Umar's Trust in the Fay'

أمانة عمر في الفيء

Umar wrote Hudhayfa to pay the people their rizq; 'done — and much remains' came the answer, and his: 'it is theirs — the fay' God gave them — not Umar's nor Al Umar's — divide it among them'. Abu Hurayra brought five hundred thousand from Bahrayn — 'much money has come: shall we count it or weigh it?' — and a man said 'I have seen these Ajam keep a diwan they pay the people by'; so Umar wrote the diwan: first Muhajirun five thousand, Ansar four thousand, the Prophet's wives twelve thousand. 'It is their right — had it been Khattab-money I'd not have given it, but I know there is surplus: let each stipend buy sheep for his sawad, then rams, till his children hold a substance' — and 'I counsel whom God charges: the Prophet said who dies cheating his flock will not smell paradise'. Every newborn, boy or girl, was registered for a hundred and two jaribs a month.