As-salaamu'alaykum,
Upon receiving a shipment of perfume from Bahrain, Umar (radiyAllahu anh) said,
"By Allah, I would love to find a woman who is good at weighing things, so that she can weigh this perfume for me, and so that I can then distribute it among the general population of Muslims."
His wife Aatikah bint Zaid ibn Amr ibn Nufail (radiyAllahu anha) said,
"I am good with weights. So bring the perfume, and I will weigh it for you."
Umar said,
"No."
She asked,
"Why?"
He said,
"Verily, I am afraid that you will take it, that you will hold it like this (to show her what he meant, he placed his fingers on his temples) and that you will rub some of it onto your neck. Consequently, I will have received more of a share (of the perfume) than any other Muslim."
(Az-Zuhd, by Imam Ahmad, pg. 11. Refer also to At-Tareekh al-Islaamee, 19/30)
If anything, this story showed the lengths that Umar was willing to go in order to safeguard his Religion, and in order to avoid doing anything that was even remotely unlawful. He feared that if his wife were to be in charge of weighing the perfume, she would perhaps rub a small quantity of it onto her neck, which to him meant that he was wrongfully receiving something that belonged to the general population of Muslim's. The reader might ask, what difference would a drop of perfume have made? But the reader would do well to remember that, in any field of expertise in this world, it is attention paid to details that makes the difference between someone who is mediocre and someone who is excellent, and perhaps even the best, at what he does. In Religion, the situation is not much different: it was, at least to a great extent, the attention paid to details that made a difference between a good Muslim and, in the case of Umar, a much more superior and more pious Muslim.
Upon receiving a shipment of perfume from Bahrain, Umar (radiyAllahu anh) said,
"By Allah, I would love to find a woman who is good at weighing things, so that she can weigh this perfume for me, and so that I can then distribute it among the general population of Muslims."
His wife Aatikah bint Zaid ibn Amr ibn Nufail (radiyAllahu anha) said,
"I am good with weights. So bring the perfume, and I will weigh it for you."
Umar said,
"No."
She asked,
"Why?"
He said,
"Verily, I am afraid that you will take it, that you will hold it like this (to show her what he meant, he placed his fingers on his temples) and that you will rub some of it onto your neck. Consequently, I will have received more of a share (of the perfume) than any other Muslim."
(Az-Zuhd, by Imam Ahmad, pg. 11. Refer also to At-Tareekh al-Islaamee, 19/30)
If anything, this story showed the lengths that Umar was willing to go in order to safeguard his Religion, and in order to avoid doing anything that was even remotely unlawful. He feared that if his wife were to be in charge of weighing the perfume, she would perhaps rub a small quantity of it onto her neck, which to him meant that he was wrongfully receiving something that belonged to the general population of Muslim's. The reader might ask, what difference would a drop of perfume have made? But the reader would do well to remember that, in any field of expertise in this world, it is attention paid to details that makes the difference between someone who is mediocre and someone who is excellent, and perhaps even the best, at what he does. In Religion, the situation is not much different: it was, at least to a great extent, the attention paid to details that made a difference between a good Muslim and, in the case of Umar, a much more superior and more pious Muslim.