He then ordered those caliphal mounts to be sold to the highest bidder; they were prized, high-bred horses. The mounts were sold and their price was placed in the Bayt al-Māl (public treasury).
They relate that when he returned from the funeral and the people had pledged allegiance to him, so that the caliphate was now established in his name, he went home burdened with grief and worry. His servant said to him, “Why are you so downcast and distressed? This is no time for that.” He replied, “Woe to you! How could I not be worried when there is no one, East or West, in this Ummah who will not demand from me the right that is due to him—whether he writes to me about it or not, whether he asks me for it or not?”
It is further reported that he then gave his wife Fāṭimah the choice: either to stay with him—on the understanding that he would have no leisure to spend with her—or to return to her family. She wept, and her maidservants wept with her, so that a commotion was heard in his house; yet she chose to remain with him under all circumstances, may Allah have mercy on her.
A man once asked him, “Will you find any free time for us, O Commander of the Faithful?” He responded with these verses:
An all-consuming task has come—
I have turned aside from the paths of ease.
Leisure has fled; there is no leisure for us
Until the Day of Resurrection. (1)
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār said: Muḥammad ibn Sallām related to me from Sallām ibn Sulaym who said: When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz assumed the caliphate, he mounted the minbar and, in the first sermon he delivered, praised and extolled Allah, then said:
“O people, whoever wishes to accompany us must do so with five qualities; otherwise, let him depart from us. He must convey to us the need of anyone unable to convey it himself; assist us in good to the utmost of his ability; direct us to any good we have not discerned; refrain from backbiting the subjects in our presence; and not involve himself in matters that do not concern him.”
On hearing this, the poets and public speakers withdrew, while the jurists and ascetics remained and said, “We may not leave this man unless his actions contradict his words.” (1)
Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah said: When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz became caliph he summoned Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah, and Sālim ibn ʿAbdullāh and said to them, “You can see the trial to which I have been subjected and what has befallen me; what advice do you have?”
Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb replied, “Regard the elder as a father, the man of middle age as a brother, and the youth as a son—so honour your father, keep ties with your brother, and show compassion to your son.” (2)
Rajāʾ said, “Be pleased for the people with what you are pleased with for yourself, and whatever you would dislike to be done to you, do not do to them. And know that you will be the first caliph to die.”