- Ahmad ibn Jamil narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us; Nuʿaym ibn Maysarah transmitted from ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn ʿUmar, who said:
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz had a son by a woman of the tribe of al-Harith ibn Kaʿb. He was deeply attached to the boy and used to let him sleep beside him. One night I deliberately came to him. He asked, “ʿAbd al-ʿAziz?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “My son, what has brought you here? Come in.” I entered and sat down by his legs. ʿUmar began to pray, and his whole body quivered like a reed, from the tip of his toenail to his hair. I thought a calamity had struck him. When he bowed, he came over to me and said, “What is the matter with you?”
I said, “No one knows a man’s children better than he does, yet you treat the son of the Ḥārithite woman in a way you have never treated us. I fear people may say⦗179⦘, ‘He favors him because he sees in him something he does not see in the others.’”
He said, “By Allah, did someone teach you this?” I answered, “No.” He repeated the question and I gave the same reply. Then he said, “Go back to your bed.” So I returned. I used to sleep together with Ibrāhīm, ʿAbd Allah, and ʿĀṣim. Presently a mattress was carried in to us, and behind it came the son of the Ḥārithite woman. I asked him, “What is the matter?” He said, “The matter is what you have done to me!”
Nuʿaym commented: It was as though ʿUmar feared he might be guilty of injustice. ʿAbd al-ʿAziz added: And ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz had—may Allah will it—a broad mouth.