An Islamic Treasury of Virtues
5. Piety
~ 131 ~
TAKING NO ADVANTAGE OF ONE’S
POSITION
Once, when a messenger of Caesar’s came before
Umar, the latter’s wife borrowed a
dinar
and bought
some perfume which she poured into phials and sent
as a gift to Caesar’s wife. When the Roman Empress
received the gift, she emptied the phials and filled
them with jewels, telling the messenger to take them
to the wife of Umar ibn Khattab. The latter received
the jewels, and extracting them from the phials, placed
them on her bedding. When Umar came home, he
asked where they had come from. His wife told him
the whole story, whereupon Umar took the jewels
away and sold them. From the proceeds he gave one
dinar
to his wife and the rest he put in the Treasury.
(AL-DAINA WARI)
JUSTICE, EVEN TOWARDS ENEMIES
“If someone disobeys God in matters that concern
you, the best thing to do in return is to obey God in
matters that concern him.” So said Umar ibn Khattab.
(IBN KATHIR,
TAFSIR)
