Men Around The Messenger (5) `ABD ALLAH IBN `UMAR (9) The Persistent and Repentant to Allah He clarified this when Naafi asked him, O Abu `Abd Rahman, you are the son of `Umar and the Companion of the Prophet (PBUH) and you are who you are. What hinders you from that matter? He meant fighting on Allys side. He replied, What hinders me is that Allah has forbidden us to shed the blood of a Muslim. Allah the Mighty and Powerful said: and continue fighting them until there is no more persecutions and GODs Religion prevails (2:193) and we did that. We fought the disbelievers until Allahs religion prevailed, but now, what is it we are fighting for? I fought when the idols were all over the Sacred House, from the corner to the door, until Allah cleared the land of the Arabs from it (idolatry). Should I now fight those who say, There is no god but Allah? That was his logic, argument, and conviction. Thus he did not refrain from fighting, nor abstain from taking part in battle to escape fighting, nor did he passively refuse to determine the outcome of the civil war within the Ummah of the faithful rather he refused to hold a sword in the face of a Muslim brother. `Abd Allah lbn `Umar lived long and witnessed the days in which life opened its gates to the Muslims. Money became more abundant, high positions more available, while ambition and desires spread. But his magnificent psychological capacities changed the rules of his time. He changed the era of ambition, money, and civil strife into an era of asceticism, humility, piety, and peace. He turned persistently to Allah and lived according to his worship, firm belief, and humbleness. Nothing whatsoever could affect his virtuous nature shaped and modeled by Islam during his early years. The nature of life changed within the beginning of the Umayyid period. This change was inevitable. It was a period of expansion in every aspect of life, in the ambition of the state as well as the ambitions of individuals. In the midst of the excitement of temptation and the agitation of an era lured by the idea of expansion with its pleasure and booty, stood Ibn `Umar with his merits, occupying himself with his excellent spiritual progress. He gained from his great excellent life all that he desired, so that his contemporaries described him by saying, Ibn Umar died while being like Umar in his merit.” Moreover, dazzled by the glitter of his merits, his contemporaries liked to compare him with his father `Umar saying, `Umar lived in a time when similar ones could be found, and Ibn `Umar lived in a time when there was no one similar to him. It is an exaggeration which may be forgiveable because Ibn `Umar deserved it. But as for `Umar, no one can be compared to him. It is absolutely out of the question that a similar one is to be found in any period of time. In the year A.H. 73, the sun sank and the ship of eternity hoisted its sail towards the next life carrying the body of the last representative of the first days of the Revelation in Makkah and Al Madiinah: `Abd Allan Ibn `Umar Ibn Al-Khattab.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 10:00:00 +0000