Imām Sālim ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn ʿUmar (d. 106 AH)

The grandson of Amīr al-Muʿminīn, Sālim ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn ʿUmar al-Khaṭṭāb, Abū ʿUmar al-Madanī. He was named after Sālim, the freed slave of Ḥudhayfah (raḍi Allāhu ʿanh, from the foremost in accepting Islām). He was a simple and abstinent man. Ashhab reports from Imām Mālik, ‘No one during the era of Sālim was able to surpass him in resembling the pious predecessors, in asceticism, prestigiousness, and simply in living. He would purchase clothes in lieu of two gold coins as well as a turban which he would don.’

When Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik noticed the excellent visage of Sālim, he asked him, ‘What types of food do you consume?’ He replied, ‘Bread and olive oil. If I find some meat, then I partake from it.’ ʿUmar asked him, ‘Do you desire it?’ He said, ‘When I do not desire it, I abandon it until I desire it.’

He was extremely particular of asking only Allāh for his needs.

On one occasion, the Caliph Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik was performing Ḥajj, and while circumambulating the Kaʿ bah, he noticed Sālim performing Ṭawāf too with broken shoes in his hands and his clothes were hardly tantamount to two gold coins. He approached him and offered him anything which he requires. Sālim responded, ‘Are you not shy, do you wish me to present my needs to anyone else whilst being at the House of Allāh?!’ Embarrassment became clear on Hishām’s face, and he continues his Ṭawāf, though keeping his eye on Sālim. When he noticed Sālim exiting the Ḥaram, he approached him again and offered if he is need of anything worldly. Sālim replied, ‘Oh Hishām, by Allāh, I have not requested the world from the Being who possesses it, so how can I possibly ask it from one who barely even owns it?!’

He resembled his father in looks, as well as imitated his characteristics and mannerisms. Maymūn ibn Mahrān stated, ‘I entered the house of ibn ʿUmar (raḍi Allāhu ʿanhumā) and evaluated all of its contents, I found that it did not even equate to two hundred gold coins. I then entered it a second time and found that it does not even equate to the value of shawl. Later in time, I entered the abode of Sālim, I found it to be as the same condition of his father.’

Sālim was extremely cherished and dear to his father. Ibn ʿUmar (raḍi Allāhu ʿanh) would kiss his son and comment, ‘A Shaykh kissing a Shaykh.’

He narrated ḥadīth from his father (ʿAbdillāh ibn ʿUmar), Abū Hurayrah, Abū Rāfiʿ, Abū Ayyūb, and others. Imām Ibn al-Musayyab said, ‘From among the children of ʿUmar (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh), the one who resembled him the most was ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, and from ʿAbdullāh’s children, Sālim resembled him the most.’a ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-ʿAsqalānī quoted Ibn al-Mubārak that the jurists of Madīnah are seven, and he mentioned Sālim as one of them. He narrated 932 ḥadīths from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) based on al-Kutub at-Tisʿah.

Imām Ibn Ḥajar said regarding him in at-Taqrīb, ‘He is one of the Seven Jurists of Madīnah, thabt (reliable), ʿābid (worshipper), and fāḍil (virtuous).’ Imām Aḥmad ibn Hanbal and Ishāq ibn Rahūyah stated that aṣaḥ al-asānīd (the Most Authentic Chain) was [Imām] Zuhrī, from Sālim [ibn ʿAbdillāh], from his father [Ibn ʿUmar (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh)]. Imām ʿIjlī stated regarding his status, ‘He is a Medinan tābiʿī, and is reliable.’ Imām Ibn Saʿd said, ‘He is reliable, narrates excessively, and holds a high rank among the men [of ḥadīth].’ Imām Abū Nuʿaym and others said that he passed away in the year 106 AH. 

May Allāh bestow upon him from His lavish bounties in the Hereafter, Āmīn.