Umar

You know, in those days, family relationships could get quite complicated.

For instance:

One of the most powerful chiefs in the clan of 'Adi was a man called Nufayl,

and he had two sons, Khattab and 'Amr, by two different wives,

and when Nufayl died Khattab's mother,

who happened to be the sister of Abu Jahl,

married her stepson 'Amr

and had a son by him called Zayd,

and he had a son named Sa'id

who married Khattab's daughter,

Umar's sister Fatimah.

Now Sa'id and Fatimah were among the first to follow the Messenger,

but they did not dare to tell her brother.

For Umar was known for his violent temper

and along with his uncle Abu Jahl

was one of the fiercest opponents of Muhammad and his Message.

Umar was a big strong man,

and always prepared to physically attack any new muslims he encountered.

So after many of those new muslims escaped to Abyssinia,

the Quraysh were annoyed in the extreme,

and none more so than Umar,

the son of Khattab,

who was about 26 years old at the time.

In fact he was so enraged that he decided that

the only way to settle the situation was

to get rid of the source of the problem

by killing Muhammad himself.

And he took up his sword

and set out to do just that.

But on the way he met a fellow clansman,

Nu'aym ibn 'Abd Allah,

who was muslim

but like many others he had kept his Islam secret

to avoid being attacked by people like

Abu Jahl and Umar,

When Umar said what he was planning to do,

Nu'aym tried to think of a way to buy time to warn the Messenger,

and so he asked Umar why he had not dealt with his own sister Fatimah

and her husband Sa'id,

who were also secret muslims.

On hearing this Umar was even more enraged,

and immediately rushed off to his sister's house,

where he found her with her husband

and a man named Khabbab

reading some pages of Surah Ta Ha,

which had just been revealed.

When he arrived he violently set about Sa'id,

demanding to know what it was they had been reading,

and when Fatimah went to defend her husband,

Umar struck her so hard that he drew blood.

With that, Fatimah told him that they were indeed muslims,

and challenged him to do whatever he wanted.

But Umar was ashamed that he had beaten his sister and drawn blood,

and having calmed down slightly

asked to see what it was they had been reading.

With that, the beauty of the words of the Message

reached into Umar's heart

and in a moment changed it.

Straight away

Umar went to find the Messenger

at the house of Arqam near the Safa gate,

and when he arrived there still wearing his sword,

the companions around the Messenger were afraid.

But Muhammad stood

and went to meet him,

and pulled him by his belt into the middle of the room,

asking why he had come.

Whereupon Umar declared his faith in One God

and his recognition that Muhammad was God's Messenger.

When he heard this, the Messenger called out 'Allahu Akbar' in a loud voice,

in such a way that everyone present knew that Umar had entered Islam,

and there was great rejoicing.

In later years Umar used to tell of how

the next day he went to the house of Abu Jahl

to tell him to his face that he was now a muslim,

and how Abu Jahl cursed him

and slammed the door in his face.

From that time, Umar was never far from the Messenger's side,

his protector as well as his companion.

And their relationship was made even stronger

when Umar was looking for a new husband for his eighteen year old daughter, Hafsah,

whose husband Khunays had recently died.

To Umar's surprise and Hafsah's joy,

the Messenger suggested that he himself would marry her.

Her arrival did not disturb the harmony of his family,

as she was close enough to A'isha's age for them to form a lasting friendship,

and the Messenger's other wife at the time was Sawdah

who was almost twenty years older, and like a mother to them both.

Umar would be one of the Messenger's champions in battle,

and a fearsome opponent in argument.

So when the Messenger died,

and the companions were straight away arguing

as to who would take over the reigns of power,

it was Umar that settled the argument by proposing Abu Bakr.

Then, with the death of Abu Bakr,

it was Umar himself that was given the role of Caliph.

And during the time of his Caliphate,

the world of Islam expanded hugely,

But along with the many thousands of people

who were attracted to this new religion,

there were those who hated its Message

as well as those who believed in it.

And so it happened,

that having just returned to Madinah from Hajj,

Umar was in the mosque to lead the prayer

when he was attacked by a Magian

named Abu Lulu Feroze,

who stabbed him with a dagger several times.

Umar died shortly afterwards

and was buried alongside the Messenger.