Umar ibn Al-Khattab
عمر بن الخطابCompanion · Second Caliph
Biography
The second Caliph of Islam, known for his strength and justice. His conversion was a major victory for the early Muslims.
Stories
The Shura of Badr: Abu Bakr, Umar, Al-Miqdad, and the Speech of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh
governanceDr. Yasir Qadhi narrates the most important consultation (*Shūrā*) of the early Muslim state, the moment when the Prophet ﷺ asked his 315-man army, no…
Read the full story →Various Incidents at Badr: Abu Ubaydah, Abu Hudhayfah, Abu al-Bukhtari
historicalDr. Yasir Qadhi narrates three distinct incidents from the Battle of Badr that reveal different facets of the human experience on that day. **1. Abū…
Read the full story →The Rescue of Ayyash and Hisham from Makkah's Dungeon
storyʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, when he decided to make the Hijra to Madinah, chose two companions for the journey: ʿAyyāsh ibn Abī Rabīʿah and Hishām ibn al-ʿĀ…
Read the full story →The Conversion of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb
storySpeaker introduction: The conversion of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (رضي الله عنه) is one of the most celebrated events in Islamic history. It occurred three…
Read the full story →Dar al-Arqam: The Secret Headquarters of Islam
storyWhen the number of Muslims reached approximately twenty to thirty, we have no precise number, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم realized they needed a pl…
Read the full story →The First Hijra: Fifteen Muslims Emigrate to Abyssinia
storyAfter a year and a half of public Dawah, more than a year of open torture, of camel entrails, of burning iron, of choking, of boulder and desert heat,…
Read the full story →The Institution of the Adhan: Abdullah ibn Zayd's Dream
storyWithin the first month or two after the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah, a practical problem arose: how would people know when it was time for prayer? *…
Read the full story →Khabbab ibn al-Aratt: The Ironsmith, the Burning Metal, and the Open Chest
companion biographyKhabbāb ibn al-Aratt رضي الله عنه was an Arab ironsmith, a craftsman who forged swords for the people of Makkah. He was not Qurashī; he was from the t…
Read the full story →Suraqah's Pursuit and the Prophecy of Kisra's Bracelets
storySurāqah ibn Mālik narrated this story himself, in the first person, after he accepted Islam. It is recorded in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad. **The bounty…
Read the full story →Umar's Public Hijrah: The Challenge at the Ka'bah
storyʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib narrated: "I do not know of anyone who performed the Hijrah publicly except for ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb." Every other Muslim who emig…
Read the full story →Three Days After Badr: Burials, the Well, and the Question of the Dead Hearing
historicalBattle Statistics The Battle of Badr resulted in approximately 70 Qurayshi fighters killed and 73 to 74 taken prisoner, representing roughly 15% of t…
Read the full story →The Prisoners of Badr: Abu Bakr vs Umar and the Quranic Correction
historicalThe Tribute to Mutim ibn Adi Before deciding the fate of the prisoners, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa-sallam walked among them surveying their fac…
Read the full story →The Two Executions at Badr: An-Nadr ibn Al-Harith and Uqbah ibn Abi Muayt
historicalThree Wisdoms of Allah's Correction on Prisoners The previous lesson established that Allah corrected the Prophet's decision to ransom the Badr priso…
Read the full story →The Status of the Badr Veterans: Jibreel's Question, Harithah's Mother, and the Hatib Precedent
spiritualThe Jibrīl Question Imām al-Bukhārī records a remarkable exchange in which Jibrīl came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked: 'How do you view the people of Bad…
Read the full story →The Assassination Attempt of Umayr ibn Wahb and His Conversion
historical**Speaker Introduction** Dr. Yasir Qadhi opens by noting that the story of ʿUmayr ibn Wahb is one of the most remarkable and emotionally compelling c…
Read the full story →Abu Sufyan's Post-Battle Exchange and the Vow to Return to Badr
battleShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The final confirmation that the battle had ended came through a public exchange between Abū Sufyān and the Muslims. Havi…
Read the full story →Was Uhud a Victory or a Loss?
