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In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful
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In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful
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A man from the Copts(1)
came to Omar ibn al-Khattab(2)
in Al-Madinah(3),
and said, “O Commander of the Faithful! I seek refuge in you from oppression.”
Omar replied, “You have sought refuge where it is to be sought.” The Egyptian
said, “I was racing the son of `Amr ibn al-`Aas(4),
and defeated him. Then he began to beat me with a whip saying: I am the Son of
Nobles!”
So Omar wrote to `Amr commanding him to appear before
him with his son. So they appeared before him. Omar inquired, “Where is the
Egyptian? He is to take the whip and beat him!” Then the Egyptian began to beat
the son of `Amr with the whip as `Umar said to him, “Beat the Son of Nobles!”
Anas said, “So he beat him. I swear by Allah, as he was beating him we pitied
his wailing. He did not desist until we stopped him.”
Then Omar said to the Egyptian, “Now beat the whip upon `Amr’s bald head!” He
replied, “O Commander of the Faithful! For it was his son who beat me, and I
have evened the score with him.”
Upon this Omar said to `Amr, “Since when do you enslave the people when their
mothers bore them as free men?” He said, “O Commander of the Faithful! I was
unaware of this, and he did not come to me (for justice).”
Reference: Seerah Omar ibn al-Khattab, Ibn Abdi-l
Hakam; Kanzu-l `Ummaal, al-Hindi; Rabee`u-l Abraar, al-Zamakhshari
Translated by: Shibli Zaman
Footnotes:
1) Copts
are the Christians living in Egypt.
2) The Muslim President in his time. He was one of the best
companions of the prophet.
3) The city of the Prophet in Saudi Arabia
4) The Governor of Egypt
and one of the Companions of the Prophet.
