and the religion itself, and the manifest practice of righteous deeds among those who pray.’

I asked, “And who is he?” He descended and wrote on the ground the letters ʿ-M-R. (1)

Adam ibn Abī Iyyās said: Ḍamrah narrated to us, and Abū ʿAlī Tharwān, the freedman of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, narrated:

ʿUmar once entered his father’s stable while he was still a boy, and a horse struck him, gashing his head. His father kept wiping the blood from him, saying, “If you are the ‘Scarred One’ of Banū Umayyah, then by Allah you are fortunate indeed.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted this through the chain of Hārūn ibn Maʿrūf from Ḍamrah. (2)

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād said: Ḍimām ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us from Abū Qabīl that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz wept once when he was a small boy. His mother heard of it and sent for him, asking, “What makes you cry?” He answered, “I remembered death,” whereupon his mother also wept. He had already memorized the Quran while still a child. (2)

Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn ʿUthmān al-Ḥizāmī (3) said: His father had placed him under the tutelage of Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān. When his father performed Hajj he passed through Madinah and asked Ṣāliḥ about him. Ṣāliḥ replied, “I have never known anyone in whose heart Allah is greater than in this boy’s.” (4)

Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān narrated (5) that on one occasion ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was late for the congregational prayer. Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān asked him, “What kept you?” He said, “My groom was smoothing my hair.” Ṣāliḥ responded, “Did you put that ahead of the prayer?” He then wrote to ʿUmar’s father—who was in Egypt at the time—informing him. The father sent a messenger and did not speak to ʿUmar until he had shaved his head.

ʿUmar used to attend the lessons of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh. News reached ʿUbayd Allāh that ʿUmar was belittling ʿAlī. On one occasion ʿUbayd Allāh came to him, turned away, and began to pray, while ʿUmar sat waiting. When he finished and gave salām, he faced ʿUmar in anger and said, “Since when did you learn that Allah became displeased with the people of Badr after having been pleased with them?!” ʿUmar grasped the point and said, “I seek pardon from Allah and then from you; by Allah, I will never do that again.” Thereafter he was never heard to mention ʿAlī except in good terms. (6)

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Khaythamah said: My father narrated to us; al-Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, who said:

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz entered upon us through this gate—meaning one of the gates of the Prophet’s Mosque (7)—when a man from