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: It is common to describe Uḥud simply as a Muslim defeat, and by the single measure of casualties, this is undeniable: th…
Read the full story →The Marriage of Hafsah bint Umar
companion biographyShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Ḥafṣah bint ʿUmar, born a few years before the daʿwah began, had married young, around eleven or twelve, to Khunays ibn…
Read the full story →The Expulsion of Banu al-Nadir
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: BACKGROUND TENSIONS By the time of their expulsion, Banū al-Naḍīr already carried a history of friction with the Muslim…
Read the full story →The Youth Quarrel and Abdullah ibn Ubayy's Statement
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Al-Muraysīʿ saw the largest concentration of hypocrites of any expedition in the Sīrah, the campaign was nearby, promise…
Read the full story →Abdullah ibn Ubayy's Son, and the Principle of Maslahah
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: THE SON'S REQUEST As news of the "al-aʿazzu minhā al-adhall" incident spread through Madinah ahead of the returning arm…
Read the full story →The Missed Asr Prayer, and the Fiqh of Making Up Prayers
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: On one particularly intense day of skirmishing and arrow fire during the siege, the fighting became so constant that the…
Read the full story →Choosing Umar, Then Uthman, as Emissary to Quraysh
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: After the near-disaster of Khirāsh ibn Umayyah's mission, the Prophet ﷺ turned to a Companion of Qurashī blood, choosing…
Read the full story →The Tree of al-Ridwan, and Umar Cutting It Down
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The ground of the pledge was scattered with shrubs and trees, and later Companions could not agree which one the Prophet…
Read the full story →Abu Jandal Is Returned
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: As Suhayl's return-of-defectors clause was still being argued, before it was even written down, his own tortured son Abū…
Read the full story →The Terms of the Treaty, and the Two Camps of Arabia
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The treaty's terms, dictated largely by Suhayl and written by ʿAlī, were: a ten-year truce with no fighting between the…
Read the full story →Umar's Objection, and Abu Bakr Puts Him in His Place
companion biographyShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: ʿUmar voiced what many Companions were feeling. He went to the Prophet ﷺ with a string of rhetorical questions: "Are you…
Read the full story →The Revelation of Surat al-Fath
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: On the road back to Madinah, ʿUmar, troubled by his outburst, rode up to the Prophet ﷺ and greeted him; there was no rep…
Read the full story →Lessons of al-Hudaybiyyah: Theology
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Drawing largely on Ibn al-Qayyim's analysis in Zād al-Maʿād, Dr. Qadhi lists the theological lessons of al-Ḥudaybiyyah.…
Read the full story →Ali and the Banner of Khaybar
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: **TEN DAYS AT AL-NĀʿIM** The tribes of Khaybar locked themselves inside their separate fortresses, and therein lay thei…
Read the full story →The Fall of Khaybar and the Fifty-Percent Treaty
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: **FORTRESS AFTER FORTRESS** Khaybar was not one battle but a series, at least eight or nine engagements, some lasting a…
Read the full story →The Ghazwah of Dhat al-Salasil
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: A few weeks after Muʾtah, in the winter of the 8th year of the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ sent out one of the small expeditio…
Read the full story →Abu Sufyan Pleads for the Treaty in Medina
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Realising the treaty was broken, Quraysh sent Abū Sufyān to Medina to beg its renewal, the chief who for a decade had en…
Read the full story →Hatib's Letter to the Quraysh
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Once the Prophet ﷺ finally named Makkah as the destination, one of the Companions, Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah, moved to warn…
Read the full story →Al-Abbas, the Last of the Muhajirun
companion biographyShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Barely two days out of Medina, near the valley of al-Juḥfa, the army met al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet's ﷺ…
Read the full story →The Conversion of Abu Sufyan at Marr al-Zahran
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The Prophet ﷺ camped at Marr al-Ẓahrān, some twenty kilometres from Makkah, the last stop before the city. He told the t…
Read the full story →The Women's Pledge and Hind bint Utbah
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: After the men, the women of Quraysh were called to pledge, among them, veiled and unrecognised, Hind bint ʿUtbah, who ho…
Read the full story →Surat an-Nasr: The Nearing End
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The Conquest of Mecca was the fall of the central nerve of Arabia. The tribes who had stood aside to see who would win n…
Read the full story →Thaqif and Hawazin Gather for Hunayn
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: As the Prophet ﷺ camped in Mecca, word came that Thaqīf, the tribe of Ṭāʾif, whose idol was al-Lāt, was raising an army.…
Read the full story →Hunayn: The Ambush and the Rally
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: At twelve thousand, never so many before, a Muslim boasted, "How can we be beaten today?" The Prophet ﷺ rebuked it, tell…
Read the full story →The First Kharijite: 'Be Just, Muhammad'
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: As the wealth was given out, the Bedouins mobbed the Prophet ﷺ for money until his cloak caught on a thorn-bush; he said…
Read the full story →Ka'b ibn Zuhayr and the Burdah
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The finest poet alive in Arabia was Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr, son of Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā of the Seven Hanging Odes, of the tribe…
Read the full story →Miracles with Inanimate Objects: Stones and Food That Spoke
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The first category is miracles with inanimate things, not animals, food, or drink, but stones and the like. In Ṣaḥīḥ al-…
Read the full story →Jaysh al-ʿUsrah: The Army of Hardship
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The expedition's second and, among the Companions, more common name is Jaysh al-ʿUsrah, the Army of Hardship, Bukhārī he…
