Umar is my favorite early Moslem -- he knew what was stupid, even if he did it

Submitted by Charles Martel (United States), Aug 28, 2007 at 12:27

I did not know the thing about Umar distastefully kissing the Kaaba, but it is reminiscent of a story I admire about Umar. He acknowledged a Koranic verse about stoning adulterers was in the oral Koran before it was written down.

He said with obvious frustration --

"Mohamed stoned and we have stoned, but people would say "Umar had added to the Koran" or I would write it with my own hand "if a shaikh and a shaikha fornicate, stone them outright."

This was in Sura 33 "Al Azhab" but the strict Moslem chain of custody for what could go in the Koran was broken so even though many first-generation people knew it was a "revelation" from Mohamed they couldn't get it into the written Koran.

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