Umar bin Khattab and the lady cooking stones

Umar bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ spent his entire life to spread Islam around the world and there are many lessons to learn from his life. He was the second caliph of Islam after Abu Bakr Siddique رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ.

Importance of Umar bin Khattab

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: If there was to have a Prophet after me, it would have been ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab.” – Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3686

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ declared his 10 Sahabas (Ashra Mubashara) Jannati in a sitting and one of them was Umar bin Khattab.

Round of the City every night

The Second Caliph of Islam, Umar Bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ, was very particular about his surroundings. In order to assure that everyone, living in the area of his rule, was safe and had no issues he used to take a round of the city every night before sleeping.

No one sleeps empty stomach

During the famine, Umar bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ found himself responsible for feeding others. He assured that no one would sleep on an empty stomach and wakeup hopelessly. He wisely distributed the food among the people so that the needs of everyone were fulfilled.

Umar bin Khattab and the lady cooking stones

One night during his round, he was quietly happy that the city has fallen asleep. It was a sign that no one was deprived of food. Yet to his surprise there was a small cottage in a corner which was lightened.

Upon approaching it, he could hear the cries of children. He then saw that a woman was cooking something while kids were crying. It made him curious and he knocked on the door. The lady came out and upon inquiring about children’s cry; she told that they were hungry and are crying out of hunger.

Umar bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ asked that what she was cooking. The lady gave a shocking reply: she was cooking stones. She told that they were out of food and she had no other choice but to put some stones in water and cook them.

This way the children will have a hope that the food will be served shortly, meanwhile, they would fall asleep as they will get tired of crying. This statement stunned Umar bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ.

He told the lady not to worry as he would be making food arrangements for her immediately. He and his slave, Aslam went to the Bait Ul Mal to fetch food for the poor lady.

Umar bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ, who was the ruler of 23,000 sq miles filled a bag with food items and himself carried it on his back to the poor lady’s cottage. Even though Aslam requested that he wanted to carry the bag, yet Umar refused to give it to him as he wanted to carry his burden himself.

When he approached the very cottage, he simply did not give away the food and left, rather gave a helping hand to the lady to cook food quickly.

As the food got ready, kids woke up and found themselves equipped with some delicious food. They ate it and smiled happily, giving a sigh of relief to Umar. When Umar asked the lady about their conditions, the lady told that she was a widow.

Umar bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ questioned the lady that why she hadn’t asked Caliph for help.

She told that her self-respect did not allow her to beg and it was the duty of Caliph to assure that no one was hungry.

Umar bin Khattab رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ apologized for being ignorant about her condition and assured that from now he will be fulfilling the needs of the family.