ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) instructed his officials to act with gentleness and justice. Abū Bakr narrated through his chain of transmission from al-Qāsim that whenever ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb appointed his officials, he would say: “I send you only as leaders. Do not strike the Muslims, thereby humiliating them, and do not deprive them, thereby wronging them. Keep the milch camel producing for the Muslims”—meaning, their grants.

Through his chain of transmission from Ibrāhīm, it is related that whenever ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb heard that one of his officials neither visited the sick nor admitted the weak to him, he dismissed him. Through his chain of transmission from Abū Mujliz Lāḥiq ibn Ḥumayd, it is related that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb appointed ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir as governor of Kūfah, placing him in charge of its armies and prayers. He appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd over its judiciary and treasury, and ʿUthmān ibn Ḥunayn over the surveying of its land. He assigned them one sheep each day: half of it and its offal to ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, and the remainder to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd and ʿUthmān ibn Ḥunayn. Then ʿUmar said: “I do not think any village from which a sheep is sent out every day for its officials will escape being swiftly ruined…”

Chapter on How Legal Rulings Differ among Lands

The lands of Islam are divided into three categories: the Ḥaram (Sacred Sanctuary), the Ḥijāz, and all other lands. As for Makkah, Allah Most High mentions it in His Book by two names: Makkah and Bakkah. Allah Most High says: “Indeed, the first House [of worship] established for mankind was that at Bakkah—blessed and a guidance for the worlds” (3:96). And Allah Most High says: “And it is He who withheld their hands from you and your hands from them within [the area of] Makkah after He caused you to overcome them. And ever is Allah, of what you do, Seeing” (48:24).

Reports from Aḥmad differ over whether the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) entered Makkah in the Year of the Conquest by force or through a peace settlement. There are two reports.

One report holds that he entered it, but took no property there as booty and took none of its offspring captive, because the Prophet had granted security before the hostilities had ended. For it is related in a report that someone said: “There will be no Quraysh after today.” The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied: “The red and the black are safe.” Thus, the hostilities had not yet ended when security was granted. In the narration of al-Maimūnī, when he was asked about Makkah—whether it had been conquered through a peace settlement—he turned to me and said: “Was it not taken by the sword?” In the narration of Abū Dāwūd, when he was asked about Makkah, “Was it conquered by force?” he replied: “The land was left