(Redirected from Omer Bin Khattab)
'`Umar ibn al-Khattāb' (in
Arabic, 'عمر بن الخطاب') (c.
584 –
November 7,
644), was an early Muslim convert from the
Banu Adi clan of the
Quraysh tribe,
[1] and a
companion of
Muhammad. He became the second
Caliph (
634 –
644) following the death of
Abu Bakr, and is thus regarded by Sunni Muslims as one of the the ''
Rashidun'' (four righteously guided Caliphs]). Because of his conquests and political skills he is regarded as a pivotal figure in the history of Islam.
Name
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb is also referred to as ''`Umar al-Farūq'' (meaning: Umar the Distinguisher [between Truth and Falsehood]) and ''Farooq-e-Azam'' (meaning: Greatest Distinguisher [between Truth and Falsehood]). He is regarded by Sunni Muslims as the second of the four ''
Khulafā' ar-Rashīdīn'' (meaning: rightfully-guided caliphs). In English, he is also known as Omar or Umar.
Life
Early life
Umar was born in
Mecca. In his earlier years, he worked as a shepherd and a merchant, growing up in humble surroundings.
[2] His father was
Khattab ibn Nufayl, who is said to have been an emotional polytheist
[3]belonging to a middle class family. Umar was literate, which by some accounts is considered to be uncommon in those times, and he was also well known for his physical strength, being a champion warrior.
[4]
Conversion to Islam
When
Muhammad began preaching
Islam, `Umar ibn al khattab resolved to defend the traditional,
polytheistic religion of Arabia. `Umar was most adamant in opposing Muhammad and very prominent in persecuting the Muslims. According to an early story, recounted in
Ibn Ishaq's ''Sīrah'', `Umar resolved to
assassinate Muhammad.
[5] A Muslim he met on the way told him to set his own house in order first, as his sister and her husband had converted to Islam. `Umar went to her house and found her reciting verses of the Qur'an. He became infuriated and hit her. When he saw her bleeding, he was sorry for what he had done and in order to please her he said he would read the
sura,
Taha, that she had been reading. He was so struck by the sūrah's verses that he accepted Islam that very day. When Umar later went to inform the
Quraish chief,
Abu Jahl, about his acceptance of Islam,
Abu Jahl is reported to have scolded Umar, by saying "God damn you, and damn what you have brought."
[6] Full of zealousness, according to one account, Umar, thereafter prayed openly in Ka'abah as the Quraish chiefs,
Abu Jahl and
Abu Sufyan were said to have watched in anger.
[6] According to the same account, this further helped the Muslims to gain their confidence in practicing Islam openly as nobody dared to interfere with Umar when he was openly praying.
However, other traditions acknowledge the steadfastness of Umar in his new faith, still they illustrate that he was beaten for it by Quraysh and thus received protection from al-As b. Wa'il (Ibn Ishaq p 184-185, Ibn Hisham, I p298-299, op. cit. Suliman Bashear, The Title "Fārūq" and Its Association with 'Umar I, Studia Islamica, No. 72. (1990), p 60)
Migration to Medina
`Umar was part of the first emigration (
Hijrah) to Yathrib (later renamed Medīnat an-Nabī, or simply
Medina) in
622.
[8]
Umar was one of the chief advisors (minister) to Muhammad, the other being Abu Bakr.
He was present at the battles of
Badr,
Uhud,
Khaybar, and the raid on Syria, as well as many other engagements. He was one of Muhammad's close companions. In 625, `Umar's daughter
Hafsah was married to Muhammad.
===Caliphate of
Abu Bakr===
Abu Bakr was chosen as the new leader, the
Khalifah, of the community by a group of men gathered in a hall. The Muslims who were natives of
Medina, the
Ansar, had met separately and were planning to elect their own leader. This would have split the community between the native Medinans and the immigrants from
Mecca, the Muhajirs.
Abu Bakr and Umar arrived at the meeting, where after a days discussions on the question of the new Caliph, Umar forced the issue by publicly giving his allegiance to Abu Bakr. "In
Medina, Umar took charge of securing the pledge of allegiance of all residents. He dominated the streets with the help first of the Aslam and then the Abd Al-Ashhal of Aws who in contrast to the majority of Khazraj, quickly became vigorous champions of the new regime. The sources mention the actual use of force only with respect to Companion Al- Zubayr who had been together with some others of the Muhajirun in the house of
Fatima. Umar threatened to set the house on fire unless they came out and swore allegiance to
Abu Bakr" (Wilferd Madelung, The Succession To Muhammad, p 43, Cambridge University Press)
Abu Bakr was caliph for only a short time. Most of his caliphate was occupied with the
Ridda Wars, in which tribes who tried to desert the Muslim alliance were brought to heel. `Umar was one of his chief advisors.
