He used to write to his governors:

“Avoid engaging in any occupation when the prayer times arrive, for whoever neglects the prayers will be even more neglectful of everything else that Islam has legislated.”

He would also send a written admonition to one of his officials, and the man would be left utterly shaken—some even dismissed themselves from office and departed their provinces because of the powerful effect his words had upon them. When an exhortation issues from the heart of the preacher, it enters directly into the heart of the one being admonished. ⦗1⦘

Many leading scholars have explicitly stated that everyone ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz appointed was reliable. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī sent him a number of fine admonitions, but to reproduce them all would make this section far too long; what we have cited already suffices.

He once wrote to one of his governors:

“To proceed: I remind you of a night that will usher in the Hour, whose morning will be the Resurrection. How fearsome that night will be, and how fearsome that morning! ‘And that Day will be hard for the disbelievers.’ (al-Furqān 25:26)”

And to another he wrote:

“I remind you of the long, sleepless vigil of the inhabitants of Hell within Hell, for all eternity. Beware lest you be turned away from Allah, and that become your final state, cutting off every hope concerning you.”

They relate that this governor thereupon removed himself from office, came to ʿUmar, and the Caliph said to him, “What is the matter with you?”

He replied, “Commander of the Faithful, your letter tore my heart apart. By Allah, I shall never again accept any post of authority.”

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He restored every misappropriated right, as we noted earlier, ⦗2⦘ even returning the gem of a signet ring he wore on his own hand, saying, “Al-Walīd gave it to me without due right.” He abandoned every form of luxury in clothing, food, and possessions. He even refrained from enjoying his wife Fāṭimah—renowned for her beauty and the daughter of his cousin, the Commander of the Faithful ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān. It is said that he handed her dowry and all her wealth back to the public treasury—and Allah knows best.

Before becoming Caliph his yearly income had been forty thousand dinars, yet he relinquished all of it until nothing remained to him save four hundred dinars a year. When he assumed the caliphate, his personal wealth amounted to three hundred dirhams. He had several children, the most eminent of them being his son ʿAbd al-Malik, who died during his father’s caliphate; some say he was better than his father. When the boy died, ʿUmar showed no outward grief and said, “A matter Allah approved of—I therefore do not dislike it.”

Before the caliphate, when a very fine, soft shirt was brought to him he would say, “How beautiful it is—were it not for its coarseness!” After becoming Caliph he wore a rough, patched shirt that he would not wash until it became extremely soiled, saying, “How fine it is—were it not for its softness!” He also wore a coarse sheepskin coat. His lamp was fashioned from three sticks tipped with clay, and he built nothing at all.