As-salaamu'alaykum,
A male in law visited Umar (radiyAllahu anh) and demanded that Umar give him some money from the Muslim treasury. Umar chastised him, and then said,
“You want me to meet Allah as a deceitful king (instead of as a trustworthy and honourable Khaleefah)!”
Some time later, Umar gave the very same in-law 10,000 Dirhams – not from the Muslim treasury however, but instead from his own money.
(Tareekh al-Islam, by adh-Dhahabee, pg. 271)
In a modern day context – nay, in the context of the history of the world’s leaders – the preceding examples seem more like a dream than like reality. What leaders today keep their hands out of the pockets of their citizens? With public money, today’s leaders live opulent lifestyles when their citizens die of hunger. In developing countries, corruption is simply more transparent – with dictators who steal from their people with impunity; but that does not mean that the same corruption – or worse – does not exist in richer, more developed countries. The corruption is there: one only needs to look beyond the surface to find it.
Back room deals; bribery; political favours that are nothing more than a form of bribery; expensive holiday vacations that are paid for by taxpayers; lavish, extravagant parties in expensive halls, when outside of those very halls, or down the block, scores of homeless people brave hunger and cold weather; shady deals with unscrupulous friends – these are just some of the corrupt actions of leaders throughout the world. And yet they are acts of extravagance that Umar ibn al-Khattab – or, for that matter, the rightly-guided Khaleefahs – would never think about, never mind actually carry out in practice.
Umar kept his hands out of the public’s purse, and he strictly forbade his family members from exploiting their relationship with him in order to make a profit or gain any form of benefit. Had Umar behaved differently, had he spent money from the Muslim treasury freely on himself and on his family members, he would have set an awful precedent for the Khaleefahs who were to come after him.
It is a widely known maxim that, if a person looks greedily at the wealth of others, people will despise him; but if he is content with what he has, and if he refuses to even look at what others have in terms of wealth, people will love him. That is for an average, common Muslim. If a leader were to behave in the latter manner – by being content and satisfied with only a little from this world – people would love him, rally around him, support him, love him, and esteem him to a greater degree than any other person.
(Al-Khulafaa ar-Raashidoon, pg. 271)
Considering Umar’s abstemious, unselfish, and altruistic lifestyle, it is therefore not surprising that, throughout the many years of his caliphate, people in all Muslim lands obeyed him, loved him, and revered him. Based on Umar’s reputation as a stern and harsh man, one might be led to think that people obeyed him because they feared him. But nothing could be further from the truth: Consider today’s dictators: People fear a dictator, and so they obey him, but they do so only outwardly. Inwardly, they despise him and speak ill of him whenever they are brave enough to do so, or when he dies and they no longer have cause to fear him. As for Umar, Muslims loved him both outwardly and inwardly. They respected him from the depths of their hearts. Fear can only take a leader so far; it is love and respect for his character that takes him to the heights that Umar reached – and that all of the rightly guided Khaleefahs reached.
People loved Umar because he was a good example both in his private and public life. Ali ibn Abi Taalib (radiyAllahu anh) once said to Umar,
“You refrained from extravagant and indecent behaviour, and so your people also refrained from extravagant and indecent behaviour. Had you been extravagant and indecent (and corrupt), your people would have followed suit.”
Most leaders demand sacrifices from their citizens, while they themselves lead comfortable and easy lives. Without a doubt, Umar was the opposite: In fact, he held himself and his family more accountable for his and their deeds than he did his governors – and he was certainly very strict with them – never mind the general masses of Muslims. People valued his integrity, and all Muslim citizens – whether they were rich or poor, scholars or average citizens, young or old – stood in awe of Umar’s eminence and greatness as a leader and as a person. And even today, throughout the Muslim world Umar is a symbol of what was so great about his generation, and about what potentially can be great about this Nation if its people practically follow the example of Umar and all of the rightly guided Khaleefahs. May Allah be pleased with Umar, and with the rest of the rightly guided Khaleefahs – Abu Bakr, Uthmaan, and Ali (radiyAllahu anhum).
