The Caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him and grant him His good pleasure

The death of the Ṣiddīq—may Allah be pleased with him—took place on a Monday in the late afternoon; some say it was after sunset. He was buried that very night, when eight days of Jumada al-Akhirah in the year 13 AH still remained. His illness had lasted fifteen days, during which ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb led the Muslims in prayer on his behalf. While still sick he entrusted authority after him to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb; the document was written by ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, read aloud to the Muslims, and they accepted it, listened, and obeyed.

Thus the caliphate of the Ṣiddīq lasted two years and three months. He was sixty-three years old when he died—the very age at which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed away. Allah joined them both in repentance just as He had joined them in life; may He be pleased with him and grant him His good pleasure.

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (1) reported—through Abū Qaṭn ʿAmr ibn al-Haytham—from Rabīʿ ibn Ḥassān (2) the goldsmith, who said: “The inscription on Abū Bakr’s signet ring read, ‘Niʿma al-qādiru Allāh’ (‘How excellent is Allah, the All-Powerful’).” This report is unusual.

We have already presented the biography of the Ṣiddīq—may Allah be pleased with him—his life (3), notable days, the ḥadiths he transmitted, and the legal rulings related from him, all in a separate volume; praise and bounty belong to Allah.

After him, the Farūq, the Commander of the Faithful, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him—undertook the charge in the fullest manner. He was the first to be styled “Commander of the Faithful,” and the first to greet him with that title was al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, though others say it was someone else, as we have explained at length in the biography of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and his life, which we have set apart (4) in one volume, together with his Musnad and the traditions arranged by subject in another volume; all praise is due to Allah.

News of the Ṣiddīq’s death was dispatched to the commanders in Syria with Shaddād ibn Aws and Maḥmiyya ibn Jazʾ (5). They arrived while the Muslims were already drawn up against the Roman armies on the Day of Yarmūk, as we have mentioned. ʿUmar placed Abū ʿUbaydah in overall command of the forces when he appointed him and relieved Khālid ibn al-Walīd of command.

Salamah related from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq: