Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, said: There is not on the face of the earth a man more beloved to me than cUmar.

Ibn cAsakir narrated it.

Someone said to Abu Bakr during his (last) illness, ‘What will you say to your Lord, when you have appointed cUmar?’ He said, ‘I will say to Him, “I have appointed over them the best of them.’” Ibn Sacd narrated it.

cAli, may Allah be pleased with him, said: When the right-acting are mentioned then begin with cUmar. We did not think it unlikely that as-Sakinah (the Divine Presence) spoke with the tongue ofcUmar.

At-Tabarani narrated it in al-Awsat.

Ibn cUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: I have never seen anyone after the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, from the time he died, more perceptive and more liberally generous than cUmar. Ibn Sacd narrated it.

Ibn Mascud, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Even if the knowledge of cUmar were to be put in one scale of a balance and the knowledge of every living being on the earth were put in the other scale, the knowledge of cUmar would outweigh their knowledge.

Ihey used to hold the view that he had gone (i.e. died) with ninetenths of knowledge. At-Tabarani narrated it in al-Kabir, and al- Hakim narrated it.

Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It is as if the knowledge of mankind was concealed in the understanding of 1 Umar.

Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: By Allah, I do not know a man whom the blame of the one who blames, for the sake of Allah, does not overcome, except for cUmar.