[Surah al-Zumar: 47]. This describes their condition (1) on the Day of Resurrection, when neither repentance nor reverent fear will avail.

In this world, however, when a servant fears his Lord, that fear is among the deeds for which Allah rewards him. Whoever fears [Allah] in this world (2), Allah will grant him security on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever equates the believer’s fear of his Lord in this world with the disbeliever’s fear in the Hereafter is like one who equates darkness with light, shade with scorching heat, and the living with the dead.

Whoever assumes authority over the Muslims and governs them with a justice attested to (3) by the generality of his subjects, while still fearing Allah lest he have acted unjustly, is (4) better than one whose rule many of his subjects call unjust while he himself feels secure from punishment—even though both are among the people of Paradise.

The Khawārij who declared Alī an unbeliever and believed him to be an oppressor deserving to be killed—despite being misguided and mistaken themselves—are pleased with Umar and greatly esteem his conduct and justice.

Indeed, Umar’s justice became proverbial, so much so that people speak of “the conduct of the two Umars”—whether they mean Umar ibn al-Khattāb and Umar ibn Abd al-Azīz, as held by scholars and hadith experts (5), including Ahmad and others, or Abū Bakr and Umar, as maintained by a group of linguists (6), such as Abū Ubayd [and others] (7). Umar ibn al-Khattāb is included under either interpretation.