Umar accepts Islam

Umar ibn al-Khattab embraced Islam in Dhu al-Hijja of the sixth year, three days after Hamza's Islam. The Prophet had prayed: "O God, strengthen Islam with the more beloved of the two men to You: Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) or Abu Jahl ibn Hisham." The one more beloved to God was Umar. ^{1 2 3}

The book describes Umar as hot-tempered and very firm. Within him there was a struggle between respect for the traditions of his fathers and his inclination toward amusement and drink, along with admiration for the steadfastness of the Muslims. He also had doubts that what Islam calls to might be more sublime than other things. Muhammad al-Ghazali says that he would flare up in anger and then quickly subside. ^{4 5}

One night he sought shelter outside his house. He went into the sacred precinct and found the Prophet praying, having begun Surat al-Haqqa. He listened to the recitation and marvelled at its composition, and he said to himself that the Prophet was a poet. When the Prophet recited some of the verses of the surah, Umar said he was a soothsayer. Then the Prophet recited the rest of the surah, and Islam entered his heart. ⁴ This was the seed of Islam in his heart, but the husk of tribal zeal and Jahiliyya tendencies overcame it. ⁴

Umar went out with his sword intending to kill the Prophet. He met Nu'aym ibn Abdullah, who told him that his sister Fatima and her husband Sa'id ibn Zayd had become Muslims. He entered upon them while Khabbab was with them, reading to them from a sheet on which Ta-Ha was written. When they realised who he was, her husband struck him, and he struck his sister and wounded her. Then Umar read the sheet and said: "How fine this speech is. Direct me to Muhammad." ^{6 7}

Umar came to the house of al-Arqam and knocked on the door. Hamza and those with him came out to him. The Prophet said to the man with the sword girded on: "Let him go." The Prophet took hold of the edges of Umar's garment and said: "Will you not desist, Umar? O God, this is Umar ibn al-Khattab." Umar said: "I bear witness that there is no god but God, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God." The people of the house made a takbir that the people of the mosque heard. ^{6 7} That day the Prophet named him "al-Faruq." ⁸

The Muslims went out in two rows, Hamza in one and Umar in the other, until they entered the mosque. A gloom came over Quraysh such as had never struck them before. ⁸ Ibn Mas'ud said: "We could not pray at the Ka'ba until Umar became a Muslim; and we have been mighty since Umar became a Muslim." ^{9 10} Suhayb said: "When Umar became a Muslim, Islam became manifest and was called to openly." ⁸

• The book gives different reports of the details of Umar's conversion and gathers them into one summary. This is the book's own rendering, not an independent verification.
• The incident in which he struck his sister and wounded her is disputed in its details between Ibn Ishaq's account and others. ⁶