us, we have wallowed in it, rolling over on our backs and bellies.

ʿUmar was once reproached and it was said to him, “If only you ate finer food, it would give you more strength to uphold the truth.” He replied, “I have left my two companions upon a clear road; if I can merely keep to their road, I shall never catch them in their rank.”

While he was Caliph he used to wear a woollen cloak patched in several places with leather. He would go around the markets with a durrāh (whip) on his shoulder, correcting people with it. Whenever he passed date-stones or the like, he would pick them up and throw them into people’s houses so they could benefit from them.

Anas said: Between ʿUmar’s shoulders there were four patches, and his waist-wrapper was patched with leather. He once mounted the pulpit wearing a waist-wrapper that held twelve patches, and on his pilgrimage he spent but sixteen dinars, saying to his son, “We have been extravagant.”

He never sought shade under anything, except that he would cast his cloak over a tree and sit beneath it; he possessed neither tent nor pavilion (1).

When he came to Syria for the conquest of Jerusalem, he was riding a grey camel (2). His bald head gleamed in the sun; he wore neither cap nor turban, and he had tucked his legs between the two sides of the saddle without stirrups. His saddle-pad was a woollen sheepskin (3) that served as his mattress when he halted. His travel-bag (4) was stuffed with palm-fiber and served as his pillow when he slept. He wore a shirt of coarse karābis cloth (5) that was striped (6) and whose collar was torn.

When he dismounted he said, “Call the head of the village for me.” They summoned him and ʿUmar said, “Wash my shirt, sew it, and lend me a shirt.” A linen shirt was brought. He asked, “What is this?” They said, “Linen.” He said, “What is linen?” They explained it to him. He then removed his own shirt; they washed it and stitched it (7), and he put it back on.

The man said to him, “You are the king of the Arabs, and these lands are no place for riding camels.” So a barḍawn—an ambling mount—was brought and a small blanket was thrown over it, without saddle or packs. When he set out, the barḍawn began to prance (8)(9). He said to those with him, “Hold on! I never imagined people rode devils. Bring my camel.” He then dismounted and returned to his camel.

Anas related: I was with ʿUmar when he entered an orchard to relieve himself. I heard him say—though a wall of the orchard stood between us—“ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Commander of the Believers—well done, well done! By Allah, O son of al-Khaṭṭāb, either you will fear Allah or He will surely punish you.”

It is also said that he once carried a water-skin on his shoulder. When someone questioned him about it he replied, “My soul admired itself, so I wanted to humble it.”

He would lead the people in the ʿIshāʾ prayer (10), then enter his house and continue praying until Fajr (11). He did not die until he had adopted continuous fasting, and that was in the year