In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The best of generations in character and example,
Following the Messenger whenever he strove or spoke.
Mawaddah Association presents:
"Portraits from the Lives of the Tabi'un"
By Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
May Allah have mercy on him.
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
And his son Abd al-Malik.
No sooner had the venerable Tabi'i, the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz,
Shaken the dust from his hands from the grave of his predecessor, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik,
Than he heard the ground rumbling around him.
He asked, "What is this?"
They replied, "These are the royal mounts of the caliphate, O Commander of the Faithful,
Prepared for you to ride."
Umar glanced sideways at them
And said in his quavering voice, exhausted by fatigue
And worn thin by sleepless nights:
"What have I to do with them? Take them away from me, may Allah bless you,
And bring me my mule,
For it is sufficient for my needs."
Then, no sooner had he settled firmly onto the back of the mule
Than the chief of police came to march before him,
Accompanied by a squadron of his men lined up on his right and left,
Bearing glistening lances in their hands.
He turned to him and said:
"I have no need of you or them;
I am merely a man from among the Muslims.
I go out in the morning as they go out,
And I return in the evening as they return."
Then he proceeded, and the people walked with him until he entered the mosque,
Where the call was raised among the people:
"Assemble for prayer!"
"Assemble for prayer!"
The people poured into the mosque from every direction,
And when their assembly was complete,
He stood up among them to deliver a sermon.
He praised Allah and extolled Him,
Sent blessings upon His Prophet, and then said:
"O people!
I have been tested with this office without my counsel,
Without my seeking it,
And without consultation with the Muslims.
I hereby release you from the allegiance to me placed upon your necks;
So choose for yourselves a caliph with whom you are pleased."
Thereupon, the people cried out with a single voice:
"We have chosen you, O Commander of the Faithful, and are well pleased with you!
So lead our affairs with good fortune and blessing!"
When he saw that their voices had quieted
And their hearts were set at ease,
He praised Allah once more and extolled Him,
Sent blessings and peace upon Muhammad, His servant and Messenger,
And began urging the people toward mindfulness of Allah (taqwa),
Fostering their detachment from the worldly life, instilling longing for the Hereafter,
And reminding them of death in a manner that softened hardened hearts
And drew forth unyielding tears—
Words that emerged from the speaker's innermost heart
To settle deep within the hearts of his listeners.
Then he raised his weary voice so that everyone could hear him, and said:
"O people! Whoever obeys Allah, obedience to him is obligatory;
But whoever disobeys Allah, no one owes him any obedience.
O people! Obey me so long as I obey Allah concerning you;
But if I disobey Allah, you owe me no obedience whatsoever."
Then he stepped down from the pulpit,
Headed to his house, and retired to his room,
Seeking to take an hour of rest
After the grueling exertion he had endured since the death of the caliph.
Yet, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
Had barely laid his side down on his bed
When his son Abd al-Malik entered upon him—
Who was at that time approaching seventeen years of age—
And asked, "What do you intend to do, O Commander of the Faithful?"
He replied, "My dear son, I wish to take a short nap,
For there is no strength left in my body."
He said, "Will you slumber before restoring usurped rights to their rightful owners, O Commander of the Faithful?"
He answered, "My dear son, I stayed awake all of last night attending to your uncle Sulayman,
And when noon arrives, I will lead the people in prayer
And restore the usurped rights to their owners, if Allah wills."
He said, "And who can guarantee for you, O Commander of the Faithful, that you will live until noon?"
This remark ignited Umar’s resolve,
Banished sleep from his eyes,
And infused strength and vigor into his exhausted body.
He said, "Come close to me, my dear son." So he drew near,
And Umar embraced him, kissed him between the eyes, and said:
"Praise be to Allah, Who brought forth from my loins one who aids me in my religion."
Then he arose and ordered that an announcement be made among the people:
"Hear ye! Whoever has suffered an injustice, let him bring it forward!"
Who, then, was this Abd al-Malik?
What is the story of this youth, concerning whom the people said
That it was he who steered his father into devotion
And guided him along the path of asceticism?
Let us explore the story of this righteous youth from its beginning.
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz had fifteen children,
Among whom were three daughters.
All of them possessed an abundant share of piety
And a high standing in righteousness;
Yet Abd al-Malik was the centerpiece of his siblings' necklace
And their radiant, shining star.
He was cultured, refined, and intelligent,
Possessing the youth of a boy and the wisdom of a mature elder.
Furthermore, he grew up in the obedience of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime,
From his earliest childhood.
He was the closest of people in demeanor to the family of al-Khattab in general,
And bore the closest resemblance to Abdullah ibn Umar in particular,
In his reverent fear of Allah,
His dread of disobeying Him,
And his drawing near to Him through obedience.
