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Umar
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Umar (c. 581-83 CE 7 November, 644), also known as Umar the Great or Omar the Great was a Muslim from the Banu Adi clan of the Quraysh tribe, and a sahaba (righteous 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 Rashidun (four righteously guided Caliphs).
In contrast, he is regarded by Shi'a Muslims as an usurper, and that Fatimah, daughter Muhammad, was physically abused by him.
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Umar (c. 581-83 CE 7 November, 644), also known as Umar the Great or Omar the Great was a Muslim from the Banu Adi clan of the Quraysh tribe, and a sahaba (righteous 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 Rashidun (four righteously guided Caliphs).
In contrast, he is regarded by Shi'a Muslims as an usurper, and that Fatimah, daughter Muhammad, was physically abused by him. It is believed the event caused her to miscarry her child and eventually led to her death soon after. (see Umar at Fatimah's house).
Name
Umer, Umar, Omer, or Omar is an Arabic word which is directly corresponding to the English word "life", thus Umer means "who live longer" `Umar ibn al khattab is also referred to as `Umar al-Faruq (meaning: Umar the Distinguisher [between Truth and Falsehood]). He is regarded by Sunni Muslims as the second of the four Khulafa' ar-Rashidin (meaning: rightfully-guided caliphs). In English, his name has also been spelled as Omar or Omer.
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. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl, who is said to have been an emotional polytheist belonging to a middle class family. Umar was literate, which by some accounts was uncommon in those times, and he was also well known for his physical strength, being a champion warrior. Although Umar was a well respected and honorable man, and came from a family of noble descent, he was just like the rest of Quraysh. Omar was like most of Quraysh before Islam, yet after Islam he became renowned.
When Muhammad began preaching Islam, `Umar ibn al-Khattab resolved to defend the traditional, polytheistic religion of Arabia. He was most adamant in opposing Muhammad and very prominent in persecuting the Muslims. In those days, the early Muslims lived in fear of their life and often did not openly pray at the Kaaba. To overcome this oppression, Muhammad explicitly prayed, 'to strengthen the religion with Umar. According to an early story, recounted in Ibn Ishaq's Sirah, `Umar resolved to assassinate Muhammad. On the way to assassinate Muhammad, Umar met a Muslim who told him to set his own house in order first, as his sister and her husband had converted to Islam. Upon arriving at her house, `Umar found her reciting verses of the Qur'an. When he listened carefully to the Sura's verses, he was so impressed that he accepted Islam that very day. Following this `Umar went to inform the chief of Quraish, Amr ibn Hisham, about his acceptance of Islam. According to one account, Umar, thereafter prayed openly at the Kaaba as the Quraish chiefs, Amr ibn Hisham and Abu Sufyan ibn Harb reportedly watched in anger. According to the same account, this further helped the Muslims to gain confidence in practicing Islam openly, since it is said that no one dared to interfere with Umar when he was openly praying.
Migration to Medina
`Umar was part of the first migration (Hijrah) to Yathrib (later renamed Medinat an-Nabi, or simply Medina, which means "the city," in 622. where he was one of two chief advisers to Muhammad, the other being Abu Bakr.
In the following years, he participated at the battles of Badr, Uhud, Khaybar, and the raid on Syria, as well as many other engagements. He was one of Muhammad's 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 secretly gathered in Saqifah Bani Saadah, in Medina, without the knowledge of Ali, after Muhammad died in 632. 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 natives of Medina and the immigrants from Mecca, known as the Muhajirun. Finally, both Abu Bakr and Umar arrived at the meeting, and, after a day of deliberations, Umar took the initiative by publicly giving his allegiance to Abu Bakr. The Ansar followed suit, and swore allegiance to Abu Bakr, pointing to various hints given by Muhammad that Abu Bakr should be his successor. Most of the Muhajirun, the earliest converts, however, were left out of the meeting as they were ardent supporters of Ali.
According to the naratives written in the Shia books, following his election to the caliphate, Abu Bakr and Umar with other companions went to Fatimah's house to forcefully obtain homage from Ali and his supporters. Umar and Khalid ibn Walid threatened to burn the house down if they did not submit. They broke in, resulting in Fatimah's ribs being broken between the broken door and the wall, and she miscarrying an unborn son named Muhsin. According to Mas'udi, they dragged Ali out of the house and pressed Fatima between the door and the wall so forcefully that Muhsin, her unborn son, died of miscarriage. According to some sources, Umar ordered the beating of Fatimah, some saying Umar personally kicked Fatimah in the stomach, causing her miscarriage. Muhammad appeared in a dream and informed Fatimah that she would be passing away the next day. Fatimah informed her husband Ali and asked him not to allow those who had done injustice to her, to be involved in her janazah (prayer performed in congregation after the death of a Muslim) or take part in the burial.
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. Just before his death in 634, Abu Bakr appointed Umar as his successor.
Umar's Reign as a caliph
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 major battles on both the western and eastern fronts. The Battle of Yarmouk, fought near Damascus in 636, saw a small Muslim army defeat a much larger Byzantine force, permanently ending Byzantine rule south of Anatolia (Asia Minor). A Muslim army achieved victory over a force in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah (c. 636), near the banks of the Euphrates. During the course of the battle, Muslim general Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas routed the Sassanid army and killed the Persian general Rostam Farrokhzad.
