Umar ibn al-Khattab and Amr ibn Hisham were two very intelligent and dynamic persons in Makkah. The Prophet once prayed: 'O God, strengthen Islam through one of the two Umars.' Prophet's prayers was accepted in favour of Umar ibn al-Khattab. Since initially Umar had been a staunch opponent of Islam, the early Muslims formed a negative opinion of him, thinking he would never incline towards their faith. But a person has a hidden spark within, which comes to the fore on certain occasions. Once Umar went to his sister Fatima's house where he read verses from the Quran. While reading, his eyes welled up with tears and he realized the words to be the truth. He immediately went to the Prophet and proclaimed his faith. Umar's unique quality was that in spite of being very brilliant, he surrendered to the Prophet's preaching. There have been very few persons in history who were extremely intelligent and also bowed down to the truth, because such people tend to be arrogant. Umar was very intelligent but surrendered himself for the sake of truth. He was intelligent and yet very modest. Traditions tell us that he would not make delay in acknowledging the truth. As Caliph, he was once delivering a sermon on an issue. An old woman rose up and said that his statement was not in accordance with the Quran. At that moment, he instantly stepped down from the pulpit and said: 'Every person knows more that Umar, even this old woman!' A person once said to another that when Umar gets angry, read out a verse from the Quran and his anger would subside. Many instances from his life demonstrate this fact. It came to be said about him that he was one who would completely bow down before the word of God.
