and ʿAyn Wardah, Diyār Bakr, Diyār Rabīʿah, the region of Mosul, and the whole of Armenia.
In Iraq his forces entered al-Qādisiyyah, al-Ḥīrah, Nahr Shīr, Sābāṭ, the royal precincts of Chosroes (Madāʾin), the districts along the Euphrates and the Tigris, al-Ubullah, Basra, al-Ahwāz, Fars, Nahāwand, Hamadhān, al-Zafī, Qūmis, Khurasan, Istakhr, Isfahan, Susa, Marw, Nishapur, Jurjān, Azerbaijan, and many other places; his armies even crossed the river time and again.
He was humble before Allah, austere in manner of living and in food, and stern for the sake of Allah. He patched his garment with leather, carried a water-skin on his shoulders despite the awe he inspired, rode a donkey without a saddle and a camel bridled with palm-fiber. He laughed little and never jested with anyone.
The inscription on his signet ring read:
“Sufficient is death as an admonisher, O ʿUmar.” (1)
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“The firmest of my community in the religion of Allah is ʿUmar.” (2)
Ibn ʿAbbās relates that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“I have two ministers among the dwellers of heaven and two ministers among the dwellers of earth. My heavenly ministers are Jibrīl and Mīkāʾīl, and my earthly ministers are Abū Bakr and ʿUmar—they are my hearing and my sight.” (3)
ʿĀʾishah relates that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Indeed, Satan flees from ʿUmar.” (4)
He ﷺ also said:
“The most compassionate of my community is Abū Bakr, and the firmest of them in the religion of Allah is ʿUmar.” (5)
Someone once said to ʿUmar, “You are decisive authority itself.” He replied, “Praise be to Allah who has filled my heart with mercy toward them and has filled their hearts with awe of me.”
ʿUmar said, “It is not lawful for me to take from the property of Allah except two outfits—one for winter and one for summer—and food for my family equal to that of an ordinary man of Quraysh, not the richest among them. After that I am merely one of the Muslims.”
Whenever ʿUmar appointed an official, he wrote a covenant for him, summoned a group of the Muhājirūn to witness it, and stipulated that the appointee must not ride a pedigreed horse, eat refined bread, wear delicate cloth, or close his door to those in need; should he do any of that, punishment would befall him.
It is said that if a man related a report to him and inserted one or two false words, ʿUmar would say, “Keep those back, keep those back.” The man would reply, “By Allah, everything I have told you is true—save what you ordered me to leave out.”
Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān said, “As for Abū Bakr, the world did not seek him, nor did he seek it; as for ʿUmar, it sought him but he did not seek it; and as for…"