A male in law visited Umar (radiyAllahu anh) and demanded that Umar give him some money from the Muslim treasury. Umar chastised him, and then said,
“You want me to meet Allah as a deceitful king (instead of as a trustworthy and honourable Khaleefah)!”
Some time later, Umar gave the very same in-law 10,000 Dirhams – not from the Muslim treasury however, but instead from his own money.
(Tareekh al-Islam, by adh-Dhahabee, pg. 271)
In a modern day context – nay, in the context of the history of the world’s leaders – the preceding examples seem more like a dream than like reality. What leaders today keep their hands out of the pockets of their citizens? With public money, today’s leaders live opulent lifestyles when their citizens die of hunger. In developing countries, corruption is simply more transparent – with dictators who steal from their people with impunity; but that does not mean that the same corruption – or worse – does not exist in richer, more developed countries. The corruption is there: one only needs to look beyond the surface to find it.
Back room deals; bribery; political favours that are nothing more than a form of bribery; expensive holiday vacations that are paid for by taxpayers; lavish, extravagant parties in expensive halls, when outside of those very halls, or down the block, scores of homeless people brave hunger and cold weather; shady deals with unscrupulous friends – these are just some of the corrupt actions of leaders throughout the world. And yet they are acts of extravagance that Umar ibn al-Khattab – or, for that matter, the rightly-guided Khaleefahs – would never think about, never mind actually carry out in practice.
Umar kept his hands out of the public’s purse, and he strictly forbade his family members from exploiting their relationship with him in order to make a profit or gain any form of benefit. Had Umar behaved differently, had he spent money from the Muslim treasury freely on himself and on his family members, he would have set an awful precedent for the Khaleefahs who were to come after him.
It is a widely known maxim that, if a person looks greedily at the wealth of others, people will despise him; but if he is content with what he has, and if he refuses to even look at what others have in terms of wealth, people will love him. That is for an average, common Muslim. If a leader were to behave in the latter manner – by being content and satisfied with only a little from this world – people would love him, rally around him, support him, love him, and esteem him to a greater degree than any other person.
(Al-Khulafaa ar-Raashidoon, pg. 271)
Considering Umar’s abstemious, unselfish, and altruistic lifestyle, it is therefore not surprising that, throughout the many years of his caliphate, people in all Muslim lands obeyed him, loved him, and revered him. Based on Umar’s reputation as a stern and harsh man, one might be led to think that people obeyed him because they feared him. But nothing could be further from the truth: Consider today’s dictators: People fear a dictator, and so they obey him, but they do so only outwardly. Inwardly, they despise him and speak ill of him whenever they are brave enough to do so, or when he dies and they no longer have cause to fear him. As for Umar, Muslims loved him both outwardly and inwardly. They respected him from the depths of their hearts. Fear can only take a leader so far; it is love and respect for his character that takes him to the heights that Umar reached – and that all of the rightly guided Khaleefahs reached.
People loved Umar because he was a good example both in his private and public life. Ali ibn Abi Taalib (radiyAllahu anh) once said to Umar,
“You refrained from extravagant and indecent behaviour, and so your people also refrained from extravagant and indecent behaviour. Had you been extravagant and indecent (and corrupt), your people would have followed suit.”
Most leaders demand sacrifices from their citizens, while they themselves lead comfortable and easy lives. Without a doubt, Umar was the opposite: In fact, he held himself and his family more accountable for his and their deeds than he did his governors – and he was certainly very strict with them – never mind the general masses of Muslims. People valued his integrity, and all Muslim citizens – whether they were rich or poor, scholars or average citizens, young or old – stood in awe of Umar’s eminence and greatness as a leader and as a person. And even today, throughout the Muslim world Umar is a symbol of what was so great about his generation, and about what potentially can be great about this Nation if its people practically follow the example of Umar and all of the rightly guided Khaleefahs. May Allah be pleased with Umar, and with the rest of the rightly guided Khaleefahs – Abu Bakr, Uthmaan, and Ali (radiyAllahu anhum).