Abū Bakr appointed `Umar as his successor prior to his death in
634. Shi'a Muslims, a minority splinter sect, perceive Abu Bakr's choice as a proof that Abu Bakr and Umar had conspired to keep the leadership from
Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Umar's Reign as a caliph
Main articles: Reforms of Umar's era
During Umar's reign, the Islamic empire grew at an unprecedented rate, taking
Mesopotamia and parts of
Persia from the
Sassanids (effectively ending that empire), and taking
Egypt,
Palestine,
Syria,
North Africa and
Armenia from the
Byzantines. Many of these conquests followed watershed battles on both the western and eastern fronts. The
Battle of Yarmūk, fought near
Damascus in
636, saw a small Muslim army defeat a much larger Byzantine force, permanently ending Byzantine rule south of Asia Minor.
A Muslim army achieved victory over a larger force in the
Battle of al-Qādisiyyah (''c.''
636), near the banks of the
Euphrates River. During the course of the battle, Muslim general
Sa'ad bin Abu Waqqas soundly routed the Sassanid army and killed the Persian general
Rostam Farrokhzād.
In
637, after a prolonged siege of
Jerusalem, the Muslims finally invaded the city.
According to some accounts, Hazrat Umar entered the city in humble fashion, walking beside a donkey on which his servant was sitting. He is said to have been given the keys to the city by the Orthodox Christian Patriarch
Sophronius, then led Muslim prayers at the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Once in the city he asked Sophrinous to take him to the
Al-Aqsa sanctuary. When they reached the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa, Umar was shocked to find it covered in rubbish as the Romans were using the area as a rubbish tip. The Caliph knelt down immediately and with his own hands began to clear the area. When the Muslims saw what he was doing, they followed suit and soon the whole area was cleansed. The area of Al-Aqsa is approximately 35
acres. Umar thereafter commissioned the construction of a wooden mosque on the southern end of the noble sanctuary close to where the present-day black domed Mosque of Al-Aqsa stands.
Umar demonstrated respect for the other faiths in Jerusalem. After the Muslims had liberated Jerusalem and the rest of
al-Sham, the prime benefactors were the
Jews. For the first time in 500 years since their expulsion from the Holy Land, the Jews were allowed to practice their religion freely and live in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
Encyclopedia Judaica - After the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, Seventy Jewish families started living there. It is also said that Umar and the Christians agreed to a number of pacts called
The Umariyya Covenant, which set out the rights and obligations of each party. For one version of `Umar's speech to the people after the surrender of Jerusalem, see
[1].
Hazrat Umar undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy, establishing an advanced administration for newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, as well as ordering a census of all the Muslim territories. During his reign, the garrison cities (''
amsar'') of
Basra and
Kufa were founded or expanded. In
638, he extended and renovated the
Grand Mosque in Mecca and the
Mosque of the Prophet in Medina. He also began the process of codifying
Islamic law.
Hazrat Umar also ordered the expulsion of the Christian and Jewish communities of Najran and Khaybar and forbade non-Muslims to reside in the Hijaz for longer than three days. (G. Levi DellaVida and M. Bonner, Encyclopedia of Islam, and Madelung, ''The Succession to Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)'', p. 74)
Hazrat 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 years of the Islamic era should be counted from the year of the Hijra.
Narratives from Sunni Islamic literature
According to the Sunni tradition, after the siege of Jerusalem, the reason behind
Sophronius's welcoming reception was that--according to the biblical prophecies allegedly known to the
Christian church in
Jerusalem at that time--he learned of a time when a poor, but just and powerful, (because of his extremely austere lifestyle) with his right hand sitting on it after a prolonged battle in
Jerusalem (this description perfectly matched the image of `Umar at the time of his arrival) and will actually prove to be a protector and an ally to the
Christians of
Jerusalem.
In the account by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Eutichius, it is said that Umar paid a visit to the church of the Resurrection and sat in its courtyard but at the time of prayer he left the church and prayed outside, fearing that future generations might use his prayer inside the church as a pretext for converting it into a mosque. Eutichius further say that Umar wrote also a decree which he handed to the Patriarch, in which he prohibited that Muslims gather in prayer at the site.
[9]
Another interesting story, according to certain Sunnis, in the meeting between one of Persia’s leaders who previously fought against the Muslims, namely
hurmuzan(who later converted to Islam).
[10] He found Umar sleeping on the ground after he had sought him out for battle and was amazed of his humility and austere lifestyle he found before him. He commented on that by saying his famous phrase: “You ruled by justice, therefore you became safe; only because of that, you are now able to sleep peacefully anywhere."
[11]
Death
`Umar was killed in 644, the victim of an assassin's dagger. `Umar's killer (
Abu-Lu'lu'ah) was a
Persian slave who said to have held a personal grudge against Umar; he. A parvenu Arab leader called Mughira ibn Shu’ba bought him and took him to Medina in Arabia for slavery work. He stabbed the Caliph six times. "Umar ordered before his death that all Arab slaves held by the state be freed. The strong bias against non-Arabs in Umar's policies evidently contributed to create the atmosphere in which the
Persian captive Abu Lu'lu'a Fayruz, outraged by a perceived slight on the part of the caliph, was prepared to assassinate him"(Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad, p 75) `Umar died two days later, and was buried alongside Muhammad and Abū Bakr.
