Note 357 — Chapter XXIII · FAMINE AND PLAGUE. A.H. XVIII. A.D. 639.
Reading edition
The secretary of Wâckidy has several pages filled with traditions about Omar’s treatment of the famine, and self-denying solicitude for his people. He refused to ride a horse during the famine because it consumed corn. He chided his son for eating a cucumber, when men around were dying of hunger, and so forth. There may be much of exaggeration; but at the bottom of it all lies a fine trait in Omar’s character.