Second Khalifah: Umar ibn Khattab
Early Life
Umar was born in Mecca to the Banu Adi clan, which was responsible for arbitrations among the tribes. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl and his mother was Hatmah bint Hasham she was from the tribe of Banu Makhzum. He is said to have belonged to a middle class family. In his youth he used to tend to his father’s camels in the plains near Mecca. His father was famed for his intelligence among his tribe. He was a middle class merchant, and was a ruthless man and emotional polytheist who often used to treat Umar badly. During his later political rule, Umar said; "My father Al-Khattab was a ruthless man he used to make me work hard, if I didn’t work he used to beat me and when I used to work me to exhaustion."
Despite literacy being uncommon in pre-Islamic Arabia, Umar learned to read and write in his youth. Though not a poet himself, he developed a love for poetry and literature. According to the tradition of Quraish, while still in his teenage years, Umar learned martial arts, horse riding and wrestling. He was tall and physically powerful and was soon to became a renowned wrestler. Umar was also a gifted orator, and due to his intelligence and overwhelming personality soon after his father's death he replaced him as an arbitrator of conflicts among the tribes.
In addition, Umar followed the traditional profession of Quraish. He became a merchant and had several journeys to Rome and Persia, where he is said to have met the various scholars and analyzed the Roman and Persian societies closely. However, as a merchant he is believed to have never been successful. Drinking alcohol was very common among the Quraish, and Umar was also fond of drinking in his pre-Islamic days.
Reign as Caliph
On 22nd of August Caliph Abu Bakr died. The same day Umar assumed the office of Caliphate. After the assumption of office as the Caliph, Umar addressed the Muslims in his Inaugural address as:
" O ye faithful! Abu Bakr is no more amongst us. He has the satisfaction that he has successfully piloted the ship of the Muslim state to safety after negotiating the stormy sea. He successfully waged the apostasy wars, and thanks to him, Islam is now supreme in Arabia. After Abu Bakr, the mantle of Caliphate has fallen on my shoulders. I swear it before God that I never coveted this office. I wished that it would have devolved on some other person more worthy than me. But now that in national interest, the responsibility for leading the Muslims has come to vest in me, I assure you that I will not run away from my post, and will make an earnest effort to discharge the onerous duties of the office to the best of my capacity in accordance with the injunctions of Islam. Allah has examined me from you and you from me, In the performance of my duties, I will seek guidance from the Holy Book, and will follow the examples set by the Holy Prophet and Abu Bakr. In this task I seek your assistance. If I follow the right path, follow me. If I deviate from the right path, correct me so that we are not led astray. "
Initial Challenges
Umar was already not a endearing figure in Medina. Although almost all of the Muslims had given pledge of loyalty to him, nevertheless he was rather more feared than loved. The first challenge for Umar was to win out his subjects and members of Majlis al Shura. Umar was a gifted orator, and he would use his ability to get a soft corner in the hearts of people. On Friday prayers Umar addressed the people as follow:
" Brethren, it has come to my notice that the people are afraid of me..... they say that he (Umar) has become the Caliph now, God knows how hard he will be. Whoever has said this is not wrong in his assessment...... know ye brethren that you will feel a change in me. For those who practice tyranny and deprive others of their rights, I will be harsh and stern, but for those who follow the law, I will be most soft and tender."
Umar's addresses greatly moved the people. Next time he addressed the people as:
" I will be harsh and stern against the aggressor, but I will be a pillar of strength for the weak."
" I will not calm down until i will put one cheek of a tyrant on the ground and the other under my feet, and for the poor and weak, i will put my cheek on the ground."
There could be no better definition of the democracy and justice, then the historic words of Umar, over which he laid foundation of his rule:
" By God, he that is weakest among you shall be in my eye the strongest, until I have vindicated for him his rights; he that is strongest I will treat as the weakest, until he complies with the law."
Umar's stress was on the well being of poor and underprivileged people, as this class made a bulk of any community, the people were soundly moved by Umar's speeches and his popularity grew rapidly and continuously over the period of his reign. In addition to this Umar, in order to improve his reputation and relation with Banu Hashim, the tribe of Ali, delivered to him his disputed estates in Khayber. Though he followed Abu Bakr's decision over the dispute of land of Fidak, continued its status as a state property. In Ridda wars, thousands of prisoners from rebel and apostate tribes were taken away as slaves during the expeditions. Umar ordered the general amnesty for the prisoners, and their immediate emancipation. This made Umar quite a popular among the bedouin tribes. With necessary public support with him, Umar took a bold decision of retrieving Khalid ibn Walid from supreme command on Roman front.
Dismissal of Khalid from Command
Khalid ibn Walid, a military genius and then a hero of campaign of Apostasy and conquest of Iraq. Umar dismissed Khalid from high command and appointed Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah as new commander in chief. Even though he was his cousin, the relationship between Khalid and Umar were already tense since the incident of Malik ibn Nuwayrah. There was an air of distrust between Khalid and Umar, which thus resulted in the dismissal of Khalid from supreme command then and later in 638 from military services. There was a huge uproar over this decision of Umar in Madinah, as Khalid was immensely popular among the people due to his military genius. Khalid, rather gave a pledge of loyalty to the new Caliph and keep on serving as an ordinary commander under Abu Ubaidah. He is reported to have said: "If Abu Bakr is dead and Umar is Caliph, then we hear and obey."
This decision would be one of Umar's decision over which he regretted later. There was inevitably a slowdown in the pace of military operations, as Abu Ubaidah would move slowly and steadily. The conquest of Syria continued under him, Abu Ubaidah being an admirer of Khalid, made him command of cavalry and relyed heavily on his advice during the whole campaign.
Political and Civil Administration
The government of Umar was more or less a unitary government, where the sovereign political authority was the Caliph. The empire of Umar was divided into provinces and some autonomous territories like in some regions Azerbaijan and Armenia, that had accepted the suzerainty of Caliphate. The provinces administered by the provincial governors or Wali. The selection of which was made personally by Umar, who was very fastidious in it. Provinces were further divided into districts, there were about 100 districts in the empire. Each district or main city was under the charge of a junior governor or Wali, usually appointed by Umar himself, but occasionally they were also appointed by the provincial governor. Other officers at the provincial level were:
1. Katib, the Chief Secretary.
2. Katib-ud-Diwan, the Military Secretary.
3. Sahib-ul-Kharaj, the Revenue Collector.
4. Sahib-ul-Ahdath, the Police chief.
5. Sahib-ul-Bait-ul-Mal, the Treasury Officer.
6. Qadi, the Chief Judge.
In some districts there were separate military officers, though the Governor (Wali) was in most cases the Commander-in-chief of the army quartered in the province. Every appointment was made in writing. At the time of appointment an instrument of instructions was issued with a view to regulating the conduct of Governors. On assuming office, the Governor was required to assemble the people in the main mosque, and read the instrument of instructions before them.
Umar's general instructions to his officers were:
" Remember, I have not appointed you as commanders and tyrants over the people. I have sent you as leaders instead, so that the people may follow your example. Give the Muslims their rights and do not beat them lest they become abused. Do not praise them unduly, lest they fall into the error of conceit. Do not keep your doors shut in their faces, lest the more powerful of them eat up the weaker ones. And do not behave as if you were superior to them, for that is tyranny over them."
Various other strict code of conducts were to be obeyed by the governors and state officials. The principal officers were required to come to Mecca on the occasion of the Hajj, during which people were free to present any complaint against them. In order to minimize the chances of corruption, Umar made it a point to pay high salaries to the staff. Provincial governor received as much as five to seven thousand dirham annually besides their shares of the spoils of war (if they were also the commander in chief of the army of their sector). Under Umar the empire was divided into the following provinces.
1. Arabia was divided into two provinces, Mecca and Medina;
2. Iraq was divided into two provinces, Basra and Kufa;
3. In the upper reaches of the Tigris and the Euphrates, Jazira was a province;
4. Syria was a province;
5. Umar divided Palestine in two provinces Aylya and Ramlah;
6. Egypt was divided into two provinces, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt;
7. Persia was divided into three provinces, Khorasan; Azarbaijan and Fars.
Umar was first to established a special department for the investigation of complaints against the officers of the State. This department acted as Administrative court, where the legal proceedings were personally led by Umar. The Department was under the charge of Muhammad ibn Maslamah, one of Umar's most trusted man. In important cases Muhammad ibn Maslamah was deputed by Umar to proceed to the spot, investigate the charge and take action. Sometimes an Inquiry Commission was constituted to investigate the charge. On occasions the officers against him complaints were received were summoned to Madinah, and charged in Umar's administrative court. One of Umar's most powerful department was his intelligence department of secret services. Umar's iron fist rule on his empire, is often credited to this institution . His agents were every where, in the army, in the bureaucracy and in the enemy land. For the officials of Umar it was said to be the most fearsome department.
Reforms
Umar is regarded as one of the greatest political genius in history, while under his leadership, the empire was expanding at a unprecedented rate, he also began to build the political structure that would hold together the vast empire that was being built. He undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy. He established an advanced administration for the newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, and ordered a census of all the Muslim territories. During his rule, the garrison cities (amsar) of Basra and Kufa were founded or expanded. In 638, he extended and renovated the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca and the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina. Umar also ordered the expulsion of the Christian and Jewish communities of Najran and Khaybar allowing them to reside in Syria or Iraq. He issued orders that these Christians and Jews should be treated well and allotted them the equivalent land in their new settlements. Umar also forbade non-Muslims to reside in the Hejaz for longer than three days. He was first to establish army as a state department. Umar was founder of Fiqh, the Islamic jurisprudence. He is regarded by sunni Muslims to be one of the greatest Faqih. Umar as a jurist started the process of codifying Islamic Law. In 641, he established Bayt al-mal, a financial institution and started annual allowance for the Muslims. A year later he also started allowance for the poor, underprivileged and old non-Muslim citizens of the empire. As a leader, 'Umar was known for his simple, austere lifestyle. Rather than adopt the pomp and display affected by the rulers of the time, he continued to live much as he had when Muslims were poor and persecuted. In 639, his fourth year as caliph and the seventeenth year 17 since the Hijra, he decreed that the Islamic calendar should be counted from the year of the Hijra of Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to Madinah.
Military Expansion
Conquest of Eastern Roman Empire
Conquest of Syria (634-637)
Conquest of Palestine (635-636)
Campaigns in Eastern Anatolia (638)
Conquest of Armenia (638 & 644)
conquest of Upper Egypt (640-641)
conquest of Lower Egypt (641-642)
Conquest of North Africa (643)
Conquest of Sassanid Persian Empire
Conquest of Iraq (636-637)
Conquest of Isfahan & Tabaristan (642-643)
Conquest of Fars (642)
Conquest of Kerman & Makran (643-644)
Conquest of Sistan (643-644)
Conquest of Azerbaijan (643)
Conquest of Khurasan (643-644)
It is widely believe that Umar stressed more on consolidating his power and political influence in the conquered land, rather than persisting conquests. Nevertheless under Umar, The Islamic empire grew at an unprecedented rate. In 638, after the conquest of Syria, Umar dismissed Khalid, his most successful general due to his every growing fame and influence. Later however Umar regretted over his decision. The military conquest were partially terminated between 638-639 during the years of great famine and plague in Arabia and Levant respectively. During his reign Levant, Egypt, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Fezzan, Eastern Anatolia, almost whole of Sassanid Persian Empire including Bactria, Persia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Caucasus and Makran were annexed to Islamic Empire. Accordiong to one estimate more then 4050 cities were captured during these military conquest. Prior to his death in 644, Umar had ceased all military expeditions apparently to consolidate his rule in Egypt and newly conquered Sassanid Empire (642-644). At his death in November 644, domain of his rule extended from present day Lybia in west to Indus river in east and Oxus river in north.