Read the full story →Financing the Army of Hardship: ʿUthmān, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Six months earlier the Prophet ﷺ had held the whole treasure of Ḥunayn and Ṭāʾif in his hands, and had given every coin…
Read the full story →The Night Burial of Abdullah Dhu al-Bijadayn
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: **The man of the two coarse cloths** A bijād was a cheap, coarse woollen sack-cloth; bijādayn is two of them; and dhū m…
Read the full story →The Death of Abdullah ibn Ubayy, the Leader of the Hypocrites
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: One incident remains before the story of Tabūk can be closed, and it happened after the army had already come home: with…
Read the full story →The Delegation of Abd al-Qays and al-Ashajj
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: We begin with one of the earliest delegations of all, that of the tribe of ʿAbd al-Qays. They lived in what was then cal…
Read the full story →Muzaynah's Dates and the Boast of Banu Asad
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Two shorter delegations, one ending in a miracle and the other in a rebuke from Allah. **The dates of Muzaynah** The t…
Read the full story →Tamim al-Dari and the Hadith of al-Jassasah
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The last delegation for today is a long one, and it raises theological questions that will be flagged at the end: the de…
Read the full story →The Christians of Najran and the Mubahalah
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The last incident, and one of the most interesting: the delegation of the Christians of Najrān, a famous province of Ara…
Read the full story →Surah al-Tahrim: the Oath over Maria
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: One more incident about Māriyah, mentioned more in the books of tafsīr than of Sīrah, because the Qurʾān was revealed fo…
Read the full story →ʿUmar and the month the Prophet ﷺ withdrew from his wives
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: At some point in his life, and the timing is genuinely unknown, the Prophet ﷺ swore an oath before Allāh to withdraw fro…
Read the full story →The choice given to the Mothers of the Believers
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: It was in that bare room that ʿUmar learned the truth: the Prophet ﷺ had not divorced anyone. He had sworn an oath to wi…
Read the full story →The Farewell Sermon at ʿArafah and the completion of the religion
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: A common misconception holds that the Prophet ﷺ gave a single Farewell Sermon; in truth he gave at least three, one at ʿ…
Read the full story →The expedition of Usāmah ibn Zayd
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: After the Farewell Ḥajj the Prophet ﷺ returned to Medina in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of the tenth year, and this was his final jour…
Read the full story →Abū Bakr is told to lead the prayer
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Around the fifth day of his sickness, six or seven days before he passed, he asked for buckets of water from a particula…
Read the full story →The passing of the Prophet ﷺ
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Now it is Monday, the 12th of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, and the fever is at its fiercest. He is passing in and out of consciousnes…
Read the full story →The Incident of Thursday: the Qirtas
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: One incident of the Prophet's ﷺ final days was set aside earlier to be told here, on the way to the election of Abū Bakr…
Read the full story →The Saqifah of Banu Sa'idah
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The Prophet ﷺ died Monday morning, the 12th of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, after Fajr. Within hours the Anṣār began to gather, not b…
Read the full story →The General Bay'ah and Abu Bakr's First Sermon
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The private bayʿah at the Saqīfah settled the matter among the senior Muhājirūn and Anṣār within hours of the death, a m…
Read the full story →Historical context
The Establishment of the Islamic Hijri Calendar
historical note**The Arab Calendar Problem** Before the Hijra, the Arabs had no unified calendar. Unlike the Romans and Persians who had developed centralized calen…
Read the historical context →The Islamic Calendar and the Virtue of Muḥarram
historical noteThis note was given in response to an audience question about the 10th of Muḥarram at the end of the lecture. It is a Fiqh and Islamic history note, n…
Read the historical context →The Longest Hand: Zaynab's Piety, Generosity, and Death
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: **ʿĀʾISHAH'S ONLY RIVAL** ʿĀʾishah said it herself, in a ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: Zaynab bint Jaḥsh "was the only one wh…
Read the historical context →The Return of Jafar, and the People of Two Hijrahs
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: **TWO JOYS IN ONE DAY** On the very day the last of Khaybar fell, Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib arrived from Abyssinia with arou…
Read the historical context →Lessons from the Story of Hatib
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The story of Ḥāṭib is dense with benefits. **Nothing Escapes Allah** No one on earth could have uncovered the plot; Al…
Read the historical context →Why Tabūk? A Test and a Command From Allāh
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: Tabūk fell in Rajab of the 9th year, six months after the Siege of Ṭāʾif, roughly late July or early August in our calen…
Read the historical context →The Fundraising for Tabūk: Generosity and the Mockers
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The Battle of Tabūk had no real fighting, it is a chain of a dozen small incidents from which benefit is drawn, and it o…
Read the historical context →The Grave of the Prophet ﷺ and His Two Companions
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The Prophet ﷺ was buried where he slept, Abū Bakr had reported that he ﷺ said the prophets are buried where they die, so…
Read the historical context →The Qirtas and the Question of Succession
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The death of the Prophet ﷺ and what followed is where the Sunnī–Shīʿah split begins, and one cannot treat the Qirṭās wit…
Read the historical context →Was Abu Bakr Chosen or Appointed?
historical noteShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains: The Sīrah is usually reckoned to end not with the death of the Prophet ﷺ but with the election of Abū Bakr, and this is…
Read the historical context →