Hazrat Umar Farooq — Page 7
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”. Hadhrat 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. U MAR 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. 7