Also transmitted through al-Mājishūn, who said:
“Abd al-Wāhid ibn Abī Awn informed me, from al-Qāsim ibn Muhammad, that Aisha—may Allah be pleased with her—used to say:
‘Anyone who saw Umar ibn al-Khattāb knew that he had been created as a source of strength for Islam. By Allah, he was decisive and masterful(1), one of a kind, with a fitting response prepared for every challenge.’(2)”
Muhammad ibn Ishāq said in al-Sīra:
“Umar ibn al-Khattāb embraced Islam. He was a man of formidable resolve, and none could get at those sheltered behind him. Through him, [the Companions of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—found protection until they became strong. Abd Allah ibn Masūd used to say:
‘We were unable to pray at the Kaaba until Umar ibn al-Khattāb embraced Islam. When he embraced Islam, he fought Quraysh until he prayed](3) at the Kaaba, and we prayed with him.’”
Muhammad ibn Ubayd al-Tanāfisī likewise narrated it with a chain of transmission. He said: Ismāīl related to us, from Qays ibn Abī Hāzim, who said:
Abd Allah ibn Masūd said:
“We have remained strong ever since Umar embraced Islam. By Allah, if only you had seen us when we could not pray openly at the Kaaba! Then Umar embraced Islam and fought them until they left us alone, and we prayed.”(4)
(1) A marginal note in MS R reads: “It is pronounced *ahwadhī*: the initial hamza bears an a-vowel; the undotted hā is vowelless; the wāw bears an a-vowel; the dotted dhāl bears an i-vowel; and the yā is doubled. It means one who is nimble in his gait owing to his skill.”
(2) Ibn al-Jawzī cited this report in *Tārīkh Umar ibn al-Khattāb*, p. 215; al-Muhibb al-Tabarī in *al-Riyād al-Nadira*, 2/105; and the al-Tantāwīs in *Akhbār Umar*, p. 550. The al-Tantāwīs explain: “An *ahwadhī* is one who applies himself vigorously to affairs and masters them.”
(3) The material between square brackets is absent from MSS N and M. Both instead read: “Through him, the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—found protection at the Kaaba, etc.”
(4) Al-Muhibb al-Tabarī cited this report in *al-Riyād al-Nadira*, 1/256–257. It also appears in *Fadāil al-Sahāba*, 1/278, no. 370; its editor stated: “It is weak because its chain is disconnected.” It is also found in *Sīrat Ibn Hishām*, 1/342. Al-Tabarānī transmitted it—as cited in *Majma al-Zawāid*, 9/63—through al-Qāsim, from Ibn Masūd; however, al-Qāsim did not meet Ibn Masūd. Ibn Masūd’s statement is authentically established in *Sahīh al-Bukhārī* with the wording: “We have remained strong ever since Umar embraced Islam.” I say: al-Haythamī stated: “Al-Tabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are narrators of the *Sahīh*, except that al-Qāsim did not meet his grandfather, Ibn Masūd.”