Abdullah ibn Umar

Devotion to the Sunnah

Abdullah ibn Umar, son of the Caliph Umar, was known above all for clinging to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in matters great and small. Nafi related that he would turn his mount so its hooves fell upon the very tracks the Prophet’s ﷺ mount had trodden, and would stop and pray exactly where the Prophet ﷺ had stopped — so meticulously that one who saw it might think him beside himself with love. 1 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 3 · pp. 393–394 — Kandhlawi — Ibn Umar treads the very ground the Prophet's mount trod and stops where he stopped; his answer that he simply did as he saw the Prophet do. When his own son once countered a Sunnah he had transmitted — that women not be barred from the mosque — Ibn Umar was so angered at the contradiction of the Prophet’s ﷺ word that he never spoke to that son again. 2 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 199–200 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Ibn Umar refuses to speak again to a son who objected to a Sunnah he had narrated.

A Life of Worship

He filled his nights with prayer: if ever he missed the Isha in congregation he would spend the rest of the night in worship, and in the last part of the night he would sit in istighfar and supplication until dawn. 3 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 3 · pp. 187 — Kandhlawi — Ibn Umar's night prayer and his sitting in istighfar until dawn. He lived long, a trusted reference in the religion, and died in Makkah.