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`Umar's servant Aslam, relates that he came out with `Umar radhiallahu `anhu one night and went far out into the open area outside Madeenah:

We were out on a fact-finding mision to the distant hamlets on the outskits of Madeenah. From a distance, we observed a fire aglow far off. `Umar radhiallahu `anhu said, "I believe the darkness of the night and the cold have compelled some horsemen to sojourn here. Let us go and see."

We proceeded at a brisk pace and reached that spot. We saw a woman sitting there with some children around her, a pot boiling on fire, and the children were crying. `Umar greeted her and asked the woman about her condition and also what was going on there. The woman told him that the darkness and cold had forced her to stay there for the night.

`Umar asked her, "Why are these children crying?"

And the woman said in reply, "They are hungry."

Then `Umar asked her, "What is there in the pot on fire?"

The woman said, "Only water to console the children so that they may remain quiet and go to sleep. And Allah alone shall judge between us and `Umar." What the woman wanted to convey was that `Umar was not fair and just to them.

`Umar said to her, "My good woman! What does `Umar know about your state of affairs?"

To which she retaliated, "Why then should he hold the high office of the Caliph when he is unaware of our condition?"

Aslam relates that `Umar said to him, "Let us go now." He, Aslam, continued:

And we started from there with all haste and reached the godown of provisions (of the Bait-ul-Mal) and `Umar took a sack of flour and container of fat and asked me to load the bag on his back. I offered my services but he angrily brushed aside my offer, saying, "Can you relieve me of my burden on the Day of Reckoning also?"

So I loaded the bag on his back and then we hastened towards our destination at a fast enough pace and soon he placed the bag and, taking out some flour from the bag, gave it to the woman and asked her to knead it while he himself offered to fan the fire to a flame. So he started blowing the fire below the pot. His beard was thick and I saw smoke percolating through his beard, He went on blowing at it until the food was ready and he asked the woman to bring some vessel. And when she brought a platter, he poured out the contents of the pot into it and asked the woman to feed the children while he himself fanned to cool it.

We stat there until all of them had eaten to their fill. What was left of the flour and fat was handed over to her and then `Umar got up and I followed suit.

The woman said, "Allah bless you. You are more deserving of that high office than the Amir al-Mu'mineen."

`Umar said to her, "Say only a good word. When tomorrow you come to see the Amir al-Mu'mineen, you will find me there, inshaa Allah."

Afer that, `Umar went to some distance and retraced his steps and hid himself close to their place of stay. I said to him that that was not proper on his part to observe them from the place of his concealment, but he kept quiet. We saw that the children were playing merrily and then they went to sleep.

`Umar thanked Allah, got up and, turning to me, said, "Aslam! Hunger was growing at their stomachs and they were miserable and could not go to sleep. I would not have been at ease until I had seen them happy and comfortable. So I looked at them from my position of vantage. You have also seen that they have gone to sleep perfectly at ease."

Taken from "Some Glittering Aspects of the Islamic Civilisation"
by Dr Mustafa Siba`i
International Islamic Federation of Student Organisations