His cousin Asim narrated, saying:
"I arrived in Damascus
And stayed with my cousin Abd al-Malik, who was unmarried at the time.
We prayed the night prayer (Isha),
And each of us retired to his bed.
Abd al-Malik got up, extinguished the lamp,
And we both surrendered our eyes to sleep.
Then I awoke in the middle of the night,
Only to find Abd al-Malik standing in prayer in the darkness,
Reciting the words of the Mighty and Sublime.
What struck me about him was that he kept repeating the verse,
Sobbing with muffled, stifled weeping
That tore at the heartstrings.
Every time he finished the verse, he returned to it again,
Until I thought his weeping would kill him.
When I witnessed that, I called out:
'There is no god but Allah!
And all praise is due to Allah!'
Just as one waking from sleep would do,
In order to interrupt his weeping.
When he heard me, he fell silent,
And I did not hear a sound from him thereafter."
The Umari youth studied
Under the leading scholars of his era,
Until he was thoroughly steeped in the Book of Allah,
Deeply versed in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
And accomplished in fiqh.
Thus, despite his young age,
He rivaled the foremost rank of the jurists of the Levant in his time.
It is related that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
Gathered the Qur'an reciters and jurists of the Levant
And said:
"I have summoned you regarding the matter of these usurped properties
Held in the hands of my household;
What is your view concerning them?"
They replied:
"O Commander of the Faithful!
That was an affair that occurred outside of your rule,
And the burden of these injustices rests upon the one who seized them unlawfully."
But he was not satisfied with what they said.
Then one of those who held a different view leaned toward him and said:
"Send for Abd al-Malik, O Commander of the Faithful,
For he is in no way inferior to those you have summoned in knowledge, fiqh, or intellect."
When Abd al-Malik entered upon him,
Umar asked him:
"What is your view regarding this wealth that our cousins seized from the people unlawfully,
Given that its owners have come forth demanding it,
And we have verified their rightful claim to it?"
He answered:
"I believe you must return it to its rightful owners, so long as you have learned of their entitlement;
For if you do not do so,
You will be a partner to those who seized it unlawfully."
Umar's face beamed with delight,
His soul found ease,
And the anxiety that weighed upon them both was lifted.
The Umari youth preferred stationing himself along the frontier outposts
And residing in one of the cities nearby
Over remaining in the heart of the Levant.
So he set out for them,
Leaving behind Damascus with its lush gardens,
Plentiful shade,
And seven rivers.
His father, despite all he knew of his son's righteousness and piety,
Feared greatly for him from the incitements of Satan,
Worried deeply over him regarding the impulses of youth,
And was eager to know everything he properly could about his affairs,
Never neglecting or overlooking that in the least.
Maymun ibn Mihran,
The minister, judge, and counselor to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, related:
"I entered upon Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
And found him writing a letter to his son Abd al-Malik,
Admonishing him and offering him counsel,
Guiding him and cautioning him,
Warning him and giving him glad tidings.
Among the things written therein was:
'To proceed:
The most deserving of people to heed my instruction and understand my words is you.
Indeed, Allah—praise be to Him—
Has been gracious to us in matters small and great.
So remember, my son, Allah's favor upon you and upon your parents,
And beware of arrogance and haughtiness,
For they are of the work of Satan,
And he is to the believers an open enemy.
Know that I have not sent you this letter of mine
Because of any ill report that has reached me concerning you,
For I have known nothing of your conduct except good;
Rather, something of your self-admiration has been reported to me.
And had this self-admiration led you into what I dislike,
You would certainly have seen from me what you would dislike.'
Maymun said:
Then Umar turned to me and said:
"O Maymun,
my son 'Abd al-Malik has been made dear and pleasing in my eyes,
and I suspect myself on that account.
I fear that my love for him may have clouded my true judgment of him,
and that I have been overcome by that blindness which overtakes fathers regarding their children's faults.
Go to him and test his inner character,
and see if you detect in him anything resembling arrogance or boastfulness;
for he is still a young lad,
and I do not consider him safe from the whisperings of Satan."
Maymun said:
"So I set out on the journey to 'Abd al-Malik until I reached him.
I asked permission and entered,
and there stood a young man in the prime of his youth,
blooming with vitality,
radiant of countenance,
abundant in humility,
sitting upon a white cushion over a simple wool rug.
He welcomed me and then said:
'I have heard my father speak of you with all the goodness that you truly deserve,
and I truly hope that Allah brings benefit through you.'
So I asked him: 'How do you find yourself?'
He replied:
'In goodness and grace from Allah, the Mighty and Sublime.