Usman ibn Affan was
elected as his successor, by a group of people appointed by `Umar before his death.
Shi'a view
Main articles: Shi'a view of Umar
The minority Shiite regard Umar as a usurper, brutal and coward. On the grounds of repudiating Muhammad's proclamation of Ali as his heir, being the one of the fugitives of the battles of Uhud and Hunayn and that in the course of the disputed succession to Muhammad, he restored to the threat of using violence against Ali, in order to induce the latter to submit to the authority of Abu Bakr (see for instance Tabari, I, 1819-20). Among Shiite scholars, it is disputed whether Umar caused the death of Muhammad's daughter
Fatima Zahra and her unborn child Muhsen.
According to Shi'ites, Umar's rule relied on the support of the Ummayad to strength his position and in turn rewarded the governorate of Syria Yazid b. Abi Suffian during Abu Bakr's caliphate and to his brother
Mu'awiyah when Umar was the Caliph. They allege that Umar staged the Shura Council to ensure the selection of Uthman, in effect Umar sowed the seeds for the establishment of Umayyad dynastic despotism.
Sunni views
Main articles: Sunni view of Umar
Main articles: Hadith of Umar and the Qur'an
Sunnis remember Umar as a Farooq and it means leader, jurist and statesman, and the second of the rightly-guided Caliphs. He did not seek advancement for his own family, but rather sought to advance the interests of the Muslim community, the ''ummah''. The general Sunni sentiment for Umar is precisely summarized by one of
Muhammad's companions,
Abdullah ibn Masud who stated:
Non-Muslim view
Main articles: Non-Muslim view of Umar
Non-Muslim scholars generally treat Umar as a pivotal figure in the history of Islam, since it was under his aegis that the Muslims expanded outwards from the Syro-Arabian steppe to conquer the
Sassanid (Persian) empire and to capture much of the
Byzantine Empire's territory in Asia and Northern Africa. They analyze his decisions primarily in military and political terms, while some praise his religious and character judgments. For example, in speaking about his devotedness to Islam, the
academic David Norcliff, stated:
In making reference to Umar's political skills, the
Italian orientalist Laura Veccia Vaglieri, was quoted as stating:
On the other hand,
David Samuel Margoliouth offers a more critical assessment of Umar:
''Farūqī''
The family names ''Farūqī'' (alternative spellings, ''Faruqi'', ''Farooqui'', ''Farooqi'', ''Faruqi'', "''Farooq''" etc.) and Al-Omari are used by families descent from `Umar.''"
Al-Faruq: The Life of Omar The Great"'' is the biography of
Umar written by Islamic scholar
Shibli Nomani.Its publication took the Muslim World by storm and was considered a great literary event in history of Islamic literature.
See also
★
The first four Sunni Caliphs and the Sunnah
★
Historiography of early Islam
★
Pact of Umar
★
Rashidun
★
★
Abu Bakr (1st Rashidun)
★
★
★
Family tree of Abu Bakr
★
★
Umar ibn al-Khattab (2nd Rashidun)
★
★
★
Family tree of Umar ibn al-Khattab
★
★
Usman ibn Affan (3rd Rashidun)
★
★
★
Family tree of Usman ibn Affan
★
★
Ali ibn Abi Talib (4th Rashidun)
★
★
★
Family tree of Ali ibn Abi Talib
★
Sahaba
★
Succession to Muhammad
Notes
1. Islam in Global History: From the Death of Prophet Muhammed to the First World War By Nazeer Ahmed, pg. 34
2. Islam in Global History: From the Death of Prophet Muhammed to the First World War By Nazeer Ahmed, pg. 35
3. Muhammad (Peace & blessings be upon him): A Biography of the Prophet(P.B.U.H) By Karen Armstrong, pg. 120
4. Numani, Shibli (2004). ''`Umar'', I.B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN 1850436703. p. 4
5. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet By Karen Armstrong, pg. 128
6. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet By Karen Armstrong, pg. 35
7. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet By Karen Armstrong, pg. 35
8. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet By Karen Armstrong, pg. 151
9. The Holy Sepulchre - first destructions and reconstructions
10. Occupation of Khuzestan by Muslims
11. Fatwa pertaining to the authenticity of the story.......
References
★ Donner, Fred, ''The Early Islamic Conquests'', Princeton University Press, 1981
★ Guillaume, A., ''The Life of Muhammad'', Oxford University Press, 1955
★ Madelung, Wilferd, ''The Succession to Muhammad'', Cambridge University Press, 1997
★ "G.LeviDellaVida and M.Bonner "Umar" in Encyclopedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 1999"
★ Previte-Orton, C. W (1971). ''The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
External links
★
Family tree of Umar bin al-Khattab
★
Excerpt from The History of the Khalifahs by Jalal ad-Din as-
Suyuti
★
Sirah of Amirul Muminin Umar Bin Khattab (r.a.a.) by Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy.
★
Umar bin al-Khattab, the Second Khalifa of the Muslims A critical review of Umar's reign
_by_mohammad_adil_rais.JPG)
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