AS was his custom, Umar Bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), the Leader of the Believers, once went out at night to look after the needs of the people and to make sure that everyone was safe. As he passed by an open area in Madina, he heard the moans of a woman coming out from a small and shabby house, at the door of which was a man seated. Umar greeted him and asked him how he was. The man said that he was from the desert and had come seeking to reap some generosity from the Leader of the Believers. Umar asked him about the woman and the moaning noises, and the man, not knowing that he was speaking to the Leader of the Believers, said, “Go away, may Allah have mercy on you, and do not ask about what does not concern you.” However, Umar persisted in asking the same question, offering to help if he could. And so the man informed him, “Indeed she is my wife, who is about to give birth, yet there is no one here to help her.” Umar left the man, returned to his house in a hurry, entered, and said to his wife, Umm Kulthum (may Allah be pleased with her), “Will you take reward that Allah has brought to you?” She said, “And what is that goodness and reward, O Umar?” As soon as he informed her, she stood and took all that she needed to help the woman deliver her baby and all that the newborn would need as well. Meanwhile, the Leader of the Believers took a pot and with it some (food) and grains. He and his wife hurried off together until they reached the shabby house. While Umm Kulthum went in to help the pregnant woman, Umar remained outside with the husband, and cooked the food he brought with him. From inside the house, Umm Kulthum called out, “O Leader of the Believers, give glad tidings to your companion that Allah has provided him with a young boy.” The man was amazed to hear that it was the Leader of the Believers who was seated with him cooking the food; and the man's wife inside was shocked to learn that it was the wife of the Caliph who came to meet her and help her in her shabby house.
