Umar The Lion Who Found Peace

Before Islam, Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra) was one of the most feared men in all of Makkah.

He was tall, powerfully built, and had a voice like thunder. When he walked through the marketplace, people moved out of his way. He was known for his directness, his bluntness, and his complete fearlessness. Nobody wanted to cross him.

He was one of the strongest opponents of the early Muslims. He had no patience for what he saw as a threat to the old ways of Quraysh. He even tortured his own enslaved servant Labinah when she accepted Islam, striking her until he grew tired, then saying: "I only stopped because I am exhausted."

He was a man of the old world. And then the Qur'an found him.

One day, Umar (ra) strapped on his sword and set out through the streets of Makkah with one purpose: to find Muhammad ﷺ and put an end to what he saw as a dangerous movement tearing his people apart.

On the way, he was stopped by a man named Nu'aym ibn Abdullah.

"Where are you going, Umar?"

"I am going to Muhammad to kill him."

Nu'aym looked at him steadily. "Before you do that, you should sort out your own household first. Your sister Fatimah and her husband Said ibn Zayd have both accepted Islam."

Umar stopped. His own sister. His own blood.

He turned around and walked toward her house.

When Umar arrived at his sister Fatimah's house, he could hear a voice reciting inside. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt was teaching them Surah Ta-Ha from a written page.

They went silent when they heard him at the door. He forced his way in.

"What was that sound I heard?"

"Nothing," they said. "Just talking."

He knew. "Have you become Muslims?"

When they admitted it, he struck his brother-in-law Said ibn Zayd. His sister Fatimah rushed to defend her husband and Umar struck her too. She was bleeding.

She looked at him without flinching: "Do what you want, Umar. Even if you cut us to pieces, we will not leave this religion."

Umar stood there looking at his sister's blood.

Something broke inside him.

Umar looked at his injured sister and something shifted in him. His voice became quieter.

"Show me what you were reading."

Fatimah said: "You are in a state of ritual impurity. You cannot touch it."

He went and washed himself. She handed him the page.

He read the opening of Surah Ta-Ha:

"Ta-Ha. We have not sent down the Qur'an upon you to cause you distress, but only as a reminder for those who fear Allah. A revelation from the One who created the earth and the high heavens. The Most Merciful, who is above the Throne, established." (20:1-5)

He kept reading. He read further and further.

Then he looked up. His voice had changed completely.

"How beautiful and noble is this speech. Guide me to Muhammad."

Khabbab emerged from where he had been hiding. He said: "Umar, I have hope that Allah has chosen you because of a du'a the Prophet ﷺ made: 'O Allah, strengthen Islam with Abu Jahl ibn Hisham or Umar ibn al-Khattab.'"

Umar went straight to the house of al-Arqam, where the Prophet ﷺ and the early Muslims were gathered.

When the companions saw Umar approaching with his sword still at his side, most were afraid. Hamzah (ra) said: "Let him in. If he has come with good, we welcome him. If he has come with evil, we will deal with him."

The Prophet ﷺ walked forward, took hold of Umar's collar, and pulled him close: "What has brought you, son of al-Khattab? I do not think you will stop until Allah brings a disaster upon you."

Umar said: "O Messenger of Allah. I have come to you to declare my belief in Allah and His messenger and what he has brought from Allah."

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Allahu Akbar!" so loudly that every companion in the house knew that Umar had accepted Islam. (Ibn Hisham, Seerah)

When Umar (ra) accepted Islam, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (ra) said: "We could not pray at the Ka'bah openly until Umar accepted Islam. When he did, he fought the Quraysh until they let us pray there, and we prayed with him."

For the first time, the Muslims walked to the Ka'bah in two lines with Umar (ra) and Hamzah (ra) at their head and prayed openly in front of all of Makkah.

The Prophet ﷺ gave him the title Al-Faruq, the one who distinguishes between truth and falsehood.

Umar went on to become the second Caliph of Islam after Abu Bakr (ra). In ten years of caliphate, the Islamic state reached Persia, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt. He was known for his fierce justice and his deep care for the poor.

The man who once set out to destroy Islam became the one who carried it to the world.