Before the advent of Islam there was no tradition in Arabia of reading or writing. There were only seventeen people among Quraish who could read or write at the time when the Holy Prophet (Sal Allaho Alehe Wassallam) started to receive Divine revelations. Hadrat Umar was one of those seventeen persons. His writing and lectures are still found in some old books. The first address he gave as a Caliph is as under

"O Allah, I am strict, make me soft. I am weak give me power. The Arabs are like refractory camels, I will endeavour to bring them to the straight path"

He was also interested in poetry and sometimes he composed verses. Umar (Raziallah Anho) was one of the most fluent Quraish. Arabic knowing persons can appreciate the fluency of his writings and addresses. Many of his sayings became aphorisms of literature.

He was a great Jurist and Theologian of Islam. Because of the fear of making any mistake he did not quote many Ahadith (Sayings of the Holy Prophet) even though he was fully conversant with them. He never allowed a person (companion) to quote any Hadith which was not well known without producing any attestator in support of it. If somebody quoted a Hadith before him which he had never heard, he at once asked him to bring a witness failing which he would be punished. He was expert in deriving laws from the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith. A full volume could be complied out of the verdicts and judgements given by Hadrat Umar (Raziallah Anho). As a matter of fact he opened a new door of Ijtihad' "(Disciplined judgement of a Jurist) in the history of Islamic Law and Jurisprudence, and settled a number of disputable cases during his caliphate.

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