#2848 Abu Bakr al-Misri (L108) informed me, on the authority of Sulayman Abu Ayyub al-Khuza'i, on the authority of Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Umawi, on the authority of Ma'ruf ibn Kharrabudh al-Makki, on the authority of Khalid ibn Ma'dan, who said: Abdullah ibn al-Ahtam (L4678) entered upon Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz along with the common people, and Umar was not surprised except to find him before him speaking. He praised Allah and extolled Him, then said: "To proceed: Indeed, Allah created the creation while being self-sufficient, needing not their obedience and being safe from their disobedience. At that time, people were in different states and opinions. The Arabs were in the worst of those states: the people of the stone dwellings, the people of the hair tents, and the people of the camels. The good things of the world and the ease of life were bypassed away from them. They did not ask Allah as a collective, nor did they recite a book for Him. Their dead were in the Fire, and their living were blind and impure, along with countless things that are undesirable and shunned. When Allah willed to spread His mercy upon them, He sent to them a Messenger from among themselves; grievous to him is what you suffer; [he is] concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful (pbuh). Their condition did not prevent them from wounding his body and mocking his name. With him was a speaking Book from Allah, which is not upheld except by His command and not departed from except by His permission. When he was commanded with determination and charged with Jihad, his strength expanded for Allah's command. So Allah made his proof prevail, granted success to his word, and made his call manifest. He departed the world pious and pure. Then Abu Bakr stood after him, followed his Sunnah, and took his path. The Arabs apostatized, or those among them who did so, and he refused to accept from them after the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) except what he used to accept. He drew swords from their scabbards and lit fires in their flames, then he struck the people of falsehood with the people of truth. He did not cease cutting their joints and watering the earth with their blood until he brought them back into that which they had exited and made them acknowledge that from which they had fled. He had obtained from the wealth of Allah a young camel upon which he drew water, and an Abyssinian woman who nursed a child of his. At his death, he saw that as a lump in his throat, so he delivered that to the Caliph after him and departed the world pious and pure upon the methodology of his companion. Then Umar ibn al-Khattab stood after him; he established the provincial cities, mixed severity with leniency, bared his forearms, and rolled up his sleeves. He prepared for matters their peers and for war its instruments. When the youth of al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah struck him, he commanded Ibn Abbas to ask the people: 'Do they know his killer?' When it was said: 'The youth of al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah,' he began praising his Lord that no one who had a right to the booty had struck him, lest he argue against him that he only deemed his blood lawful because of what he had deemed lawful of his right. He had obtained from the wealth of Allah eighty-some thousand, for which he sold his properties and disliked making it a liability for his children, so he delivered it to the Caliph after him and departed the world pious and pure upon the methodology of his two companions. Then you, O Umar, are a son of this world; its kings birthed you and fed you from their breasts. You grew up in it, seeking it in its likely places. But when you were given charge of it, you cast it away where Allah cast it. You abandoned it, treated it harshly, and loathed it except for what you took from it as provision. So praise be to Allah who cleared our sin through you and relieved our distress through you. Proceed and do not look back, for nothing is too difficult for truth, and nothing is honorable in falsehood. I say this and ask forgiveness from Allah for myself and for the believing men and women."