The Death of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Al-ʿAzīz

From ʿUbaid ibn Ḥassān, [who] said:

When there came upon ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Al-ʿAzīz [his time to die], he said [to those with him]: “Leave me [alone].”

So Maslamah [ibn ʿAbd Al-Mālik] and Fāṭimah [bint ʿAbd Al-Mālik, Maslamah’s sister and the wife of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Al-ʿAzīz] then sat [outside] by the door and heard him saying: “Welcome to these faces [that I see], [faces] that are neither [those] of Man nor Jinn.” Then after some time, he recited:

{تِلْكَ الدَّارُ الآخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا …}

“That is the Final Place of the Hereafter—We have made it …” to the end of the verse.¹ And then [his] voice became still.

Then Maslamah said to Fāṭimah: “Indeed, [the soul of] your companion has been taken.” So they went inside and found that [his soul] had indeed been taken.

Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 5, p. 142.

¹N.B. (tr.): The full verse is:

تِلْكَ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُرِيدُونَ عُلُوًّا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فَسَادًا ۚ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ}

That is the Final Place of the Hereafter—We have made it for those who neither seek out arrogance against the truth on Earth, nor havoc and ruination; [that praiseworthy] ending is for those who act upon due fear of Allāh, [heeding His commandments and prohibitions]. (Al-Qaṣaṣ, 83)