A Leader's Profile Reflection

Tim Redaksi August 23, 2025 0

Umar bin Khattab [Ilustration Image]

A Leader's Profile Reflection (By: Dede Farhan Aulawi)

One night, Umar bin Khattab made an unannounced "blusukan" or visit to areas of Medina to assess the condition of its people. In silence he saw, in the darkness he heard.

On his way, he heard the cries of hungry children. He approached the source of the sound and found a woman and her children in a very simple hut. The woman was cooking something on a stove, but it was simply water sprinkled with stones to make it look like cooking, and her children mistook it for food.

Umar asked the woman why she didn't give her children food. She replied that they had nothing to eat and that she was only trying to calm them by pretending to cook.

Hearing this, Umar felt very sad and concerned. He immediately returned to the Baitul Mal (state treasury) and took himself wheat, dates and other foodstuffs. He took it back to the woman's hut and cooked it himself. After the food was cooked, Umar gave the food to the women and their children. He also promised to help them and ensure they would never go hungry again.

His stomach was never full as long as there were people who were hungry. He never built a magnificent palace as long as there were still people who did not have homes or lived in rickety huts. He always imagined the severity of accountability before God, if there were still poor people.

Is there still a leader profile like that...???