Umar‟s State on the Death of Prophet Mohammad

chief consultants. Prophet Mohammad often said, “I Swear to Allah! If both of you agree on a matter then I never disapprove of it.”

Umar was immersed in the love of the Prophet. He committed at the time of accepting Islam that he will completely abandon the world for the sake of religion. The following narration is enough to verify this fact: Khalaf bin Haushab relates that Umar said, “I have pondered a lot regarding religion and the world. Finally, I came to the conclusion that if I incline towards the world, I will loose the religion. Whereas, if I completely turn towards the religion then my world will be wasted. After thoroughly thinking about it I have decided to keep what is everlasting and renounce what is going to end anyway. ” The aforementioned saying of Umar can be verified from his actions. Ibn Sa‟d and Abdul Aziz bin Abi Jamila said, “Once, during his caliphate, Umar got a little late for the Friday prayer. Therefore, he apologized to the people as soon as he got on the pulpit. Explaining the reason of being late, he said that he had only one shirt which was being mended so his elbows might not be naked. ” Qatada also related this incident but according to his narration the reason of Umar being late was not mending his shirt rather it was being washed. The leader of the Muslim umma had only one piece of clothing which he would wear after every wash.

Umar‟s love for Prophet Mohammad was so intense that upon hearing the news of his death he went in disbelief. In a state of sheer stress, Umar went to the Prophet‟s Mosque where he announced, “The hypocrites are spreading the fake news of the

death of Prophet Mohammad. No! He (is still alive and) has gone to meet Allah like Prophet Moses did. People had spread the news of death of Prophet Moses but he returned to the children of Israel after forty days. Similarly, Prophet Mohammad will also come back.”

It is also said that due to the emotional outburst, Umar even declared to kill the person who would call the Prophet dead. Shibli Nomani writes in his book Al-Farooq, “Circumstantial evidences do not verify this tradition. I think there was a wisdom behind this action of Umar. He wisely tried to stop the spread of news of the Prophet‟s death to prevent the hypocrites from creating dissension who were waiting for this moment to carry out their plans. ” Mohammad Hussein Heikal writes about the state of Umar:

 Umar‟s belief that the death of Prophet Mohammad is not possible is acceptable keeping in view the fact that in terms of the attributes of Prophet Mohammad, he is alive now and was alive then. In fact, he will stay alive forever, and death cannot approach him. That is why, Umar was denying the news of the Holy Prophet‟s death.

Mohammad Hussein‟s theory is verified by the fact that according to the lovers of Prophet Mohammad, he is eternally alive. As Sultan Bahoo says:  How can such a person be considered faithful, Muslim or follower of the Holy Prophet who does not believe that the

Holy Prophet is alive! No doubt, such a person is lair, faithless and a hypocrite, whoever is he apparently. The Holy

Prophet said, “A lair does not belong to my nation.” (Kaleed-ul-

Tauheed Kalan)

 Whoever does not believe in the life of the Holy Prophet, is disgraced in both the worlds. Only that person denies the eternal life of the Prophet and considers him dead whose faith