After the Prophet (pbuh) had passed away, Islam continued to spread very quickly throughout most of Arabia and into many other countries. Umar bin Khattab became the second leader of this vast Muslim empire after Abu Bakr.
Many people in different countries were accepting Islam. There were many thousands of new Muslims. Once the Muslims had come all the way to Jerusalem and were camping outside the city.
As the Muslims camped, there was a group of Christian leaders who were talking amongst themselves. They wanted the city to remain a place of peace and thought it would be best if the Muslims ran the city. Their condition was that they would be able to practice their religion without any interference from anyone.
The Muslims immediately agreed but the Christian leaders wanted a guarantee from the Muslim leader, who was Umar. The message was sent to Umar and he immediately set off from Madina.
As Umar came close to the city, everyone was excited to see this great leader of such a huge and powerful empire. They thought he would be covered in gold with a huge crown encrusted with jewels. They also thought that he would be accompanied by hundreds of soldiers and people to look after him.
When Umar reached the gates, they were surprised to see only two people—Umar and his guide. They looked at these two simple people with simple clothes. They were even more surprised to find that Umar arrived walking whilst his guide was on the donkey.
Even though Umar was so great he remained simple with simple clothes and without any such gold decoration.
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