Umar's halving of Amr ibn al-As's wealth

Ibn Abd al-Hakam gives a chapter to Umar ibn al-Khattab's halving of his governors' wealth. He reports from Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz, whom he calls a trustworthy elder, that Umar sent Muhammad ibn Maslama to Amr ibn al-As with a letter saying that the governors sat on the springs of wealth, and that he had sent Muhammad to split Amr's property with him. ¹

Amr sent Muhammad ibn Maslama a gift and he returned it. Amr, angry, reminded him that the Prophet ﷺ had accepted his gift after the campaign of Dhat al-Salasil; Muhammad answered that the Prophet accepted or refused by revelation, and that this was a gift with evil behind it. ² Hard words followed: Amr complained of serving as Umar's governor and recalled his father's wealth in the Jahiliyya, and Muhammad retorted that Umar was better than he. Amr called it the slip of an angry man and asked him to keep it to himself. Then he brought out his wealth, Muhammad split it with him, and returned. ²

Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports from Ibn Lahi'a, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, that the cause was a poem by Khalid ibn al-Sa'iq urging Umar to call his governors to account and naming some of them, after which Umar took half their wealth. ^{2 3} He gives another version of it by a different chain. ^{3 4}