Hazrat Umar Farooq — Page 6
CHAPTER 1 HADHRAT UMAR BEFORE ISLAM Hadhrat Umar Farooq, may God be pleased with him, was born in Makkah, an ancient town in Arabia. It is not known exactly when he was born, as people did not record their date of birth in those days. It is known however, that he was about eleven years younger than the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Hadhrat Umar’s father Khattaab was one of the leaders of the Quraish tribe. His mother Hantma was the daughter of Hishaam bin Al-Mugheerah. Hishaam was a person of such high rank that whenever the tribe of Quraish declared war on any other tribe, he was always called upon for the duty of raising an army and leading it to the battlefield. Hadhrat Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, learned to read and write in his childhood. It was considered to be a great achievement as very few people could read or write in those days. He loved poetry and like other Arabs could recite the poems of a large number of Arab poets from memory. He grew up into a responsible young man. His father entrusted him with the job of grazing camels in the fields on the outskirts of Makkah. He learned the art of wrestling, horse riding and was a skilled swordsman. Later Umar showed interest in commerce and became a very successful and wealthy trader. He travelled to distant lands such as Syria, Iraq and Persia for this purpose. In those days Makkah was situated on a trade route where camel caravans, carrying merchandise, used to come and go. UKKAAZ FAIR In those days a fair was held every year in the town of Ukkaaz, a few miles from Makkah. People used to come from all over Arabia to attend the fair and display their skills. Wrestling matches, athletics and archery competitions were held. Another attraction was the poetry sessions. Poetry was one of the favourite hobbies of the Arabs. They could recite thousands of verses from memory. In these poetry competitions poets used to recite verses in praise of their own tribe and mocking the enemy tribes. Sometimes people were greatly offended by these verses and such sessions often ended in bloodshed. Hadhrat Umar used to attend the Ukkaaz fair regularly. He was an excellent horse rider and a very good wrestler. Many a time he would participate in a wrestling bout and beat his opponent easily. On one occasion as Umar was wandering around with his friends, someone pointed to a young man in the crowd and praised his wrestling skill. Umar could not remain silent. “He can’t be better than me”, he said. Then he swiftly walked up to the young man and invited him to a wrestling bout, which was accepted gladly. The wrestling match began and in no time Umar defeated his opponent. 6