Life of Hazrat Umar Farooq R.A Before Accepting Islam

HAZRAT UMAR BEFORE ISLAM

HAZRAT Umar Farooq, may God be pleased with him, was born in Makkah, an ancient town in Arabia. It is not known exactly when he was born, as people did not record their date of birth in those days. It is known however, that he was about eleven years younger than the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.He is one of four famous SAHABA R.A.

HAZRAT Umar’s father Khattaab was one of the leaders of the Quraish tribe. His mother Hantma was the daughter of Hishaam bin Al-Mugheerah. Hishaam was a person of such high rank that whenever the tribe of Quraish declared war on any other tribe, he was always called upon for the duty of raising an army and leading it to the battlefield. One of the four Khulfa e Rashedeen and Sahaba R.A.

Hazrat Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, learned to read and write in his childhood. It was considered to be a great achievement as very few people could read or write in those days. He loved poetry and like other Arabs could recite the poems of a large number of Arab poets from memory.

He grew up into a responsible young man. His father entrusted him with the job of grazing camels in the fields on the outskirts of Makkah. He learned the art of wrestling, horse riding and was a skilled swordsman.

Later Umar  showed  interest  in  commerce  and  became  a  very  successful  and  wealthy  trader.  He travelled to distant lands such as Syria, Iraq and Persia for this purpose. In those days Makkah was situated on a trade route where camel caravans, carrying merchandise, used to come and go.

UKKAAZ FAIR

In those days a fair was held every year in the town of Ukkaaz, a few miles from Makkah. People used to come from all over Arabia to attend the fair and display their skills. Wrestling matches, athletics and archery competitions were held.  Another attraction was the poetry sessions. Poetry was one of the favourite hobbies of the Arabs. They could recite thousands of verses from memory. In these poetry competitions poets used to recite verses in praise of their own tribe  and mocking the enemy tribes. Sometimes  people were greatly offended  by  these verses and such sessions often ended in bloodshed.

Hazrat Umar used to attend the Ukkaaz fair regularly. He was an excellent horse rider and a very good wrestler. Many a time he would participate in a wrestling bout and beat his opponent easily.

On one occasion as Umar was wandering around with his friends, someone pointed to a young man in the crowd and praised his wrestling skill. Umar could not remain silent. “He can’t be better than me”, he said. Then he swiftly walked up to the young man and invited him to a wrestling bout, which was accepted gladly. The wrestling match began and in no time Umar defeated his opponent.

UMAR WAS A BITTER ENEMY OF ISLAM

When Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, declared that God had appointed him as His Messenger to the whole of mankind, Umar, like many other Makkans, opposed him. He used to persecute Muslims. It is said that when one of Umar’s slave girls, Labeenah, accepted Islam he was so annoyed that he caught hold of her and started  beating her. He kept on hitting her until he was exhausted. Then he told her, “I have stopped only to get my breath back”.  Hazrat Abu Bakr, who had accepted Islam already, was passing by. He stepped forward and bought the slave girl from Umar and then set her free.

 UMAR DID NOT OBJECT TO THE MIGRATION OF MUSLIMS

When persecution at the hands of Makkans reached its extreme, the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, assembled his followers and pointing to the West told them of a land across the sea where people were not tortured because of their faith and where they could worship God freely. He told his followers to migrate to Abyssinia, now  known as Ethiopia, where, in those days, a noble Christian king ruled. On his instructions a few Muslims including women and children decided to go there. The plan was kept secret for fear of Makkan opposition. The Makkans would not let Muslims escape in order to live elsewhere peacefully.

On the day when the party was ready to depart from Makkah, Umar came there by chance and saw the household effects packed on camels. He realised that these people were moving out of Makkah to take refuge elsewhere.

“Are you leaving Makkah?” he inquired from Umm-e-Abdullah, a Muslim woman.

She replied, “Yes, God is our witness, we are leaving for another land because you treat us most cruelly here. We will not return until God makes it easy for us.”

Perhaps influenced by her reply Umar did nothing to prevent their migration even though he was a bitter enemy of Islam.