The Great Famine
In the year 638, Arabia fall into severe drought followed by a famine. Bedouin people began to die because of hunger and epidemic diseases, as a result of drought and famine hundreds of thousands of people from all over Arabia gathered at Madinah where due to city life and civic sense, food was rationed. Soon the reserves of food at Madinah began to decline, Umar wrote to the provincial governors of Syria, Palestine and Iraq for the aid. State of emergency was declared in Madinah and Arabia. The timely aid of Umar's governors saved life of thousands of people through out Arabia. First governor to respond was Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, the governor of Syria and supreme commander of Rashidun army. He sent a historic letter to Umar saying
" I am sending you the caravans whose one end will be here at Syria and the other will be at Madinah."
Later Abu Ubaidah paid a personal visit to Madinah and acted as an officer of Disaster Management Cell, which was headed personally by Umar. Hundreds of thousands of people from desert towns had already gathered in Madinah, once adequate supply of ration reached Madinah, Umar dispatched his men to the routes of Iraq, Palestine and Syria to take the supply caravans to the desert settlements deeper into Arabia, which in turn saved millions from annihilation. For the internally displaced people, Umar hosted a diner every night at Madinah, which according to one estimate every night more then hundred thousand people use to attend. By early 639 conditions begun to improve, Arabia received precipitation and as soon as famine ends, Umar personally supervised the rehabilitation of the displaced people. They were given adequate amount of ration and were exempted from payment of zakat for that year and the next year.
The Great Plague
While famine was ending in Arabia, many districts in Syria and Palestine were devastated by plague. While Umar was on his way to visit Syria, at Elat, he was received by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, governor of Syria, who informed him about plague and its intensity and he was suggest to go back to Madinah, Umar tried to persuade Abu Ubaidah to come with him to Madinah but he denied to leave his troops in that critical situation. Abu Ubaidah died in 639 due to plague, which also cost the life of 25,000 Muslims in Syria. After plague was weaken in late 639 Umar visited Syria for it political and administrative re-organization, as most of the veteran commanders and governs had died in plague.
Assassination
In 644, at zenith of his power, Umar was assassinated. It is believed that his assassination was a Persian conspiracy, who were infuriated by Umar's conquest of their empire. The assassination is believed to have been planned several months previous to its execution. In October 644 Umar went for Hajj in Mecca, the assassins started the hoopla of Umar's possible death that year, the massive crowd of congregation was used by the conspirators as a veil to hide themselves. It is related that when Umar stood at the Mount Arafat he heard a voice saying:
" O Caliph, never again will you stand on the Mount of Arafat"
A companion of Umar, Jabir bin Mutaam is reported to have said:
" We saw a man standing at the top of the hill and crying 'Verily this is the last Hajj of Umar. He will never come here again."
During one of rituals of Hajj, the Ramy al-Jamarat (stoning of the Devil), some one threw a stone on Umar that wounded his head, a voice was heard that Umar will not attend the Hajj ever again. Amongst the conspirators was Hormuzan, the alleged master mind of the plot. He was Persian commander in Chief and was captured and brought to Umar at Medina where to save his life he apparently converted to Islam. One of Umar's advisors, Ka'ab al-Ahbar, a former Jewish Rabbi, who apparently had converted to Islam, but his conversion is generally doubted by the scholars.Jafinah, the Christian Arab from Iraq, who was also a foster brother of Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, former governors of Busra. The last of the master minds was Piruzan, popularly known as Abu Lulu, he was slave of Mughira ibn Shu'ba, then a governor of Busra. It was Abu Lulu who was assigned the mission of assassinating Umar. According to the plan, before the Fajr prayers (the morning prayers before the dawn) Abu Lulu will enter Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the main mosque of Madinah where Umar led the prayers and will attack Umar during the prayers, and will fled or will mix with the congregation at mosque. There were Persian children slaves in Madina. Seeing them, Firoz is quoted saying:
" You have been enslaved at such a tender age. This Umar has eaten my heart. I will take his heart out".
