I say: I have already set forth in detail the manner of ʿUmar’s conversion—may Allah be pleased with him—and the ḥadiths and reports that deal with it, at the beginning of his separate biography which I compiled; all praise and grace belong to Allah.

Ibn Isḥāq said (1): Nāfiʿ, the freedman of Ibn ʿUmar, related to me from Ibn ʿUmar:

When ʿUmar embraced Islam he asked, “Who among Quraysh spreads news the quickest?” It was said to him, “Jameel ibn Maʿmar al-Jumahī.” So at daybreak he went to him.

ʿAbd Allāh (ibn ʿUmar) said: I went out behind him, following in his tracks and watching what he would do—though still a boy, I understood everything I saw—until he reached Jameel and said, “Do you know, O Jameel, that I have submitted and entered the religion of Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him)?”

By Allah, Jameel did not even answer him. He stood up at once, dragging his cloak, and ʿUmar followed him, and I followed them both, until he stopped at the door of the Mosque and shouted at the top of his voice, “O people of Quraysh”—while they were seated in their circles around the Kaʿbah—“behold, Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb has abandoned your faith!”

ʿUmar called out from behind him, “He is lying! Rather, I have become a Muslim, and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah.” They rushed at him, and he kept fighting them and they him until the sun stood high over their heads.

Then they grew weary and sat down, while they stood over him and he said, “Do whatever you like. By Allah, if we had been three hundred men, you would either have left Makkah to us or we would have left it to you.”

While they were in that state, an elderly man of Quraysh approached, wearing a brocaded cloak and an embroidered shirt. He stopped and said, “What is the matter with you?” They replied, “ʿUmar has forsaken our religion.” He said, “So what? The man has chosen a course for himself—what do you want from him? Do you imagine Banū ʿAdiyy will hand over their man to you just like that? Leave him alone.”

By Allah, it was as though they were a garment suddenly lifted off him.

Later, after my father had emigrated to Madinah, I asked him, “Father, who was the man who drove the people away from you in Makkah the day you became Muslim while they were attacking you?” He answered, “My son, that was al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil al-Sahmī.”

This chain of transmission is sound and strong, and it indicates that ʿUmar’s conversion occurred rather late, for Ibn ʿUmar was presented for service at the Battle of Uḥud when he was fourteen, and Uḥud took place in the third year after the Hijrah. Since he could already distinguish matters when his father accepted Islam, his father’s conversion would have been about four years before the Hijrah, approximately nine years after the beginning of the mission. Allah knows best.

Al-Bayhaqī said (3): al-Ḥākim told us; al-Aṣamm reported to us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār narrated to us; Yūnus related, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq:

While the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was in Makkah—or near that time—twenty Christian men came to him after news of him had reached Abyssinia. They found him in the Mosque, spoke with him, and questioned him, while men of Quraysh were seated in their gatherings around the Kaʿbah. When they had finished asking the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) what they wished, he invited them to Allah, Exalted is He, and recited the Qur’an to them. When they heard it, their eyes overflowed with tears; they responded to him, believed in him, and affirmed him, recognizing in him what had been described to them in their scripture.

When they rose to depart, Abū Jahl confronted them with a group of Quraysh and said, “May Allah ruin you! Your people sent you to find out about this man, yet before your seats had even settled beneath you, you abandoned your religion and believed everything he told you! We have never seen a delegation more senseless than you!”