1 of 7 · c. 584–616 CE · Before Islam · Makkah
'Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه
The Herdsman of Dajnan
'Umar ibn al-Khattab was of Banu 'Adi, a clan of Quraysh whose line meets the Prophet's ﷺ at Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy. He was born some thirteen years after the Year of the Elephant. Long afterwards, as caliph, he passed through the valley of Dajnan near Makkah and remembered herding his father's camels there as a boy; al-Khattab, he said, was a hard man who wore him out with work and beat him if he fell short (Ibn Sa'd).
He grew tall and powerful, a wrestler and horseman, and one of the few men of Quraysh who could read and write. Quraysh made him its envoy: when a dispute arose with another tribe, 'Umar was sent to negotiate on its behalf, or to answer boast with boast.
When Islam came, he set himself firmly against it. His kinsman and brother-in-law Sa'id ibn Zayd later recalled 'Umar tying him up because of his Islam (Sahih al-Bukhari 3862). Yet the Prophet ﷺ saw something else in him, and prayed: "O Allah, strengthen Islam through whichever of these two men is dearer to You: Abu Jahl or 'Umar ibn al-Khattab" (Jami' al-Tirmidhi 3681).
The man most fiercely set against the message was the subject of the Prophet's ﷺ prayer; no heart is beyond Allah's turning.
Is there someone you have written off whom you could be praying for instead?
- Jami' al-Tirmidhi 3681Graded by Ahmad Muhammad Shakir: Sahih · Al-Albani: Sahih · Bashar Awad Maarouf: Hasan Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: Isnaad HasanSahih
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3862Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-Isti'abHistorical report
- al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-BuldanHistorical 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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