However, I fear that my father's good opinion of me may have deceived me,
for I have not attained all the virtue that he thinks I possess.
I truly dread that his love for me has overwhelmed his true knowledge of who I am,
and that I might thus become a source of trial and harm for him.'
I was astonished by the mutual harmony of their perceptions.
Then I asked him: 'Inform me, from where do you earn your livelihood?'
He said:
'From the produce of land I purchased from someone who inherited it from his father,
paying its price from purely lawful wealth entirely free of doubt;
thus I have made myself independent of the public treasury of the Muslims.'
I asked: 'What is your food?'
He said:
'One night meat, one night lentils and olive oil,
and one night vinegar and olive oil;
and in this there is ample sustenance.'
So I asked him:
'Do you not feel any self-admiration?'
He replied:
'There was indeed something of that in me,
but when my father admonished me,
he opened my eyes to the reality of my own self,
diminished its worth in my esteem,
and humbled its status before my eyes;
and Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, benefited me greatly through that.
So may Allah reward him with the best reward of a father!'
I sat with him for a while conversing,
delighted by his eloquence and speech,
for I had never seen anyone with a more handsome face,
nor of more sound intellect,
nor of finer manners and refinement than him,
despite his tender age
and limited experience.
Toward the end of the day,
a servant came to him and said:
'May Allah rectify you, we have finished.'
'Abd al-Malik remained silent.
I asked:
'What is this that they have finished?'
He replied:
'The public bathhouse.'
I said: 'What do you mean?'
He said:
'They cleared the people out of it for me.'
I said:
'You had indeed held in my heart
a status of great esteem,
until I heard this!'
He was startled, uttered the words of grief and turning to Allah,
and said:
'And what is wrong with that, uncle,
may Allah have mercy on you?'
I said:
'Does the public bathhouse belong to you?'
He said: 'No.'
I said:
'Then what prompted you to have people driven out of it,
as if you desire by doing so
to elevate yourself above them,
and to assign yourself a status
that towers over their status?
Moreover, you harm
the bathhouse owner regarding his daily earnings,
and you turn away whoever comes
to his bathhouse disappointed.'
He said:
'As for the owner of the bathhouse,
I satisfy him and give him
his full daily revenue.'
I said:
'This is an extravagant expenditure
tainted by pride!
And what prevents you from entering
the bathhouse alongside the people,
being just like any one of them?'
He replied:
'What prevents me from doing so
is that a group among the common folk
enter the bathhouse without waist-wraps,
and I detest looking upon their nakedness,
just as I detest compelling them
to put on waist-wraps,
lest they take that
as an exercise of domineering power over them
through political authority—
from which I ask Allah to deliver us
merely breaking even,
with neither burden against us nor gain for us!
So admonish me, may Allah have mercy on you,
and grant me an advice by which I may benefit,
and provide me an honorable way out of this matter.'
I said:
'Wait until
the people leave the bathhouse at night
and return to their homes,
and only then enter it.'
He said:
'Without a doubt;
that is to say,
I pledge and swear
that I will never enter it during the daytime
after this day!
Were it not for the severe cold of this land,
I would never enter it at all.'
He lowered his head for a moment
as though deep in thought,
then raised his head toward me
and said:
'I implore you by oath
to conceal this matter from my father;
for I would loathe for him to remain
displeased with me,
and I truly fear that death might intervene
before securing his pleasure and forgiveness.'
Maymun said:
'At that point, I wanted to test
his discernment, so I said to him:
"If the Commander of the Believers asks me
whether I saw anything amiss from you,
would you be pleased for me to lie
to him?"
He said: "No, Allah forbid!
Rather, tell him:
'I noticed something in him,
so I admonished him and magnified it
in his eyes,
and he hastened to renounce it.'
For my father will not demand that you disclose
what you have not volunteered to reveal to him,
because Allah, the Sublime and Exalted,
has protected him from prying into
that which has been concealed."'
Maymun said:
"May Allah be pleased with the fifth
of the Rightly Guided Caliphs,
'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz,
and may He be pleased with him,
and may He illuminate his resting place and the resting place
of his son and dearest part of his heart,
'Abd al-Malik!
And peace be upon them both on the day
they departed to the Highest Companion,
and peace be upon them both on the day
they shall be resurrected alongside
the righteous and pure elect!
Do you not know that every
people has a noble paragon,
and that the noble paragon
of Banu Umayyah is 'Umar
ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz,
and that he will be resurrected on the Day of
Resurrection as an entire Ummah unto himself?"
Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Husayn said:
"They departed, leaving behind
in our conscience a lingering question:
Was there ever like them
a star that soared and shone so bright?
They filled this life
with glorious deeds
through their righteous actions,
and by them
our world was made to flourish and shine."