BIRTH OF THE KHALIFATE 41Before his conversion, Omar had been known to do a certain amount
of brawling and drinking. Back then, he had hated Islam and Mohammed.
Then came his oft-recounted conversion: one day, tradition reports, he an-
nounced that he was going to kill the Messenger of God and be done with
it. He grabbed a sword and went striding across town to commit the deed,
but on the way he spotted his beloved sister sitting under a tree, studying
a leaf with some sort of text on it. "What are you doing?"
"Reading," she said.
"Reading what?"
She looked up timorously. "The Qur'an. I've become a Muslim."
"What? Give me that!" He snatched away what she was reading. It was
a verse called Ta Ha, and to Omar's astonishment the words seemed ad-
dressed directly to him. At that moment Omar went through a transfor-
mation. He dropped his sword, ran through the streets of Mecca, and
banged on the Prophet's door, shouting, "I believe you! You are theMes-
senger of God! I believe!"
After that, he became one of Mohammed's closest companions, but he
always remained a tough guy's tough guy, subject to outbursts of frighten-
ing rage, and though he had a good heart beneath it all, many wondered if
the khalifate could be entrusted to a man whose very demeanor frightened
children. At that critical moment, however, Ali stepped forward to endorse
Omar, and his word tipped the scales: the Umma accepted their second
post-Mohammed leader.
Upon taking office, Omar told the community that he knew he was
more feared than loved, but he assured people, they had seen only one side
of him so far. Both the Prophet and Abu Bakr had been tenderhearted
men, he explained, yet leaders sometimes must take tough action, and
when such a need had arisen, Omar had been their instrument. He had
needed to be a sword all the time so that the Prophet, and later Abu Bakr,
would have a sword available to them any time. Now that Omar was khal-
ifa, however, he would not be a living sword all the time, because he knew
that a leader must sometimes be gentle. From now on, therefore, the com-
munity would see both sides of him. Wrongdoers and tyrants who tram-
pled on the weak would see the old Omar. The poor, the weak, the
widows, the orphans, all who sought the good and needed protection,
would see the tender Omar.