HAZRAT UMAR:

NOMINATION:

- Abu Bakr did not want any rifts for the seat of Caliphate again
- Nominated Umar
- Everyone seemed pleased with that but one pointed out how he was too strict
- Hazrat Uthman read out the will of Hazrat Abu Bakr:
- “This is the will of Abu Bakr, the Caliph of Hazrat Muhammad (SAW). 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 sinful 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 of the unseen; I have only the well being
of Muslims at heart. Everybody is responsible for what he does.”
- Abu Bakr went to the top of his house and made sure everyone approved:
- “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 fittest person among you. Do you approve of him?”

BATTLES WITH PERSIANS:

- Namaraq
- Jasr
- Buwaib
- Qadsiya
- Madain
- Jalula
- nahwand

BATTLE OF NAMARAQ:

- Persians were furious upon the conquest of Hira by Khalid and Musanna
- Sent Rustam to get it back
- Abu Ubaidah was sent to accompany the army of the Musana
- Persians were defeated

BATTLE OF JASR:

- Persians under command of Behman gathered a huge army

- Abu Ubaidah was very over confident and agreed to cross the river
- A Muslim cut the bridge once they crossed over so that they would have no other option but to
fight
- Horses and camels ran away by seeing the Persian elephants
- Abu Obaidah got trampled
- Musanna ordered the rebuilding of the bridge
 - Many muslims drowned in the river
- 4000 Muslims martyred

BATTLE OF BUWAIB:

- Umar sent messengers to different tribes and exhorted Muslims to prepare for holy war against
Persians
- A number of Christian arabs were included
- Muslim commander: Muthanna
- Muslim army: 20000
- Persian commander: Mehran
- Persian army: 200,000
- Rustam appointed mehran as he knew the arab way of fighting
- Muslims invited Persians to cross the river
- Bridge built by Persians was destroyed by muslims
- Mehran was slain
- 100,000 men lost their lives
- Whole of western part of Persian empire was captured

BATTLE OF QADSIA:

- Rustam Prepared to attack next morning

- Ordered to build a bridge over the canal and they crossed it
- Muslim commander: Saad bin Abi Waqqaas
- Muslim army: 20,000-28000
- Persian commander: rustam
- Persian army: 120,000
- “Rustam! There are people with me to whom death is more attractive than is wine to the people
in your army”
- Saad was very sick so he directed the operations from his sick bed
- Persian elephants played havoc
- Muslim archers and lancers knocked down many elephant riders
- The first and second days of battle secured no victory
- On the 3rd day the camels were wrapped with pieces of cloth to scare the elephants
- A no. of archers pierced the eyes of elephants making them blind and cut their trunks
- Now on 4th day elephants played havoc with Persians
- Rustam tried to flee but was captured and slain
- Persians seeing this started fleeing for their lives
- 6000 muslim casualties, 30,000 persians lost their lives
- Muslims gained an immense booty

CONQUEST OF MADAIN:

- Muslims chased the Persians

 - Captured babul
- Laid siege to Bahrah Sher for 2 months and then captured the fort
- Had to capture the city of madain itself now
- situated on the east bank of river tigris
- saad took permission from umar to capture the city
- Persians destroyed the bridge on the river
- Saad had faith in Allah so first 60 horsemen plunged into the river and then the whole army
crossed: “Allah made a way in the Red Sea for Musa and his followers; He will surely help us who
are following His Last Prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W)
- Yazdgard and his ministers had already fled: “Dev Aamdan, Dev Aamdan”
- Whole of territory between the Euphrates and Tigris came under Muslim’s hold
- Prophecy of the Prophet had come true: “A group of Muslims will capture the White Palace of
the Persian Emperor”
- Gained rich booty from the White Palace: “I am weeping because riches are often the cause of
enmity and mutual bitterness. Those people who have such evils, ultimately lose respect.”
-

BATTLE OF JALULA:

- Muslim commander: Hashim and Qaqas

- Persian commander: Kharzad
- Entire town of jalula was a fortress and a deep ditch was dug around it
- Food was stored for several months
- Muslims laid siege to it for 7 months
- Muslims retreated when Persians faced shortage of food so that they could come out into the
open
- A severe wind blew in the faces of the enemy and helped muslims to rush forward
- Persians were defeated
- Residents of jalula agreed to jizya tax

BATTLE OF NEHAWAND:

- Muslims and Persians signed a peace treaty

- Persians soon broke it
- Muslim army: 30,000
- Persian army: 60,000 under Yazdgard
- Persians were defeated, and Yazdgard fled to Balkh where he was killed in the reign of Uthman
BATTLES WITH ROMANS:

BATTLE OF YARMUK:

- Muslim commander: Abu Ubaidah

- Muslim army: 40,000
- Roman Commander: Mahan
- Roman army: 260,000
- Romans fled to Antioch and appealed to Hercules for help
- Muslims already gathered at yarmuk
- In the beginning command was with Khalid bin waleed but was changed by umar’s letter
- The commander of roman army himself fell
- 100,000 romans were killed
- Muslim casualties were 3000
- As a result, Hercules fled to Constantinople

CONQUEST OF DAMASCUS:

