They have accepted existence of poverty in days of Umar as a...

They have accepted existence of poverty in days of Umar as a fact and on the basis of that say: “Caliph of Islamic government, Umar bin Khattab, on a very cold night saw a fire at a distance and along with his companions went towards it to see a mother sitting with her three small children by the fireside. One of the children was crying and saying: Mother, see my tears and have mercy on me. The other was saying: Mother! I’ll die of hunger. The third said: Mother!

Can I possibly have some food before I die? Umar sat near the fire and said to the mother: To whom do you complain? The mother said: By God! By God! To Umar! Umar asked: Who has informed Umar about you and your condition? She said: He is our guardian (wali) and responsible**[3]** and he is ignorant about us! When Umar heard this, he immediately hurried to the Treasury and brought back a bag of flour, a vessel of ghee (oil) and a vessel of honey.

He prepared the food and then he himself fed the children…”! [4] Dar yek Nigaah (Status of and life of Rightly Guided Caliphs in a Glance), Pg. 21** [1]** Fawad Farooqi: Beest-o-panj Saal Sukoot-e-Ali (2 nd Edition 1379), Pg. 149 [2] Ibid. Beest-o-panj Saal Sukoot-e-Ali (2 nd Edition 1379), Pg.

154 [3] [It is interesting that here they have translated Wali as leader and chief but in the instance of Ghadeer with regard to Ali (a.s.) they say that Wali means friend.] [4] Abdur Raheem Mahmoodi: Maqaam-e-Sahaaba wa Zindagi-e-Khulafa-e-Raashideen Dar yek Nigaah (Status of and life of Rightly Guided Caliphs in a Glance), Pgs. 23-24 Here we should ask: If such a story is indeed true what is the meaning of the claim that there did not exist a single poor needy one?

If this claim is true and there was not a single person hungry in all the Arabian Peninsula what is the aim of this story? We leave the judgment on the part of the reader. Such contradictious are aplenty in all stories invented by them. For instance, we give here one more example: “Umar had no leisure to wash his clothes.”! [1] On the other hand they say: “He was careless about the fashion or elegance of dress but he was very much particular about neatness and cleanliness of clothes.”!

[2] These contrasts resulted due to concept of piety with the different writers. Some saw goodness in dirty clothes while some in neat. So each batch of writers writes according to its mind not wanting to deprive Umar of this quality. They want to elevate him in the sight of the readers causing this discrepancy.