The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

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i86 'OMAR [chap. XXV.
A.H. 17-23. but two of these, preferring to remain at Mecca, .separated
from him. .\t Medina, he married five more, one of whom,
however, he divorced. The last marriage wa.s in the eighth
year of his reign, when near sixty years of age. Three
years previously he had married a granddaughter of the
Prophet, under circumstances casting a curious light on
his domestic ways.
He conceived a liking for Um Kulthum,
the maiden daughter of Abu Bekr, and sister of 'Aisha,
through whom a betrothal was arranged. But 'Aisha found
the light-hearted damsel with no desire to wed the aged
Caliph. In this dilemma she had recourse to the astute
'Amr, who readily undertook to break the marriage off.
He broached the subject to 'Omar, who thereupon imagined
that 'Amr wished the maiden for himself. " Na}'," said
'Amr, " that I do not ; but she hath been bred softly in
the family of her father Abu Bekr, and I fear she may ill
brook thine austere manners, and the gravity of thy house."
- " But," replied 'Omar, " I have already engaged to marry
her ; how can I break it off? " " Leave that to me," said
'Amr; "thou hast indeed a duty to provide for Abu Bekr's
family, but the heart of this maiden is not with thee. Let
her alone, and I will show thee a better than she, another
Um Kulthum, even the daughter of 'All and of Fatima."
So 'Omar married this other maiden, and she bore him
a son and a daughter.
Death of
Many of those names we have been familiar with were
many now dropping off the scene ;— Fatima, the daughter, and
p^eTsonao^cF.
Saflya, the aunt of Mohammad, Zeinab one of his wives,
and Mary his Coptic bond-maid; Abu 'Obeida, Khalid, and
the Muezzin Bilal. Many others who also bore a conspicuous
part in the great role of the Prophet's life had now passed
away, and a new race was springing up in their place.
Abu Sufyfin Abu Sufyan survived till 32 A.H., and died 88 years
and Hind,
gf ^gg Qj-jg gyg ^e lost at the siege of At-Taif, and
the other at the battle on the Yarmuk, so that he had long
been blind. He divorced Hind, the mother of Mu'awiya
she who "chewed the liver" of Hamza at the battle of
^
Ohod ! The reason for the divorce does not appear.
^
Life of Mohammad, p. 263.