Jami' al-Saghir / Jam' al-Jawami' (al-Suyuti) 2-2299b

Translation

Machine translation, not reviewed

"On the authority of Musa ibn Jubayr, from some shaykhs of the people of Madinah, who said: 'Umar ibn al-Khattab wrote to 'Amr ibn al-'As: To proceed: I have assigned stipends in the register to those under my authority and to their descendants, and to those who came to us in Madinah from the people of Yemen and others, and who turned toward you and to the lands. So look at those I have assigned and who have settled with you, and give them their stipend and their descendants' stipend. As for those who have settled with you whom I have not assigned, assign them in the manner you have seen me assign the like of them. Take for yourself two hundred dinars, for these are the stipends of the people of Badr among the Muhajirun and the Ansar, and I have not reported this to anyone among your counterparts other than you, because you are among the governors of the Muslims, so I have placed you at the highest of that. You know that our expenses fall upon you, so gather the kharaj and take it from its due, then be restrained from it after collecting it. When it reaches you and you have gathered it, pay out the stipends of the Muslims and their descendants, and what is needed of what is indispensable. Then look at what remains after that and send it to me. Know that what is in your hands of the land of Egypt has no khums, for it is land of a treaty, and what is in it is not spoils for the Muslims. Begin with those who suffice them in their frontiers and who are sufficient for them in their duties, then distribute what remains after that to those whom Allah named. Know, O 'Amr, that Allah sees you and sees your deeds, for He said, blessed and exalted, in His Book: {And make us an imam for the righteous} (25:74), and He knows your secret as He knows your public conduct, so let him be the one you follow. You have with you people of protection and covenant, whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ enjoined, and he enjoined the Copts, saying: Treat the Copts well, for they have a covenant and kinship. Their kinship is that Isma'il was from them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Whoever wrongs a covenant-holder or burdens him beyond his capacity, I will be his adversary on the Day of Resurrection. Beware, O 'Amr, lest... I have been tested with the governance of this Ummah, and I have sensed weakness in myself, my subjects have spread, and my bones have grown weak. So I ask Allah to take me to Him without having been negligent. By Allah, I truly fear that if a camel died at the furthest end of your work from neglect, I would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection.'"

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