Umar Al Farooq: Man and Caliph

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TIMELINE OF THE LIFE OF CALIPH UMAR

577: Umar born in Makkah to Khattab ibn Nufayl and Hantama bint Hisham

616: Umar’s conversion to Islam

634-644: Umar (b 577 CE – d 3 November 644 CE)) reigns as the second Caliph. The Muslims subjugate Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia. Garrisons established in the conquered lands, and the Muslim rulers begin to take control of financial organisation.

635: Muslims begin the conquest of Persia and Syria.

635: Arab Muslims capture the city of Damascus from the Byzantines.

636: Battle of Yarmuk (also: Yarmuq, Hieromyax): Following the Muslim capture of Damascus and Edessa, Byzantine Emperor Heraclius organizes a large army which manages to take back control of those cities. However, Byzantine commander, Baänes is soundly defeated by Muslim forces under Khalid ibn Walid in a battle in the valley of the Yarmuk River outside Damascus. This leaves all of Syria open to Arab domination.

636: The Arabs under Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas defeat a Sasanian army in the battle of Qadisiyya (near Hira), gaining Iraq west of the Tigris. A second victory follows at Jalula, near Ctesiphon.

637: The Arabs occupy the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. By 651, the entire Persian realm would come under the rule of Islam which continued its westward expansion.

637: Syria is conquered by Muslim forces.

637: Jerusalem falls to invading Muslim forces.

638: Caliph Umar marries Umm Kulthum; enters Jerusalem.

639-42: Conquest of Egypt (642 taking of Alexandria) by ‘Amr ibn al-’As. Muslims capture the sea port of Caesarea in Palestine, marking end of the Byzantine presence in Syria.

641: Islam spreads into Egypt. The Catholic Archbishop invites Muslims to help free Egypt from Roman oppressors.

641: Under the leadership of Abd-al-Rahman, Muslims conquer southern areas of Azerbaijan, Daghestan, Georgia, and Armenia.

641/2: Under the leadership of Amr ibn al-As, Muslims conquer the Byzantine city of Alexandria in Egypt. Al-As creates the first Muslim city in Egypt, al-Fustat, and builds there the first mosque in Egypt.

644: Umar dies and is succeeded by Uthman.

A BIOGRAPHY

In the vast corridors of history, we find that there is a passage of human characters that symbolise the vast diversity of man. The romance of history is not only fascinating but also truly inspiring. Every age has been a model for the succeeding one, and thus the history of either the kingdoms or the human race, or for that matter the history of religion or science has been basically the history of the evolution of man from a cave dweller to a visitor to the moon. But even in its vast penumbra, history extols only a few individuals whose lives shine in luminescence and whose ideals are living models of shimmering stars of wisdom. These great men have been the pathfinders and torchbearers of ideals that shaped and glorified civilizations. Their teachings were the glue that bonded people into a rich heritage that has grown into a resplendent civilisation.

Men of genius are meteors intended to burn to light their century. In the twilight of history there were men from diverse spheres of life, men who were kings, philosophers, scholars, rulers and generals who could grasp the true purpose of life quite early and did not have to share the ignominy of many others who could not catch the luminescence of this truth.The noble souls, whose teachings have survived the driftwood of history, and whose names still carry an aura of greatness, were men driven by a ceaseless urge to open out their hearts to others, those who changed the society by liberating segments of population that were fenced in by prejudice. All great men—whether social reformers, thinkers, statesmen, sages,or patriots—differ from common men only in one respect. They have the courage to dream and also work to transmute that dream into reality. They give life a meaning, a purpose and devote single mindedly to that purpose. The truly great men are not the men of wealth or possession, not men who gain name and fame, but those who testify to the truth in them and refuse to compromise whatever be the cost. They are imbued with a ceaseless striving to do what they consider to be right.

In the seventh century the envoy of the Roman Emperor set out for Madinah accompanied by a large retinue, flaunting the pageantry of adornments which the Roman Empire was famous for. On arrival in the metropolis of Islam, he enquired from a passer-by: Tell me please, where is the palace of the Caliph?

The Arab looked around. He was amused by this strange question, What do you mean by a palace? retorted the Arab. I mean the palace of Umar, the Caliph of Islam, added the envoy. ‘‘Oh! You want to see Umar. Come on, I will take you in his presence," replied the Arab.

The envoy was escorted to the Mosque of the Prophet, and, to his utter astonishment, a man who was lying on the bare floor of the mosque was introduced to him as Caliph Umar, the greatest ruler of his time, whose armies held sway over the three known continents of the world. The envoy was taken aback at such a strange sight. The report of what he observed in Madinah was enough to impress the Roman Emperor of the invincible might of Islam.