It is clear from the above quote that Pirouz's motive was revenge for being taken into slavery at such a young age.
I heard that you make windmills, make one for me as well. In a sullen mood, Pirouz said, " Verily I will make such a mill for you, that whole world would remember it "
As Pirouz went away, the Caliph told the people around him that the Persian slave had threatened him. Three days before attack on Umar on 1 November 644, Ka'ab al-Ahbar, is reported to have warned Umar that he will die in three days. On each successive day he further warned him about two days left and then one day left until on 3 November 644, Umar was attacked, while leading the morning prayers, Pirouz stabbed him six times in the belly and last on the navel, that proved fetal. Umar was left profusely bleeding while Abu Lulu tried to flee but people from all sides rushed to capture him, he was captured but committed suicide from the same dagger. Umar died of the wounds three days later on sunday, 7 November 644.
As per Umar's will, he was buried in Al-Masjid al-Nabawi along side Prophet Mohammad and Caliph Abu Bakr.
Aftermaths
On his death bed Umar vacillated to appoint his successor, however it has been reported that he said that if Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Khalid ibn Walid or Salim, the mawali and freed Persian slave, were alive he would have appointed one of them his successor. Umar finally appointed a committee of six persons comprising,
1. Abdur Rahman bin Awf
2. Saad ibn Abi Waqqas
3. Talha ibn Ubaidullah
4. Uthman ibn Affan
5. Ali ibn Abi Talib
6. Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
Their task was to chose a caliph from amongst them. Umar appointed a band of fifty armed soldiers to protect the house where the meeting was proceeding. Umar further instructed that with in three days of his death if the committee failed to elect the caliph they shell be executed. Until the appointment of the next caliph Umar appointed a notable Sahabi, a mawali, Suhayb ar-Rumi (Suhayb the Roman) as a caretaker Caliph. While the historic meeting for selection of caliph was preceding, Abdulrehman ibn Abu Bakr and Abdur Rahman bin Awf revealed that they saw the dagger used by Abu Lulu, the assassin of Umar. A night before Umar's assassination, reported Abdur Rahman bin Awf, he saw Hormuzan, Jafina and Abu Lulu, while they were suspiciously discussing some thing, bewildered by his presence dagger was dropped from them, it was the same two sided dagger. Abudulrehman ibn Abu Bakr, son of late caliph Abu Bakr also confirmed that few days before Umar's assassination, he once saw this dagger with Hurmazan. After the mystery of assassination uncover by the two of the most notable governmental figures, it seemed clear that the assassination was planed by the Persians residing in Madinah. Infuriate by this Umar's younger son Ubaidullah ibn Umar sought to kill all the Persians in Madinah. He killed Hormuzan, Jafinah, and daughter of Umar's assassin Abu Lulu, who is believed to be a Muslim. Ubaidullah was intercepted by the people of Madinah and withholding him from the massacre. Amr ibn al-Aas is said to have intercepted him, convince him to handover his sword. The murder of Jafinah, enraged Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, his foster brother, and he assaulted Ubaidullah ibn Umar and again the companions intervened. It is also believed that Umar daughter Hafsa bint Umar provoked Ubaidullah to take the punitive action. When Umar was informed about the incident, he ordered that Ubaidullah should be imprisoned and the next Caliph should decide his fate. Umar died on 7 November 644, and on 11 November, Uthman succeeded him as the Caliph. After a prolonged negotiations the council decided to give blood money to the victims and released Umar's son Ubaidullah, on the ground that after the tragic incident of Umar's assassination people will be further infuriated by execution of his son the very next day.
if the brother goes onwards with all the khalifas right towards the end, this should be stickied and the thread should be edited and organized into a "khalifa's time-line manner"
