#7 Umar ibn al-Khattab from The History of the Khalifahs by Jalal ad- Din as-Suyuti

Some particulars of his biography
Ibn Sa‘d narrated that al-Ahnaf ibn Qays
said: We were sitting at ‘Umar’s door and a
slave girl passed by, and they said, ‘The
concubine of the Amir al-Mu’minin.’ He said,
‘She is not the concubine of the Amir al-
Mu’minin, and she is not permitted to him.
She is of the property of Allah.’ So we said,
‘Then what is permitted to him of the property
of Allah, exalted is He?’ He said, ‘There is only
permitted to ‘Umar of the property of Allah two
garments, a garment for the winter and a
garment for the summer, that with which I can
perform the Hajj and the ‘Umrah (i.e. an
ihram), my sustenance and the sustenance of
my family, as a man of Quraysh who is not
the wealthiest of them nor the poorest, then I
am, after that, a man among the Muslims.’
Khuzaymah ibn Thabit said, ‘Whenever ‘Umar
appointed a governor, he wrote to him and
made a condition on him that he should not
ride a birdhaun (a large heavy non-Arabian
horse from Asia Minor or Greece), nor eat
delicacies, nor dress in finery, nor lock his
door against the needy. If he did that, it would
be permitted to punish him.’
‘Ikrimah ibn Khalid and others said: Hafsah,
‘Abdullah and others spoke to ‘Umar and said,
‘If only you were to eat wholesome food it
would strengthen you upon the truth.’ He
asked, ‘Are you all of this view?’ They said,
‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I have learnt what your sincere
advice is. However, I have left my two
companions on a highway, and if I abandon
their highway I will not reach them in the
house.’ He (‘Ikrimah) said: An affliction befell
the people one year, and that year he did not
eat clarified butter nor fat.
Ibn Mulaykah said: ‘Utbah ibn Farqad spoke
to ‘Umar about his food and he said, ‘Mercy
on you! Should I eat up my wholesome sweet
things in my worldly life and seek to enjoy
myself with them?’
Al-Hasan said: ‘Umar entered in upon his son
‘Asim when he was eating meat and he said,
‘What is this?’ He said, ‘We had a craving for
it.’ He said, ‘Every time you crave something,
do you eat it? It is sufficient wasteful
extravagance for a man that he eats
everything for which he has an appetite.’
Aslam said: ‘Umar said, ‘There occurred to my
heart a desire for fresh fish.’ He (Aslam) said:
Yarfa’ mounted his camel and rode four miles
there, four miles back, buying a basketful and
bringing it back. Then he went to his camel,
washed it, and went to ‘Umar. He said, ‘Let us
go and I will look at the camel.’ He said, ‘Did
you forget to wash this sweat beneath its
ears? Have you tormented an animal for the
appetite of ‘Umar? No! by Allah! ‘Umar will
not taste of your basket.’
Qatadah said: ‘Umar used to dress, while he
was khalifah, with a garment of wool patched
in parts with leather, and he would go around
in the markets with a whip over his shoulder
with which he would correct people. He would
pass bits of rags and pieces of date-stones,
which he would stumble on unexpectedly, and
he would throw them into people’s houses for
them to use.
Anas said: I saw between ‘Umar’s shoulder-
blades, four patches in his shirt. Abu ‘Uthman
an-Nahdi said: I saw ‘Umar wearing a
waistwrapper patched with leather. ‘Abdullah
ibn ‘Amir ibn Rabi‘ah said: I performed the
Hajj with ‘Umar and he did not pitch a tent of
goat’s hair nor of wool. He used to throw the
upper part of his ihram and his leather mat
over a bush and seek shelter underneath it.
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Isa said: There were two dark
furrows in ‘Umar’s face from his weeping. Al-
Hasan said: ‘Umar used to pass by an ayah in
his wird (daily portion set aside to recite) and
he would fall down (in a faint) until he revived
after some days. Anas said: I entered a walled
garden and heard ‘Umar saying, while there
was a wall between us, ‘‘Umar ibn al-Khattab,
Amir al-Mu’minin. Well done! Well done! By
Allah, you will fear Allah, Ibn al-Khattab or
Allah will punish you.’ ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amir ibn
Rabi‘ah said: I saw ‘Umar take up a straw
from the ground and say, ‘I wish I was this
straw. I wish I was nothing. I wish that my
mother had not given birth to me.’ ‘Abdullah
ibn ‘Umar ibn Hafs said: ‘Umar carried a skin
full of water upon his neck. Someone spoke to
him about that and he said, ‘My self was
filling me with conceit and I wished to humble
it.’ Muhammad ibn Sirin said: An in-law of
‘Umar’s came to see him and asked him to
give him something from the bait al-mal and
‘Umar refused him and said, ‘Do you want me
to meet Allah as a treacherous King?’ Then he
gave him from his own property ten thousand
dirhams. An-Nakha‘i said: ‘Umar used to
trade while he was khalifah. Anas said:
‘Umar’s stomach rumbled from eating olive oil
the year of the drought – he had forbidden
himself clarified butter – and he tapped on his
stomach with his finger and said, ‘There is
nothing else for us, until the people have the
means of living.’ Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah said:
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, ‘The person I like
most is the one who points out to me my
defects.’ Aslam said: I saw ‘Umar ibn al-
Khattab taking hold of the ear of the horse,
taking hold of his own ear with the other
hand, and leaping up on the back of the
horse. Ibn ‘Umar said: I never saw ‘Umar
become angry, and then Allah was mentioned
in his presence or he was made to fear, or a
person would recite an ayah from the Qur’an
in his presence, but that he stopped short of
what he meant to do. Bilal said to Aslam,
‘How do you find ‘Umar?’ He said, ‘The best of
people, except that when he becomes angry it
is a mighty matter.’ Bilal said, ‘If I was with
him when he became angry, I would recite
Qur’an to him until his anger went.’ Al-Ahwas
ibn Hakim said, narrating from his father:
‘Umar was brought meat dressed with clarified
butter and he refused to eat the two of them.
He said, ‘Both of them are seasonings.’ All of
the foregoing traditions are from Ibn Sa‘d.
Ibn Sa‘d narrated that al-Hasan said: ‘Umar
said, ‘It is an easy thing by which I put right a
people, that I exchange them an amir in place
of an amir.”