The general social and moral tone of the Muslim society at that time is well-illustrated by the words of an Egyptian who was sent to spy on the Muslims during their Egyptian campaign. He reported:
"I have seen a people, every one of whom loves death more than he loves life. They cultivate humility rather than pride. None is given to material ambitions. Their mode of living is simple... Their commander is their equal. They make no distinction between superior and inferior, between master and slave. When the time of prayer approaches, none remains behind..."
The Treaty of Umar
In 637, after a prolonged siege of Jerusalem, the Muslims finally entered the city peacefully following the signing of a treaty by the Patriach of Elya Al-Quds (i.e. Jerusalem) and Umar himself. Several years earlier, the Patriach had announced that he would not sign a treaty with anyone other than the Caliph himself. For this reason, `Umar personally came to Jerusalem after Muslims had established control of all the surrounding territory. According to both Muslim and Christian accounts, `Umar entered the city humbly, walking beside a camel upon which his servant was sitting, due to the reason they shared turns over it and it was his servant's turn when they reached the city. He is said to have been given the keys to the city by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, after conducting the peace treaty known as the Treaty of Umar, the English translation of which is provided below:
Then Umar asked the Patriach to lead him to the place of the old Jewish Temple. Umar was shocked to find the site covered in rubbish, as the Romans had initiated the custom of using it as a dung heap. `Umar knelt down immediately, and began to clear the area with his hands. When the Muslims saw what he was doing, they followed his example, and soon the entire area of al-Aqsa, approximately , was cleaned up. Thereafter, commissioned the construction of a wooden mosque on the southern end of the site, exactly where the present-day mosque of Al-Aqsa stands.
`Umar was then led to the sites of the Foundation Stone by a rabbi, Ka'ab al-Ahbar, who had converted to Islam. The rock was surrounded it by a fence, and several years later an Umayyad Khalif built the Dome of the Rock over the site.
Upon taking Jerusalem, `Umar demonstrated the utmost respect for members of the other faiths living in the city. For the first time in 500 years since their expulsion from the Holy Land, Jews were allowed to practice their religion freely and live in the vicinity of Jerusalem. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, seventy Jewish families took up residence in the city. `Umar also agreed to several pacts, called the Covenant of Omar, with the local Christian population, determining their rights and obligations under Muslim rule.
As a conqueror, `Umar 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. He also began the process of codifying Islamic law. At the same time, `Umar also ordered the expulsion of the Christian and Jewish communities of Najran and Khaibar and forbade non-Muslims to reside in the Hijaz for longer than three days.
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 years of the Islamic era should be counted from the year of the Hijra.
Narratives from Sunni Islamic literature
According to Sunni tradition, after the siege of Jerusalem, Sophronius welcomed `Umar because, according to biblical prophecies allegedly known to the church in Jerusalem, "a poor, but just and powerful man" will rise as a be a protector and an ally to the Christians of Jerusalem. Sophronius believed that `Umar, a great warrior who led an austere life, was a fulfilment of this prophecy.
In the account by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Eutychius, it is said that `Umar paid a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and sat in its courtyard. When the time for prayer arrived, however, he left the church and prayed outside the compound, in order to avoid having future generations of Muslims use his prayer there as a pretext for converting the church into a mosque. Eutychius adds that `Umar also wrote a decree which he handed to the Patriarch, in which he prohibited that Muslims gather in prayer at the site.
Another story tells of the meeting between `Umar and Hurmuzan, a Persian leader who fought against the Muslims, but later converted to Islam. He found `Umar sleeping on the ground after he had sought him out for battle, and was amazed at his humility and austere lifestyle. The story continues that Hurmuzan declared: "You ruled by justice, therefore you became safe; only because of that, you are now able to sleep peacefully anywhere."
Death
Umar died in 644, the victim of an assassin's dagger. His killer, Pirouz Nahavandi (also known as Abu Lulua) was a Persian Soldier who was in both wars of Jaloola and Nahavand and taken as a captive in the second. Most probably Firuzan was a Zoroastrian as the majority of Iranians were, at the time of Arab occupation of Iran in 7th century. One day when the caliph was leading prayers in the mosque, Pirouz Nahavandi walked over to him and stabbed him. There are varying accounts about the actual events that took place. Some believe that when Pirooz got to Umar he used his dagger to rip his stomach open from below belly all the way to his neck. and then stabbed him in his back as well and some say that he stabbed Umar six times. `Umar died two days later, and was buried alongside Muhammad and Abu Bakr. Uthman Ibn Affan was chosen as his successor, by a group of people appointed by Umar before his death.
Analysis of the recently found sandstone inscription, determined that it reads: "In the name of Allah/ I, Zuhayr, wrote (this) at the time 'Umar died/year four/And twenty."
It is worthwhile pointing out that caliph ?Umar bin al-Khattab died on the last night of the month of Dhul-Hijjah of the year 23 AH, and was buried next day on the first day of Muharram of the new year 24 AH, corresponding to 644 CE. Thus the date mentioned in the inscription (above) is authentic and conforms to the established and known date of the death of ?Umar bin al-Khattab.
Sunni views
Sunnis remember Umar as a Farooq, meaning "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 summarized by one of Muhammad's companions, Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud:
Shia Views
Umar is viewed negatively in Shia literature and is regarded as a usurper. Some Shi'a writers have accused him of killing Muhammad's daughter Fatimah (see Fatimah#Death).
See also
External links
- by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti
- by Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy.
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