Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam
3. Omar Ibn al Khattab (r)
ByProfessor Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
Summary: History bends to the will of man when it is exercised with faith and steadfastness. Omar (r) was one such man. He bent history to his will, leaving a legacy that successor generations have looked upon as a model to copy. He was one of the greatest of conquerors, a wise administrator, a just ruler, a monumental builder and a man of piety who loved God with the same intensity that other conquerors of his caliber have loved gold and wealth. The Prophet planted the seed of Tawhid. Abu Bakr (r), with his wise intercession at an historic moment, ensured that the seed did not perish with the death of the Prophet. It was during the Khilafat of Omar (r) that the seed grew into a full-blown tree and bore fruit. Omar (r) shaped the historical edifice of Islam and whatever Islam became or did not become in subsequent centuries is due primarily to the work of this historical figure. Indeed, Omar (r) was the architect of the Islamic civilization.
The achievements of Omar ibn al Khattab (r) are all the more remarkable considering that he lacked the advantage of birth, nobility or wealth that some of the other Companions enjoyed. He was born into the tribe of Bani ‘Adi, a poorer cousin amongst the Quraish. In his own words, before he accepted Islam, he was at various times a petty merchant and a shepherd who would often lose his sheep. From such humble beginnings, he rose to weld together an empire greater in extent than either that of Rome or Persia and governed it with the wisdom of a Solomon and administered it with the sagacity of a Joseph.
Upon his election to the Khilafat, Omar (r) was faced with the immediate geopolitical situation in West Asia. The Persian and Byzantine empires held the balance of power in the region with the Euphrates River as the historical divide between the two empires. Persia also controlled Yemen and the territories along the Red Sea north to Mecca and Madina. The emergence of Islam and the unification of the Arabs altered this balance of power. It was a situation that neither the Byzantines nor the Persians could ignore. The triumph of Omar (r) over the mighty Persian and Eastern Roman empires within a brief span of ten years is one of the most remarkable stories in military history.
When Omar (r) became the Khalifa, the campaigns in Syria were ongoing. After the Battle of Yarmuk (636) Byzantine resistance in Syria collapsed. Jerusalem, then a part of Syria was a holy city. The Patriarch of Jerusalem offered the keys to the city provided the Khalifa himself came up to accept them. When the Khilafa heard of this, he appointed Ali ibn Abu Talib (r) as the acting Khilafa and set out north from Madina. Omar ibn al Khattab (r) was now the Khilafa of all of Arabia and of surrounding territories. He could have traveled as a conqueror in pomp and luxury. But he, like the other Companions, had received his training from Prophet Muhammed (sas). Theirs was the kingdom of heaven and not of this earth. They held the key to the treasures of the earth but only as a Divine Trust as servants of the Lord. Omar (r) traveled north on one camel with a single attendant, taking turns with him for the ride. As he approached Jerusalem, it so happened, the attendant was on the camel and the Khilafawas walking alongside. The potentates of Jerusalem thought that the rider was the Khilafa and the man on foot, in his patched clothes, was the servant. They offered abeyance to the rider. When the Muslim commanders greeted the real Khilafa, the potentates of Jerusalem were astonished and bowed down in awe.
Omar (r) treated the conquered people with unsurpassed magnanimity. The capitulation document signed with the Christians upon the fall of Jerusalem provides an example:
“This is the safety given by a servant of God, the leader of the faithful, Omar ibn al Khattab to the people of Ilia. This safety is for their life, property, church and cross, for the healthy and the sick and for all their co-religionists. Their churches shall neither be used as residence nor shall they be demolished. No harm shall be done to their churches or their boundaries. There shall be no decrease in their crosses or riches. There shall neither be any compulsion in religion nor shall they be harmed.”
The document speaks for itself. The Muslim armies were fighting for the freedom of worship, not for religious conversion. The Byzantines tried to regroup in Egypt and use it as a base to recover Syria. In 641, Omar (r) sent an expedition under Amr bin al As to Alexandria. Alexandria fell and the Muslim armies continued their advance as far as Tripoli in Libya.
Meanwhile, the eastern front with Persia was active. The Persians did not take lightly their losses in the border areas west of the Euphrates River. They reorganized, put their western defenses under the famous Khorasani General Rustam. What had started as a border war became a test of strength between the Arab and Persian Empires. After a series of skirmishes, a decisive battle was fought on the plain of Qadasia in the desert, about forty miles from the Euphrates River. Rustam fought bravely, but was slain in battle. The Battle of Qadasia (637) was one of the turning points in world history. It marked the beginning of the end of the Persian Empire and the birth of the Islamic Empire. Madayen, the capital of the Persian Empire fell soon thereafter.
