Jami' al-Saghir / Jam' al-Jawami' (al-Suyuti) 2-2209b

Translation

Machine translation, not reviewed

"From Aslam, who said: One day I heard 'Amr ibn al-'As mention 'Umar, and he invoked mercy upon him, then said: I have not seen anyone after the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and Abu Bakr who feared Allah more than 'Umar; he did not care upon whom the truth fell, whether a child or a parent. Then he said: By Allah, I was in my house in the forenoon in Egypt when a messenger came to me and said: 'Abd Allah and 'Abd al-Rahman, the two sons of 'Umar, have arrived as warriors. I said to the one who informed me: Where have they stayed? He said: In such-and-such a place, at the farthest part of Egypt. (And 'Umar had written to me: Beware that any member of my family comes to you, lest you favor him with something you would not do for others, and I will do to you what you deserve.) I could not send gifts to them nor visit them at their residence, out of fear of their father. While I was in that state, someone said: This is 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Umar and Abu Sarw'ah at the door asking permission to enter. I said: Let them enter. They entered, humbled, and said: Establish the limit of Allah upon us, for we drank wine last night and became intoxicated. I rebuked them and drove them away. 'Abd al-Rahman said: If you do not do it, I will inform my father when I reach him. I thought, and I knew that if I did not establish the prescribed punishment upon them, 'Umar would be angry with me over that and dismiss me, and my action would be contrary to his. So we remained as we were, until 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar entered. I stood up to him, welcomed him, and wanted to seat him in the place of honor in my gathering, but he refused and said: My father forbade me to enter upon you except if I found no alternative, and I found no alternative but to enter upon you, for my brother will not be shaved before people ever. As for the beating, do what you see fit. He said: They used to shave along with the prescribed punishment. He said: I brought them out to the courtyard of the house and gave them the prescribed lashes, and Ibn 'Umar took his brother 'Abd al-Rahman into a room of the house and shaved his head and the head of Abu Sarw'ah. By Allah, I did not write to 'Umar a word of what had happened until, when I was about to write, a letter came to me from him, beginning: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. From 'Abd Allah 'Umar, Commander of the Faithful, to al-'As ibn al-'As. I am astonished at you, O son of al-'As, and at your audacity toward me and your breach of my covenant! Indeed, I had preferred you over the people of Badr who are better than you, and I chose you for your audacity against my enemies and for implementing my covenant. But I see you have become defiled with what you have become defiled with, and I think I will dismiss you, and the method of your dismissal will be: you beat 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Umar in your house and shave his head in your house, and you know that this opposes me?! 'Abd al-Rahman is only a man from your subjects, and you treat him as you treat any other Muslim. But you said: He is the son of the Commander of the Faithful. You know that there is no leniency for anyone among people with me in a right that is due to Allah upon him. When this letter of mine reaches you, send him in a cloak upon a saddle, so that he may know the evil of what he did. So I sent him as his father said, and I read the letter of 'Umar to 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar, and I wrote to 'Umar a letter apologizing and informing him that I had beaten him in the courtyard of my house. By Allah, other than whom no oath is greater, I establish the prescribed punishments in the courtyard of my house upon the dhimmi and the Muslim alike. I sent the letter with 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar. Aslam said: 'Abd al-Rahman was brought to his father, and he entered upon him wearing a cloak and unable to walk from his mount. He said: O 'Abd al-Rahman, you did what you did, and the whips did what they did. 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf spoke to him and said: O Commander of the Faithful, the prescribed punishment has already been established upon him once, so what harm is it if you establish it again? 'Umar did not heed this and rebuked him. 'Abd al-Rahman began crying out: I am sick, and you will kill me! So he struck him the second time with the prescribed punishment and imprisoned him, then he fell ill and died."

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