ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him. Indeed, the best of this community after its Prophet is Abū Bakr, followed by ʿUmar.

It is authentically reported in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections that ʿUmar is expressly described as a muhaddath—one to whom the angels speak—within this ummah. Therefore, whoever else in the nation of Muhammad (Allah bless him and grant him peace) may be granted such inspiration or divine address, ʿUmar is superior to him. Yet in spite of this lofty station, ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—did what was required of him: he always measured what occurred to him against what the Messenger of Allah had brought. At times his intuition accorded with Revelation, and this counted among his distinctions, for the Qur’an was sent down in agreement with his views on more than one occasion. At other times it differed, and he would immediately retract, just as he did at Ḥudaybiyah when he had initially thought they should fight the idolaters—an account well known in al-Bukhārī and elsewhere.

To recall the event: in the sixth year after the Hijrah, the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) set out to perform ʿumrah accompanied by about 1,400 Muslims—the very group who later pledged allegiance to him beneath the tree. After a round of negotiations he concluded a truce with the idolaters, agreeing to withdraw that year and to perform the lesser pilgrimage the following year. The treaty contained conditions that, outwardly, seemed somewhat humiliating for the Muslims, and this weighed heavily on many of them. But Allah and His Messenger knew best.