9 of 10 · 13–23 AH · 634–644 CE · Madinah and the conquered lands
'Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه
The Covenant of Allah and His Messenger
Abu Yusuf reports in Kitab al-Kharaj that 'Umar passed an old, blind man begging at a door and learned that he was a Jew who begged to pay the jizyah and meet his needs. 'Umar took him by the hand, gave him something from his own house, and sent word to the keeper of the treasury: look after this man and those like him, for we have not been fair to him if we took from him in his youth and abandon him in his old age. He exempted him and others like him from the jizyah.
A famous story, preserved by Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, tells of a Coptic Egyptian who came to Madinah to complain that a son of the governor 'Amr ibn al-'As had struck him. 'Umar, in this account, had the young man answer for it and rebuked 'Amr: "Since when have you enslaved people, when their mothers bore them free?"
What is certain is that 'Umar carried this trust to the end. Among his last instructions to whoever would succeed him was this: "I commend to him those under the protection of Allah and the protection of His Messenger ﷺ: that their covenant be fulfilled, that they be defended against those who attack them, and that they not be burdened beyond what they can bear" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3700).
Justice under 'Umar was not for Muslims alone; those living under the covenant of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ were a trust he carried to his last breath.
How do you treat people of other faiths who depend on your fairness — neighbours, colleagues, those who serve you?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3700 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Abu Yusuf, Kitab al-KharajHistorical report
- Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, Futuh MisrHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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