Thus, `Umar’s decision of prohibiting reporting and...

Thus, `Umar’s decision of prohibiting reporting and recording the Hadith is not restricted to the narrations reporting the manners and tales of the past nations although it is probable that he opted for this justification in order to hide the actual purpose beyond his decision, which is related to the psychological backgrounds of `Umar who, during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet and in the beginning of the Divine Mission, was prohibited from tracking and reporting the traditions of the Jews.

Hence, his decision could act as negative reaction of the Holy Prophet’s situation against his reporting the Jews’ traditions. As a result, `Umar bore malice against reporting and recording any tradition, including the Holy Prophet’s, whether these traditions were authentic or not or whether they related to the manners of the past generations or not. Khalid ibn `Urfutah narrated that `Umar said: Once, I… copied a book belonging to the Ahl al-Kitab and brought him before the Holy Prophet.

“What do you have in your hand, `Umar?” asked the Holy Prophet. “This is a book that I have copied so as to increase my knowledge,” answered I. The Holy Prophet became so angry that both of his cheeks turned red. He then called people to gather. Having seen this situation, the Ansar knew that the Holy Prophet was enraged; they therefore armed themselves and surrounded the minbar.

The Holy Prophet then said, “O People: I have been given the comprehensives and seals of good wording (of knowledge), which has been briefed for me. I have hence given them to you as white and pure as they are.

You must thus neither be confused nor be deceived by the nonbelievers.” Soon after that, I (`Umar) stood up and declared, “I have accepted Allah as my Lord, Islam as my religion, and you as the Messenger.” The Holy Prophet then descended from the minbar.[^4] According to another narration, `Abdullah ibn Thabit reported that `Umar ibn al-Khattab, once, came to the Holy Prophet and said, “As I have passed by one of my Jew friends, he recorded for me comprehensive paragraphs from the Torah.

May I show them to you?” On hearing this, the Holy Prophet’s face changed. I (`Abdullah) reproached `Umar saying, “May Allah spoil your brain! Can you not see what occurred to the Holy Prophet’s face?” `Umar hence shouted, “I have accepted Allah as my Lord, Islam as my religion, and Muhammad as the Messenger.”[^5] It has been authentically narrated that `Umar associated the Jews and copied some of their books.