ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Enemy of Islam

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — as is well known from his early history — was a staunch enemy of Islam, and he was ruthless in persecuting the Muslims. One day, Laylā, the wife of ʿUmar ibn Rabīʿah,^* met ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb told her: "O Umm ʿAbdullāh, where are you heading?" She said that he and his people had maltreated and oppressed them, so she was going to leave to one of the lands of Allah to worship her Lord. She was leaving towards Abyssinia, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb told her: "Ṣāḥibat kulli khayr — may peace be with you, may you have a safe journey." That is a very strange statement to come from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb showed no sympathy towards any Muslim, male or female. So for ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb to make duʿāʾ for this woman and to say, "May peace be with you, may you have a safe journey," shocked her.

That was the end of the conversation between her and ʿUmar, and then ʿUmar left. When her husband came, she told him, "Do you know what happened?" He said, "What?" She said, "I met ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb." Now that was not good news. And then she said: and he asked me where I was going, and I told him, and then he told me in a very sympathetic way, "May you have a safe journey." So her husband laughed and said, "Are you expecting that ʿUmar will become a Muslim?" She said, "Maybe. Why not?" He laughed and said, "ʿUmar will not become a Muslim until the donkey of his father does." It is impossible — ḥimār al-Khaṭṭāb, the donkey of his father, will become a Muslim before this man does. Take that idea out of your mind, forget about it; this man cannot — it is just impossible, he cannot become a Muslim. That was the impression of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.