Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Abū Shāma (1) said:

Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Yūnānī was among the greatest of the righteous. I met him personally, and he died ten years after Abū ʿUmar. Even so, he would not excuse Shaykh Abū ʿUmar for what he viewed as undue lenience, in spite of Abū ʿUmar’s own scrupulousness. Perhaps he (al-Yūnānī) was travelling, and the traveller is not obliged to attend the Friday prayer. As for Shaykh Abū ʿUmar’s defence, he held that royal honorifics such as al-ʿĀdil ("the Just"), al-Kāmil ("the Perfect"), al-Ashraf ("the Noble") and the like have become mere proper names, just as people are called Sālim ("safe"), Ghānim ("successful"), Masʿūd ("fortunate") or Maḥmūd ("praised"), although the bearer of the name may in fact be the very opposite (2), neither safe nor successful, neither fortunate nor praised. The same applies to titles such as al-ʿĀdil and its counterparts that kings, merchants and others assume: Shams al-Dīn ("Sun of the Faith"), Badr al-Dīn ("Full Moon of the Faith"), ʿIzz al-Dīn ("Might of the Faith"), Tāj al-Dīn ("Crown of the Faith") and so forth—more often than not, reality is the reverse (3). By the same token, someone styled al-Shāfiʿī or al-Ḥanbalī may behave in a manner wholly contrary to the asceticism and worship practiced by his original Imām. Likewise, the epithet al-ʿĀdil belongs to the class of ambiguous terms (4) [and this explanation is preferable]—and Allah knows best (5).

I say: The ḥadith upon which Shaykh Abū ʿUmar relied has no foundation; it is found in none of the well-known collections. It is astonishing that he—and after him Abū al-Muẓaffar, and then Abū Shāma (6)—accepted such a report and depended on it. Allah knows best.

Abū al-Muẓaffar then went on to recount Abū ʿUmar’s virtues, his extraordinary gifts, and the pious states witnessed by himself and others. He said:

He followed the path of the righteous predecessors (7); his creed was sound, he clung to the Book, the Sunnah and the transmitted reports, passing them on exactly as they had come, without disparaging the Imams of the religion or the scholars of the Muslims. He forbade keeping company with innovators and urged association with the righteous. He said (8) that at times Abū ʿUmar would recite to him (9) verses of his own composition on this theme:

I counsel you: concerning the Qur’an, speak
As speak the people of truth and precision, (10)
It is neither created nor destined to perish, (11)
But rather the speech of the Sovereign, the Just Judge.