Umar ibn al-Khattab (born c. ad 586, Makkah, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia]—died Nov. 3, 644, Madinah, Arabia), was one of the outstanding figures of early Islam. He was the second successor, or Caliph, to Muhammad, but he was also Muhammad’s father-in-law. Umar is sometimes referred to as the St. Paul of Islam, first because of his success in spreading Islam and second because he was originally opposed to Islam, but had a conversion experience which caused him to reverse course and support Prophet Muhammad.

Umar is a major figure in the development of Muslim civilization who supervised the installation of Abu Bakr as the first Caliph and also masterminded the victories over both Byzantine and Persian empires. He was an implacable puritan and the architect of the whole political geography of the Islamic empire. Umar was a member of the Umayyah clan of the Makkan Quraysh tribe – thus the name of the empire he founded, the Umayyad Empire. After the death of Muhammad, Umar made sure that the leadership of the community went to Abu Bakr, an effort which helped ensure that the group was not split according to differing loyalties between those who were from Makkah and those from Madinah. Abu Bakr in turn designated Umar as his successor when he was on his deathbed.

Converting to Islam in the 6th year after Muhammad’s first revelation, Umar spent 18 years in companionship of Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr on 23 August 634, and played a significant role in Islam. His reign saw the transformation of the Islamic state from an Arabian principality to a world power, controlling the whole territory of the former Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His legislative abilities, his firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire and his brilliantly coordinated attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire that resulted in the conquest of the Persian Empire in less than two years, marked his reputation as an astute political and military strategist. Throughout this remarkable expansion, Umar closely controlled general policy and laid down the principles for administering the conquered lands. The structure of the later Islamic empire, including legal and administrative systems and financial architecture, are largely a result of his farsightedness and wisdom. A strong ruler, stern toward offenders, and himself ascetic to the point of harshness, he was universally respected for his justice and authority.

Umar despised the trappings of kingship and wealth. Foreign visitors were always amazed to find that there was no protocol of gatekeepers, court chancellors or bodyguards. Simplicity, poverty, justice—these are three qualities of the brave and energetic man who led the Arabs out of the confines of the Arabian Desert into the lush lands of the age-old Fertile Crescent. This is the man whose name is paired with justice and truth, strength and courage, and asceticism and godliness. His name is linked to piety, fear of God, and tearful remembrance of Him. He is acclaimed for his intuition and intelligence, consistency of vision and insight, and conscientious self abnegation. It was this set of sterling qualities that enabled Umar to catapult the young Muslim community on to the pages of world history in an effulgent blaze of glory and power.

Umar personified what the Arabs called muruwwa, the virtue of being a man. It connotes a cluster of virtues: bravery, generosity, practical wisdom and honour, all highly valued and praised in Arab tribal culture. Umar was endowed with extraordinary practical wisdom. Practical wisdom–the Greeks called it phonesis–is essentially the art of knowing the right thing to do at the right time and in the right way. It encompasses the ability to see ahead, to predict how things will unfold, and also to forecast what will be the consequences of a given course of action.

Throughout his reign, Umar remained a legendary puritan, a stern, austere man who came down hard on any public display of vulgarity, gambling, improper dress or the misuse of state property or abuse of delegated powers. He expected those who had been entrusted with high office should have a morality to match their exalted responsibilities.

Noble lineage

The pedigree of Umar is: Umar the son of Khattab, the son of Nufail, the son of Abd al-Uzza, the son of Ribah, the son of Abdulla, the son of Qurat, the son of Zurah, the son of Adi, the son of Ka’b, the son of Lovayy the son of Fahr, the son of Malik.

The people of Arabia are mostly descendants of Adnan or of Qahtan, and the descent of the former may be traced to Ismail. Removed to the eleventh degree from Adnan, Fahr, the son of Malik, was a person of great influence and power, and the famous tribe of Quraysh are his descendants. Ten individuals acquired great eminence among the Quraysh on account of their strong capabilities and were the founders of a like number of separate clans which were named after them. These were Hashim, Ommayya, NaufaL Abd al-Dar, Asad, Taim, Makhzum, Adi, Jamah, and Samah. Umar is a descendant of Adi in the direct line. Adi had a brother named Marra who is an ancestor of the Prophet. It may thus be seen that the respective lines of descent of Umar and the Prophet converge towards the eighth degree.

