the weariness of our bodies, nor the wealth we have spent; the greatest burden would be to return in loss. O Best of those before whose court travellers alight!’

My uncle Kathir ibn Muhammad also told me that he heard ʿUmar ibn Dharr say:

‘O Allah, we have obeyed You in the matter most beloved to You that You be obeyed in—faith in You and acknowledgement of You. We have not disobeyed You in the matter most hateful to You that You be disobeyed in—disbelief and denial of You. O Allah, therefore forgive for us what lies between the two. You have said: “They swear by Allah with their strongest oaths that Allah will not resurrect those who die” [al-Naml: 39]. Yet we swear by Allah with our strongest oaths that You will surely resurrect those who die. Will You then place the people of the two oaths together in a single abode?’

Shuʿayb ibn Harb said that ʿUmar ibn Dharr declared: ‘O people who disobey Allah, do not be deluded by the long…’ (the sentence breaks off in the original).