" So they ate their
fill and he left the rest with her. Then he turned to me and
said, "O Aslam, I see it was indeed hunger made them weep; and I
am glad I did not go away without finding out the reason of the
light I saw."' It is said that Omar passed, one day, by a flock
of sheep, kept by a slave, and asked the latter to sell him a
sheep. 'They are not mine,' replied the shepherd. 'Thou art the
man I sought,' said Omar and buying him of his master, set him
free, whereupon the slave exclaimed, 'O my God, thou hast
bestowed on me the lesser emancipation; vouchsafe me now the
greater!'[FN#43] They say also, that Omar ben Khettab was wont to
give his servants sweet milk and eat coarse fare himself and to
clothe them softly and wear himself coarse garments. He gave all
men their due and exceeded in his giving to them. He once gave a
man four thousand dirhems and added thereto yet a thousand,
wherefore it was said to him, 'Why dost thou not favour thy son
as thou favourest this man?' He answered, 'This man's father
stood firm in fight on the day of Uhud.'[FN#44] El Hassan
relates that Omar once came (back from an expedition) with much
money and that Hefseh[FN#45] came to him and said, 'O Commander
of the Faithful, be mindful of the due of kinship!' 'O Hefseh,'
replied he, 'God hath indeed enjoined us to satisfy the dues of
kinship, but of our own monies, not those of the true believers.
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