Babyhood

Like Muhammad, Umar had the same experience of being reared by Bedouin foster parents in their desert tents. Once of example when Umar rode through a wadi called Dajnan in the desert east of Makkah, its familiar landscape. stirred in him a memory of these distant days of childhood among the Bedouin. ‘There was a time’, he recalled to his Companions, ‘when I roamed the desert as a camel-herd, dressed in a fleece jacket,and whenever I sat down tired my father would beat me. Now I live in a time when i need reckon none as my superior except God.’

It was the custom of all the great families of Arab towns to send their sons, soon after their birth, into the desert, to be suckled and weaned and spend part of their childhood amongst one of the Bedouin tribes. It was not just the desert’s fresh air that they wished their sons to imbibe. That was for their bodies, but the desert had also its bounty for souls. In the desert, it was believed, one learned the qualities of self-discipline, nobility, and freedom. A sojourn in the desert also offered escape from the domination of time and the corruption of the city. Moreover, it provided the opportunity to become a better speaker through exposure to the eloquent Arabic spoken by the Bedouin. In this way the bond with the desert and its purity and sobriety was renewed for city dwellers in every generation.

All Arabs know that by origin they are desert nomads, tent-dwellers and herders of camels, sheep and goats, migrants in the vast land of Arabia. Their values, culture and language are all the products—as it were—from the aboriginal life of freedom in the black and brown goatskin tents of their forebears. Those who would be leaders of the Arabs, tradition suggested, should have Bedouin milk in them as well as the Bedouin blood in their veins that they shared with the Arabs. One of the most striking facts about Arabian society was that the spoken language was kept in its purest form by the nomadic tribes. It is almost as if the lack of material objects and the lack of written forms kept the joy and exuberance of the language at its most acute. It alone maintained the breathless virility and inventiveness. Nobility and freedom were inseparable, and the nomad was free. In the desert a man was conscious of being the lord of space, and in virtue of that lordship he escaped in a sense from the domination of time.

Umar’s youth

‘Umar was born into a respected Quraysh family thirteen years after the birth of Muhammad. In his youth he used to tend to his father’s camels in the plains near Makkah. His father was famed for his intelligence among his tribe. He was a middle class merchant and is believed to be a ruthless man and emotional polytheist who often treated Umar badly. During his later political rule, Umar would comment about his father, 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 he used to work me to exhaustion

Umar’s family was known for its extensive knowledge of genealogy. When he grew up, ‘Umar was proficient in this branch of knowledge as well as in swordsmanship, wrestling and the art of speaking. He also learned to read and write while still a child, a very rare thing in Makkah at that time. ‘Umar earned his living as a merchant. His trade took him to many foreign lands and he met all kinds of people. This experience gave him an insight into the affairs and problems of men. ‘Umar’s personality was dynamic, self-assertive, frank and straight forward. He always spoke whatever was in his mind even if it displeased others.

Umar was twenty-seven when the Prophet proclaimed his mission. The ideas Muhammad was preaching enraged him as much as they did the other notables of Makkah. He was just as bitter against anyone accepting Islam as others among the Quraysh. When his slave-girl accepted Islam he beat her until he himself was exhausted and told her, I have stopped because I am tired, not out of pity for you. Later after he embraced Islam he was the most ardent votary of the Prophet.

Umar’s nomination

Following the death of the prophet in 632, a period of great unrest stirred in the Islamic world. Muhammad’s place was now occupied by caliphs (literally: substitutes) who were considered the prophet’s heirs. This period is characterized by bloody warfare that brought about the murder of three of the first four caliphs.

Since Muhammad neither produced an heir nor set rules for appointing one, his authority was passed on to four men considered the most righteous of Muslims, who were close to the prophet and shared family ties with him. These continued to rule as caliphs from Medina, and were the spiritual, political and military leaders of the Muslim people. The first caliphwas Abu Bakr, a close friend of Muhammad and the father of `Aisha, the favorite of the prophet’s nine wives. Abu Bakr fought against the Bedouins, who were reluctant to support Islam following the death of Muhammad. Subsequently, he managed to regain the Bedouins’ support and in 634 CE declared holy war against the Byzantine Empire. The Bedouin-Muslim force, headed by Khalid, set out to capture areas outside the Arabian Peninsula: Syria and Palestine in the north, Iraq and Persia in the west and North Africa and Egypt in the east. The battle of July 634 CE was the first major Muslim victory over Byzantium.

The welfare of Muslims had always been the first care of Abu Bakr. He would allow nothing that made Islam weak. The thing he feared most was division among Muslims. He remembered what had happened after the death of the Prophet. He wanted to make sure that no differences should divide Muslims after he was no more. Unity was the secret strength. Unity must be had at any price.

