what ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb had ordered—he and the courier(1) who had brought the letter executed it.

Throughout all this Abū ʿUbaydah remained silent. When he stepped down from the pulpit he apologized to Khālid for an act that had taken place without his choice or will; Khālid accepted the apology, knowing that no harm had been intended.

Khālid then set out for Qinnasrīn, addressed the townspeople and bade them farewell,(2) escorted his family to Ḥimṣ where he likewise addressed and took leave of them, and finally made his way to Madinah. When he entered upon ʿUmar, the latter recited:

(Long metre)
“You have done a deed no other doer can equal;
whatever people may do, Allah is the Doer.”(3)

He then asked, “From where did you acquire the wealth that enables you to grant ten thousand?”
Khālid replied, “From the anfāl (extra spoils) and the two sahmān (allotted shares).”
ʿUmar said, “Whatever exceeds sixty thousand is yours.” He then appraised Khālid’s cash and property, took twenty thousand from him, and said, “By Allah, you are noble in my sight and dear to me, but after today you will hold no post for me.”

Sīf(4) narrated—from ʿAbd Allāh, from al-Mustawrid, from his father, from ʿAdiyy ibn Sahl(5)—that ʿUmar wrote to the provinces: “I did not remove Khālid out of displeasure or treachery; rather, people had become enamoured of him, and I wanted them to know that Allah alone is the Doer.”

Sīf transmitted the same through Mubashshir, from Sālim, who said: “When Khālid came to ʿUmar …” and he related the same story.

Al-Wāqidī said: In this same year ʿUmar performed ʿumrah (minor pilgrimage) in the month of Rajab; he enlarged the Sacred Mosque and ordered the boundary stones of the Sanctuary to be renewed, entrusting the task to Makhramah ibn Nawfal, Azhar ibn ʿAbd ʿAwf, Ḥuwayṭib ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā, and Saʿīd ibn Yarbuʿ.

Al-Wāqidī also reported that Kathīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Murrī told him, on the authority of his father and grandfather: ʿUmar arrived in Mecca for the ʿumrah of the year 17 AH. On the way the keepers of the watering stations asked permission to build houses between Mecca and Madinah, where no buildings had previously stood. He granted permission on the condition that the traveller would have first claim to shade and water.

Al-Wāqidī further stated: In that year ʿUmar married Umm Kulthūm, daughter of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and of Fāṭimah, daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; he consummated the marriage with her in Dhū al-Qaʿdah. We have already recorded in the biography and musnad of ʿUmar how the marriage took place and that he gave her a dowry of forty thousand. He said, “I married her only because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Every connection and lineage will be severed on the Day of Resurrection except my connection and my lineage.’”(6)