Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab

Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab al-Qurashi al-Adawi; his mother Zaynab bint Maz'un al-Jumahiyya ¹. He was born in year three of the mission, as al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar asserted, saying he emigrated at ten; Ibn Manda said he was eleven and a half, and Ibn Hajar remarks it is established he was thirteen on the day of Badr ¹.

He became Muslim with his father and emigrated; he was presented to the Prophet at Badr who found him too young, likewise at Uhud, then at the Trench he passed him at fifteen, as established in the Sahih ¹. Ibn Hajar also records al-Baghawi's account from Anas and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab that Ibn Umar witnessed Badr, against al-Bara's account: "Ibn Umar and I were presented on the day of Badr and were sent back" ¹.

He is among the most copious transmitters from the Prophet ¹. He also related from Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Abu Dharr, Mu'adh and A'isha; among the Companions Jabir and Ibn Abbas relate from him, of his sons Salim, Abdullah, Hamza, Bilal and Zayd, of the great Successors Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab, Alqama ibn Waqqas, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Nahdi, Masruq and Jubayr ibn Nufayr, and of their clients Nafi' and Abdullah ibn Dinar ².

In the Sahih from Salim: Ibn Umar saw a dream which Hafsa related to the Prophet, who said "Abdullah is a good man — if only he would pray at night", and afterwards he slept but little of the night ². In Ahmad's Zuhd from Ibn Mas'ud: "the most self-possessed of Quraysh's youth in this world is Abdullah ibn Umar" ². Jabir said, as Ibn al-A'rabi recorded with a sound chain: "there is none of us who met the world but it swayed him and he swayed with it — except Abdullah ibn Umar" ². And from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab with a good chain in al-Baghawi: "had I to testify for one of Paradise's people I would testify for Ibn Umar" ².

Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar said: Ibn Umar preserved what he heard from the Prophet and asked those present whenever he missed a word or deed; he traced his steps to every mosque he prayed in, steered his mount where he saw the Prophet steer his camel in the road, and when he stood at Arafa he stood where the Prophet had stood ³. From Malik: he lived sixty years after the Prophet, receiving people's delegations; he was "among the leaders of the religion", and as Zayd ibn Thabit was the people's imam after Umar, Ibn Umar was their imam after Zayd ³.

Ibn al-Mubarak recorded in the Zuhd that Ibn Umar was asked a thing and said "I do not know", then added: "do you mean to make our backs bridges into Hell?" ³.

Bukhari in al-Tarikh says from Malik that he reached eighty-seven; others than Malik say he lived eighty-four — Ibn Hajar holds the first more established ⁴. Damra ibn Rabi'a said he died in year seventy-two or seventy-three, once asserting seventy-three, and so Abu Nu'aym, Yahya ibn Bukayr and the majority — some adding that it was Dhu al-Hijja; al-Fallas once said year seventy-four, as asserted by Khalifa, Sa'id ibn Jubayr and Ibn Zabr ⁴.