Hadrat Umar bin al-Khattāb ﵅ and the Good Pleasure of Allah ﷻ

… our liege Lord ‘Umar b. al-Khaṭṭāb was seen in a dream after he moved from this world and he was asked: “What has Allah done with you, O Umar?” He said, “He forgave me.” He was asked, “By what special deed?” He said, “One day I saw in one of the alleys of Medina the Illuminated some children tormenting a bird so I compensated them and set the bird free.¹ Because of this deed, my nurturing Lord has forgiven me.” Everyone considers that our liege Lord ‘Umar — Allah be well-pleased with him — [soared] because of his immense services in the time of the Messenger of Allah — upon him the blessings and peace of Allah — or his caliphate after his time and his Companionship to the Messenger, but he did not mention any of that; and Allah said, “I granted you mercy because of the bird.” This is a sufficient teaching for the intelligent one that he should not leave out anything of the ma‘rūf (good deeds) if he is able to do it.

Translated from the Arabic by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad ﵀