- Muslim commander: Abu Ubaidah and Khalid bin Waleed

- Roman commander: Hercules
- Muslims laid siege to the city and cut means of communication
- Continued for weeks when khald wanted to take immediate action
- After 2 months the governor of Damascus had a baby and everyone celebrated when alcohol
was taken to excess and many got drunk
- Khalid and a few selected muslims wanted to take advantage of this while the rest of the troops
were to launch a surprise attack when they eard Allah-o-Akbar from the eastern gate
- Crossed the moat and climbed the wall with ropes
- Attacked the drunk byzantine guards and opened the eastern gate and then shouted Allah-o-
Akbar
- Thomas first assumed only Khalid’s army had entered
- He sent envoys to the Jabiya gate to talk to Abu Ubaidah and the second to Khalid saying that
they would surrender the fort peacefully and pay the jizya
- Abu ubaidah accepted these terms
- After dawn he and the other commanders entered from their respective gates while Khalid was
still battling
- Commanders met at the Church of Mary where Khalid argued that he had captured the city by
force
- Abu Ubaidah told him about the peace agreement and how it should be honored
- It was logical because if the agreement was not honored no other city would ever surrender to
the muslims
- Khalid was not happy but still agreed
 - Terms of agreement; no one would be enslaved, no harm would be done to the temples,
nothing would be taken as booty, and the safe passage was given to Thomas, harbees and every
citizen who didn’t want to live under rule of muslims
- Drawn up and signed by Khalid bin waleed

CONQUEST OF JERUSALEM:

- Muslim commanders: Amr ibn al-Aas and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
- They attacked on Jerusalem in 638 A.D.
- Christians decided to give in since they had little help from Byzantines
- The victors had always respected the life and property of the defeated
- Jerusalem was sacred to the muslims as it was to them but Christians wanted to make sure that
they would be treated well so they asked the caliph himself to come and sign the peace treaty
- Umar agreed to this: “We are ready to give in, but your Caliph must come here in person and
sign the treaty of peace.”
- “Why spill human blood, if things can be straightened out without it.”
- He left ali in madinah as his deputy and left for Jerusalem
- Had only one attendant and one camel on which they rode in turns: “I give up my turn. It will
look awkward in the eyes of people, if I ride and you lead the camel.” Umar replied, “Oh no. I am
not going to be unjust. The honor of Islam is enough for us all.”
- Abu ubaid, Khalid, yazid bin abu sufyan were at a distance to receive the caliph and were
wearing silk cloths which made umar angry and throw pebbles at them: “Have you changed so
much in two years? What dress is this? Even if you had done this 200 years from now I would
have dismissed you.”
- “Commander of the Faithful, we are in a land where the quality of clothes worn, tells the rank of
a man. If we wear ordinary clothes, we will command little respect among the people. However,
we are wearing our arms underneath the silken robes.”
- Hazrat umar then signed the treaty of peace after which the gates of the city were now opened
- Umar went straight to the temple of David (masjid-e-Aqsa) and offered his prayer under David’s
Arch
- Then he visited the biggest Christian church of the city when the afternoon prater came.
- The bishop told him he may offer his prayers here but umar refused so he offered at the steps of
the church: “You may say your prayers in the church.” Umar replied, “No, if I do so, the Muslims
may one day make this an excuse for taking over the church from you.”
-

CONQUEST OF EGYPT:

- Egypt was a great danger to the security of hijaz (northern Arabia)

- Romans wanted to regain their territories from muslims through Egypt
- Amr bin aas got the permission from caliph and set out from Palestine to Egypt with 4000 men
- Entered Egypt through the route of Wadi-al-Arsh
 - After attacking some small towns he laid siege to one of the strongest roman forts at Fustat and
conquered it
- Romans sent a big army to Alexandria
- Amr bin aas got reinforcements from caliph
- He laid siege to the city but no result came for 6 months
- Umar wrote to him saying that Muslims may not have been fully acting upon teachings of Quran
and Sunnah: “I am afraid the Muslims may not have been acting fully upon the teachings of the
Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. The only way to get victory is to follow strictly the
ways of the Holy Prophet. They should therefore be more stricter on it. Then try to give final
blow to enemy.”
- After reading out the letter to Muslim army Umar’s orders were at once carried out and
Alexandria was conquered
- Caliph entertained his general’s messenger with bread and dates and they all joined in
thanksgiving service in the Prophet’s Masjid
- Captured the remaining fortresses in Egypt and it came fully under the Islamic empire
- Local Christians and Jews were given freedom of religion and various taxes imposed on Romans
were abolished

ADMINISTRATION:

- He established a Majlis-e-Shoora consisting of both Ansar and Muhajireen

- State was divided into 8 provinces
- Each province was placed under a Wali
- Each district was placed under an Amil
- The officers had to report to Makkah on the occasion of Hajj
- On the retirement of officers their accounts were checked to see if they had been honest or not
- Judiciary was completely independent
- He was the first one to establish the departments of Military, Education, Jails and Police etc
- Department of Dewan was responsible for the collection of all types of revenue
- New taxes like Ushr (1/10th of the income on big lands) and Zakaat on ownership of horses were
imposed
- Soldiers were well looked after but not allowed to buy land in the conquered territories
- He himself patrolled the streets of Madinah at night to look for people who needed help
- Introduced the Muslims Hijri calendar
- Old age pension system
- Allowances for widows, orphans
- Census of the population