Umar belonged to an ordinary family of average means. His Khathab was a hard taskmaster. It appears that Umar grew up as a typical Arab-a tall young man with a fine physique and impressive personality. When he was a child his father put him to the task of grazing camels, and Umar often recalled how his father belabored him mercilessly whenever there was a lapse on his part. Umar also recalled that when he was a child he used to graze the flocks of goats and sheep of his maternal aunts who doled out pittance to him in the shape of dates. As a child, Umar used to graze the animals under his charge in the grazing ground Dajnan, about ten miles from Mecca. When Umar became the Khalifa, he happened to pass through Dajnan. Turning to his companions he said:

He was bald, of a tawny colour, a left handed man, tall, and towering above the people, an ambidexter; he could use both his hands equally well. Umar was very ruddy with scanty hair on the cheeks, his moustaches large, and the ends thereof reddish. He was blessed with a strong physique.

He could undergo great rigours. He could travel on foot for miles. He was an athlete and a wrestler. He participated in the wrestling matches on the occasion of the annual fair at Ukaz, and he won in most of such matches. From the accounts that have come down to us it appears that Umar had attained perfection in the art of wrestling. He was a skillful rider. He could successfully manage even the wildest of horses he would literally jump on the back of the horse, and sit with such ease and steadiness that he appeared to be a part and parcel of the horse he rode.

Before his conversion to Islam, Umar had three wives. His first wife was Quraibah bint Abi Ummiyah, al-Makhzumi. She belonged to the same clan as the mother of Umar. She was one of the most beautiful women of Mecca of the day. His second wife was Zainab (R.A.). She was the sister of 'Uthman bin Maz'un. 'Abdullah, Abdur Rahman (Ist) and Hafsah (wife of the Holy Prophet) were the children she bore to Hazrat Umar. His third wife was Malkiah bint Jarwal. She gave birth to 'Ubaidullah. Quraibah and Malkiah did not accept Islam and were divorced in 6 A.H. according to Islamic law. Zainab accepted Islam but died in Mecca.

He followed the profession of a trader. He undertook journeys to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere for the purposes of trade. He was a successful trader, and he made good money as a result of these commercial journeys. When Umar migrated from Mecca, according to his own account, he was one of the richest Quraish merchants.