5 of 7 · c. 15–16 AH · 636–637 CE · Al-Jabiyah and Jerusalem (Iliya')
'Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه
The Gates of Jerusalem
Under 'Umar the armies Abu Bakr had sent into Syria carried on. Damascus surrendered, the Byzantine army was broken at al-Yarmuk, and in time 'Amr ibn al-'As would take Egypt. When Abu 'Ubaydah besieged Jerusalem, then called Iliya', its people, the historians say, asked to surrender to the caliph himself, and 'Umar travelled to Syria.
On that journey, Tariq ibn Shihab reports, 'Umar came to a ford, got down from his camel, took off his leather socks, put them over his shoulder and led his camel through the water. Abu 'Ubaydah protested that the people of the land would see him like this. 'Umar answered: "We were the lowliest of people, and Allah honoured us with Islam. Whenever we seek honour in anything other than that with which Allah honoured us, Allah will humble us" (al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak).
He gave the people of Jerusalem a guarantee of safety for their lives, their property, their churches and their crosses: their churches would not be occupied or pulled down, and none of them would be compelled in their religion. Where the ancient Temple had stood, he found the ground heaped with rubbish, and began to clear it himself; there he prayed, placing the prayer so that the Muslims faced Makkah, not the Rock.
'Umar entered the holy city not as a conqueror on parade but as a servant, and he secured other people's worship as he secured his own.
Where do you look for honour — in how you appear, or in what Allah has honoured you with?
- al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak 'ala al-SahihaynHistorical report
- al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-MulukHistorical report
- Musnad Ahmad (Musnad 'Umar)Grade not recorded here
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-NihayahHistorical 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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