joanofarcfelt > Recent Status Updates

“And the minute he was gone I wanted to have him back, to love him with ferocity.”

As ʿUmar departed from Minā, he chose to rest in al-
ʾAbṭaḥ, which is known al-Muḥaṣṣab. He gathered a mound of fine pebbles and spread his cloak atop it. While lying down on that mound, ʿUmar stretched his hands to the sky in prayer, saying, “O Allah, I have become old. My strength has faltered. My subjects have dispersed. So, take me to You while I am neither negligent nor wasteful!

In fact, ʿUmar was well-aware of his own sternness and
austerity, and he sought to ensure that his tendencies never facilitated oppression of his subjects. When ʿUmar became caliph, he ascended the pulpit and addressed the people, saying, “I will supplicate, so say, ‘āmīn .’ O Allah, I am coarse, so make me softer! I am austere, so make me more bounteous! I am weak, so strengthen me!”

Tell me, will the corner I inhabit be warm, or shall I, like a bird of passage, be all my life an orphan, seeking a place for myself among kind people? Tell me who my enemy is, who cherishes love for me, who is preparing evil for me? Tell me, will my young, passionate heart live out its days in isolation and die prematurely, or will it find its equal and beat with it in joyful harmony… until new sorrow comes!