The Day 'Umar Came

In the well-known account of Ibn Ishaq, 'Umar set out with his sword, intending to kill the Prophet ﷺ. On the way a man told him to look to his own family first: his sister Fatimah and her husband Sa'id ibn Zayd had accepted Islam. He burst in on them while Khabbab ibn al-Aratt was teaching them a page of Surah Ta-Ha, struck his brother-in-law and wounded his sister. When he saw her bleeding and unafraid, he grew ashamed and asked for the page.

He read the opening of Ta-Ha and said, "How beautiful and noble this speech is!" Then he went to the house of al-Arqam near al-Safa, where the Prophet ﷺ sat with his companions, and declared his faith, and the Muslims, by this account, cried out "Allahu akbar" so loudly it was heard around them.

Authentic reports confirm what his Islam meant. 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said: "We have been strong ever since 'Umar accepted Islam" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3684). When the news spread, a crowd gathered at 'Umar's house shouting that he had abandoned his religion, until al-'As ibn Wa'il took him under his protection and they dispersed (Sahih al-Bukhari 3864). He became known as al-Faruq: the one through whom truth was set apart from falsehood.