494 – ʿAbdullāh ibn Yūnus ibn Bukayr narrated to us; his father narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Salmān ibn Jubayr—the client of Ibn ʿAbbās, who lived to meet the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—who said:

“I have long heard the story of ʿUmar on this matter: One night he went out, as he often did, to patrol Medina. He passed by a house whose door was closed upon a woman inside. She was reciting aloud, and ʿUmar stopped to listen:

[al-baḥr al-ṭawīl]
‘How long this night has grown while its stars journey on,
and sleepless I lie, for I have no beloved to play with.
By Allah—were it not for Allah, and nothing besides Him—
the sides of this couch would surely be set quivering.
At times he would caress me, and at times it seemed
a crescent moon had appeared, his brow gleaming in the night’s darkness.
Yet I fear the vigilant watcher appointed over us,
whose recording scribe never neglects a single deed.’

She then breathed a heavy sigh and said, ‘Has Ibn al-Khattāb no regard for the loneliness of my house, the absence of my husband, and the scantness of my provision?’ ʿUmar answered her, ‘May Allah have mercy on you.’

When morning came he sent her maintenance and clothing ⦗685⦘ and wrote to his governor, ordering him to release her husband and send him home.”