As his sickness grew, Abu Bakr gave serious thought to the matter. Who should be the Caliph after him? Should he himself name the best man? Or should he leave the matter to the people? In the latter case, disputes might arise. These would certainly shake the very foundations of Islam. It was too great a risk. Abu Bakr was not willing to take that risk.

After careful thought, he chose to nominate Umar. He put his proposal before the leading Companions. Most of them appreciated and endorsed the proposal. But someone said, Umar is no doubt the best man, but he is rather too strict.

Talah objected to the nomination of Umar and said,

O successor of the Prophet; You know full well how harsh Umar has been towards us all during your regime and God only knows how he will deal with us when you are gone. You know that you are leaving us forever, and yet you are content to leave us in the hands of a man whose fierce and ungovernable rages are well known to you. Think O Chief, what answer will you give to your Lord for such a decision.

At this, Abu Bakr who was lying prostrate in his bed, rose up with considerable effort and said:

Have you come to frighten me? I swear that when I meet my Lord, I will gladly tell Him that I appointed as ruler over his people, the man who was the best of all mankind.

Thereupon Ali, who was also present, rose to say that he would acknowledge no other Caliph save Umar. Abu Bakr was much impressed with the selflessness of Ali for not pressing his own claim, and for putting the interests of the Muslim community above personal interests. Turning to Ali, Abu Bakr said:

You are indeed a prince in the most exalted sense of the term, for others are mere men.

Some of the men around Abu Bakr voiced their concern that Umar, known to be a very harsh and tough man, would be too hard on the people. Abu Bakr responded by saying that he considered Umar to be the best among them. Despite these initial reservations among some men of Madinah, Umar was appointed as the second Caliph of the Muslims. Abu Bakr is reported to have allayed the fear of his senior advisors:

His (Umar’s) strictness was there because of my softness when the weight of caliphate will be over his shoulders he will remain no longer strict. If I will be asked by the God to whom I have appointed my successor, I will tell him that I have appointed the best man among your men.

To this Abu Bakr replied, As soon as the burden of caliphate falls on his shoulders, he will become milder.

When all Companions agreed, Abu Bakr called Uthman. He dictated to him Umar’s nomination. It was read out to the people. It said:

This is the will of Abu Bakr, the Caliph of the Holy Prophet. He is making the will when he is about to leave for the next world. This is the time when even a non-believer begins to believe and even a sinner begins to trust in Allah. I appoint Umar bin Khattab as your ruler. In appointing him, I have kept your welfare fully in mind. I hope he will be truthful and just. But if he leaves his path and becomes unjust, I know nothing about the unseen, I have only the well-being of Muslims at heart. Everybody is responsible for what he does.

The will was read out to the people. After this Abu Bakr went to the top of his house, supported by two men. Addressing the people he said:

My brethren in-faith, I have not appointed any of my own brothers and relatives as your Caliph. I have appointed a man who is the fittest person among you. Do you approve of him?

Of course we do, went up a shout from hundreds of men. Next he called Umar to his bedside and spoke to him thus: "Umar! I have nominated you my successor. My parting advice is that you fear Allah and work for the well-being of the Muslims. Remember, Omar, the duties you own to Allah are to be discharged at the proper time.

Reign as Caliph

On 22 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 caliphatehas 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 thistask 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.

Umar always recalled two significant features of his pre-Islamic life: one, he would cry for, and the other he would laugh at. He cried that he buried his own daughter alive and he was still hearing her voice calling him. He laughed that he made gods out of pressed dates which people ate when they were hungry. The new `Umar was a symbol of justice for the whole world. During his Caliphate, Umar’s keen sensitivity to the pain of the poor and weak was borne out by his famous statement: If a lamb at the shore of the Euphrates was taken by a wolf, (I am afraid that) God would ask me about it.

It is a fundamental and universal principle of leadership that good leaders take their full share in the dangers and hardships of their people. By hardship is meant that which is hard to bear : privation, suffering, toil, fatigue, oppression, injury, injustice and the like. Great leaders who accept their destiny and take this steep and thorny path to leadership acquire something that is rarely conferred upon a leader—moral authority. Umar is perhaps one of the best examples of a man who was blessed with tremendous moral authority.

During Umar’s rule as Caliph, building on the precepts of Abu Bakr, the Islamic empire expanded to occupy lands of the Persian and Byzantine empires, and the Sassanid dynasty. The caliphate was organized under a unified sovereign authority, formed by different provinces ruled by provincial governors selected by the Caliph. Umar strove to govern according to the guidelines set by the Prophet in his sunnah and the Qur’an.

Many regard Umar as one of the greatest political geniuses in history. He is often seen as the architect of the