An Islamic Treasury of Virtues
13. Justice
~ 272 ~
Muhammad ibn Amr ibn al-Aas, ran a race with me
and I won it. He became so incensed at this that he
started lashing me with a whip and shouting, ‘I am
a nobleman’s son! Take that!’ On hearing this, Umar
immediately wrote to Amr ibn al-Aas to bring his
son to Madinah. When they arrived, Umar
summoned the Egyptian, handed him a whip and
told him to start lashing Muhammad, the son of
Amr ibn al-Aas. When the Egyptian had given the
son a good whipping, Umar told him to start
whipping the father, because, in the first place, it
was the father’s power that had made it possible for
Muhammad ibn Amr ibn al-Aas to subject the
Egyptian to a beating. “I have beaten the one who
beat me,” said the Egyptian. “Now I need not beat
anyone else.” If you had beaten him, we would not
have stopped you,” said Umar. “But if you yourself
let him go, that is your choice.” Then turning to
Amr ibn al-Aas, he asked: “Since when have you
been enslaving people who were free when their
mothers bore them?”
(IBN ABDIL HAKAM)
