…the matter of its religion.’¹

Many leading scholars have held that the one intended is ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, who passed away in 101 AH.

Al-Bayhaqī said: “Al-Ḥākim informed us; Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Maqrī informed us; Abū ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī related to us; Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm related to us; ʿAffān ibn Muslim related to us; ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Lāḥiq related to us, from Juwayriyyah ibn Asmāʾ, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar who said:

‘We have been told that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: “From among my descendants there will be a man whose face bears a mark; he will assume authority and will fill the earth with justice.”’ Nāfiʿ added, ‘I can only think that he is ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.’²

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād also transmitted it from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, and there are other chains from Ibn ʿUmar in which he used to say: ‘Would that I knew who this descendant of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb is—marked in the face—who will fill the earth with justice.’³ A similar report is recorded from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥarmalah, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab.

This prediction was widely known long before his accession—and even before his birth—that a man of the Banū Umayyah, called “the Scarred One of the House of Marwān,” would rule. His mother was Arwā bint ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, and his father, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān, served as his brother ʿAbd al-Malik’s governor of Egypt. He would honor ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, sending him gifts, presents, and stipends, which he accepted; on one occasion he sent him a thousand dinars, and he took them.

When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was still a boy, he entered his father’s stable, where a horse kicked him and split the skin of his forehead. His father wiped away the blood, saying, ‘If you are indeed the Scarred One of the House of Marwān, then blessed are you!’ People used to say: ‘The Scarred One and the One of the Missing Tooth are the most just of the sons of Marwān.’ The Scarred One is ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and the One of the Missing Tooth is Yazīd ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, about whom the poet said:

I saw Yazīd ibn al-Walīd, a blessed man—
His shoulders firmly bearing the burden of the caliphate.

I say: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, son-in-law of Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, ruled for two and a half years. He filled the earth with justice, and wealth flowed so freely that a man would struggle to find someone to accept his charity. Al-Bayhaqī applied the aforementioned ḥadīth of ʿAdiyy ibn Ḥātim to the era of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, though I have reservations about that; Allah knows best.

Al-Bayhaqī also narrated—on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways: Abū Maʿn al-Anṣārī related to me; Usayd narrated—that while ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was walking on the way to Mecca across a barren expanse, he saw a dead snake. He said, ‘Bring me a digging tool.’ They replied, ‘That is unnecessary, may Allah set you right.’ He insisted, ‘No.’ He then took it, wrapped the snake in a cloth, and buried it. Suddenly a voice called out, ‘May Allah have mercy on you, O Surrāq!’ ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz asked, ‘Who are you? May Allah have mercy on you.’ He said, ‘I am one of the jinn, and this is Surrāq, and he…’