of ar-Ramādah, during which he ate nothing but bread and oil until his skin grew dark, and he would say, “How wretched a governor I am if I eat my fill while the people go hungry.” Two black streaks marked his face from constant weeping, and whenever he heard a verse of the Quran he would collapse, to be carried home unconscious and remain there for days with no ailment save fear (1).
Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allah (2) related: “ʿUmar once went out in the depth of night and entered a certain house. When dawn came I went to that house and found an old, blind, crippled woman inside. I asked her, ‘Why does that man visit you?’ She replied, ‘He has been looking after me for such-and-such a time, bringing me what benefits me and removing my refuse.’ I said to myself, ‘May your mother lose you, Talhah! Are you trying to uncover ʿUmar’s hidden deeds?’”
Aslam, the freedman of ʿUmar, said: “A caravan of merchants came to Madinah and camped in the prayer-ground. ʿUmar said to ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAwf, ‘Will you guard them with me tonight?’ He replied, ‘Yes,’ so the two of them spent the night watching over them and praying. ʿUmar heard a child crying and went to its mother, saying, ‘Fear Allah and treat your child well.’ He then returned to his place, but when he heard the child again he went back and repeated the same words. Near the end of the night he heard the child still crying, so he went to the mother and said, ‘Woe to you! What a bad mother you are; why has your son not quieted his crying all night?’ She said, ‘Servant of Allah, I keep him from the breast, but he refuses.’ He asked, ‘Why?’ She answered, ‘Because ʿUmar grants stipends only to children who have been weaned.’ He asked, ‘How old is your son?’ She said, ‘Such-and-such months.’ He said, ‘Woe to you—do not hurry him to be weaned!’
“When he led the dawn prayer his recitation was hardly intelligible to the people because of his weeping. He then said, ‘Woe to ʿUmar! How many children of the Muslims has he caused to perish!’ He thereupon ordered a herald to announce, ‘Do not hasten to wean your infants, for we now assign a stipend to every newborn in Islam,’ and he wrote the same order to all the provinces.
“Aslam also said: One night I went out with ʿUmar to the outskirts of the city. We saw a tent and approached it; inside was a woman in labor, weeping. ʿUmar asked about her condition and she said, ‘I am a stranger (3) and I have nothing.’ ʿUmar wept and hurried back to his house. He said to his wife, Umm Kulthum bint ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, ‘Would you like a reward that Allah has brought to you?’ and told her what had happened. She said, ‘Yes.’ He hoisted a sack of flour and a piece of fat on his own back, while Umm Kulthum carried what was needed for childbirth, and they went to the tent. Umm Kulthum entered to attend the woman, while ʿUmar sat chatting with her husband—who did not know him. The woman gave birth to a boy, and Umm Kulthum called out, ‘Commander of the Believers, announce to your companion the good news of a son!’ When the man heard this he was overwhelmed and began apologising to ʿUmar, but ʿUmar said, ‘Do not worry.’ He then provided them with provisions and whatever else they needed, and departed.
“Aslam further said: Another night I went out with ʿUmar toward Ḥarrat Wāqim (4). When we reached Ṣarār (5) we saw a fire in the distance, and he said, ‘O Aslam…’”