Biography of Sayyidna Umar Farooq, (MAPH) (4th part)
His Conversion to Islam
When Umar saw that the number of Muslims was steadily increasing, he decided to kill the Prophet, peace be upon him. He took the sword and went out with the intention of killing him. One of his companions saw him, while he kept his Islam a secret, asked him about his destination. Umar told him: He will kill Muhammad. Sahabi said to him: Do you think that Bani Abd al-Muttalib will leave you?
Umar said to him: I think you follow Muhammad?
He said: Your sister and her husband believed in his religion.
Umar said: Did they do this?
He said: Yes.
He wanted to stop Umar (MAPH) from killing the Prophet (PBUH) through this passerby, Umar’s anger rose, and he went to his sister’s house and slammed the door. It was in the house of Khabbab bin Art, may Allah be pleased with him, that he was teaching the Qur’an to Saeed bin Zayd and his wife, the daughter of Khattab.
When Khabbab bin Art heard Umar bin Khattab knocking on the door, he hid inside the house. When the door opened, he grabbed Saeed bin Zayd – his sister’s husband and said to him, “Have you become irreligious and follow Muhammad?” Saeed said: O Umar, tell me if the truth is in a religion other than yours, what is the obligation?
Umar pushed him and knocked him to the ground and started beating him. Fatemeh came to take him away from her husband, who slapped her on the face and blood flowed from her face. What is the assignment?
The pages of Quran fell from his hand, Umar said: Give me these pages. His sister said: You are impure, and I will not give you until you have bathed.
Then he went and took bath, and she gave him the pages of Quran and he started reading those pages«اعوذبالله من الشیطن الرجیم، بسمالله الرحمن الرحیم، طه (1) ماانزلنا علیک القرآن لتشقی (2) إلا تذکرة لمن یخشی (3) » Umar said: No one but the Lord of the worlds says this. He asked his sister to show him the place of the Prophet. Here, Khabbab bin Art came to his senses and came out of his hiding place and said: O Umar, he is living in the house of Aqram bin Abi Arqam. In my opinion, you are the result of the prayer of the Prophet who said: “ya Allah, honor Islam with one of the two lives; Umar bin Khattab or Amr bin Hisham.
Umar said: Did he pray for me?
He said: Yes; So, go to him, O Umar.
Umar, may God be pleased with him, walked towards the house of Arqam, may God be pleased with him, and knocked on the door. Bilal said: Who is it?
He said: Umar. Those who were at home trembled and were terrified because of Umar’s arrival; Hamza bin Abd al-Muttalib said: Open the door, if he has come for good, we are at his service, and if he has come for evil, I will answer him. At this time, the Prophet (peace be upon him) came to him and grabbed his collar (Yakhn) firmly and shook him violently. Umar says: I fell on my knees to the ground.
The Prophet said to him: Isn’t it time for you to convert to Islam, son of Khattab?
Umar recited the word of Testimony (shahadatin) and immediately the sound of takbir resounded everywhere, immediately after his Islam he asked the Prophet if we are right?
He said: Yes.
He asked: Aren’t they false?
He said: Yes.
He asked: So why we are hide?
The Prophet asked him, what is your opinion, Umar?
He said: O Messenger of Allah, may Allah peace be upon him, I will go out and proclaim Islam in the streets of Makkah until we reach the Kaaba and circumambulate it. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: It is correct, O Umar.
The Muslims went out in two lines, in front of one line was the Lion of God (Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib) and in front of the other line was Umar bin Khattab, may God be pleased with them, and they all shouted “Allah Akbar and Alhamdulillah” until they completed the Tawaf of the Kaaba.
The Quraysh couldn’t protest against them; Rather, the Meccans closed the doors of their houses, as if they were hiding from the Muslims; This was the first day that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, embraced Islam. He did not limit himself to declaring his Islam around the Kaaba; Rather, he went to the leaders of disbelief to convey his Islam to them, perhaps to arouse their anger.
He went to Abu Jahl and knocked on the door of his house and said: O Abul Hakim! Don’t you know that I have become a Muslim?
He said: “Woe to you” and closed the door of his house all day. Then he went to Abu Sufyan and did the same, Abu Sufyan also closed the door of his house. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, meant that he would be harassed in the way of God like the rest of the Muslims. He wanted to express his honor and dignity by attributing himself to this religion.
He went to a man named Jamil bin Muammar, who was skilled in spreading news. He said: O Jameel, I will tell you a piece of news as long as you wear it. He said: Yes. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Don’t tell anyone, I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
Umar says: I didn’t see him in front of me, he left, and I followed him. He used to say: Umar has returned from his religion, and I used to say: He is lying and saying that I have not returned from his religion. But I believed.
The people of Makkah gathered and started beating him, until they got tired, he took one and hit it on the ground and said leave me.
We are still on the first day of his belief. He didn’t stop there and instead gathered his children and said: Know that I bear witness that there is no god but Allah the Highest and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I command you to believe in the only God.
His son Abdullah bin Umar, may God be pleased with him, said to him: My father, I have been a believer for a year. He said to him: Did you leave your father to enter hell? I swear to God that you will suffer a lot. Throughout his life, whenever Omar remembered this story, he blamed his son.