Yazdgard fled Madayen towards Merv, in northeastern Persia. He assembled a huge army of 150,000 and put it under the command of Mardan Shah. The two armies met at the Battle of Nahawand (642). Numan fell in battle but the Arabs were victorious. It was another of the major victories in the eastwards expansion of the Arab empire. By the year 650, the Persian Empire had disappeared. Yazdgard fled Persia and died in exile. Persia became a part of the Islamic world and for fourteen hundred years has been a pivotal region in Muslim affairs.
When Omar (r) was informed of the victories over Persia, he went to the mosque in Madina and addressed the people:
“O believers! The Persians have lost their kingdom. God has made you inherit their country, their properties and their riches, so that He may test you. Therefore, do not change your ways. Otherwise, God will bring forth another nation in place of you. I feel anxiety for our community from our own people”.
These were prophetic words. As we shall see, the riches of Persia did change the ways of some in Madina and led to the civil wars that tore the Islamic community apart.
Omar (r) was a superb administrator. He established a Shura (consultative) council and sought advice on matters of state. He divided the far-flung empire extending from India to Tunisia into the provinces of Mecca, Madina, Syria, Jazira (the fertile region between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq), Basra, Khorasan, Azerbaijan, Persia and Egypt. A governor, answerable to the Khilafa, was appointed for each province. The responsibilities and the limits of each governor’s authority were clearly defined. The executive and the judiciary were separated and kadis were appointed to administer justice.
Omar (r) had the open mindedness to accept and adopt what was good in other civilizations. Where applicable, he learned from and adopted the technologies and administrative practices of the conquered people. Windmills were in extensive use in Persia at the time and Omar (r) ordered the construction of windmills in several of the Arab cities, including Madina. When Abu Huraira returned with a large booty from Bahrain, there were differences among the Madinites as to how to divide it up. Khalid bin Walid, observing the divisions, suggested to the Khilafa that a department of documentation be set up in Madina similar to the ones he had seen in Persia. Khilafa Omar (r) inquired about the Persian practices and after satisfying himself that they were indeed applicable to the Khilafat, ordered that a department of documentation be set up. As most Arabs were illiterate, he hired Persian scribes to man this new department. Later, the department was expanded to document all transactions of the treasury and of the army. Following the example of Omar ibn al Khattab (r), the preparation and maintenance of documentation became an honored profession among Muslims, and Khalifas and sultans alike, down to the Ottomans and the Moghuls, kept this tradition alive.
It was during the Khilafat of Omar (r) that Islamic jurisprudence and its methodologies based on the Qur’an, Sunnah, ijma and qiyas were fully established. He affirmed the individual responsibility of every person before the law. Every individual was a legal person and was innocent before proven guilty after due process. The edicts of Omar (r), reflecting the consensus of the Companions, provided the foundation for the Maliki School of Fiqh that emerged a hundred years later.
The military was organized professionally. Finance, accounting, taxation and treasury departments were organized with full accountability. Police, prisons and postal units were established.
The land was surveyed and agriculture was encouraged. Old canals were excavated and new ones built. Large areas of land were brought under cultivation. Roads were laid out and were regularly patrolled. A traveler could move with safety all the way from Egypt to Khorasan in Central Asia.
The vast territories of West Asia and North Africa were welded into a free trade zone. Trade fostered prosperity. Education was encouraged and teachers paid. The study of Qur’an, Hadith, language, literature, writing and calligraphy received patronage. Omar (r) was himself a poet of repute and a noted orator. Over 4,000 mosques were built during the Khilafat of Omar (r).
Technology such as the construction of windmills was encouraged. Old bridges and roads were repaired and new ones built. A population census was taken after the example of the Chinese in the Tang dynasty. And it was Omar (r) who started the Islamic calendar based on the Hijra of the Prophet.
Omar ibn al Khattab (r) laid the foundation of Islamic civilization. He was the historical figure who institutionalized Islam and determined the manner in which Muslims would relate to each other and to non-Muslims and would strive to fulfill the mission of Tawhid on earth.
Ironically, this man of justice was assassinated for a verdict he had given in a civil case brought before him. One of the Companions, Mugheera bin Sho’ba, rented a house to a Persian carpenter named Abu Lulu Feroze. The rent was two dirhams a day, a sum Abu Lulu felt was too high. He complained to the Khilafa Omar (r) who gathered all the facts, listened to both sides and gave the judgment that the rent was fair. This seemingly minor incident caused one of the biggest upheavals in Islamic history. Abu Lulu was so distraught at the verdict that he resolved to take the life of the Khilafa. The next morning, as Omar (r) appeared at the mosque to lead the prayer, Abu Lulu hid in a corner, his double-edged sword concealed under his long robes. As the Khilafa stood at the head of the congregation reciting the Qur’an, Abu Lulu jumped at him and thrust his double-edged sword into the Khilafa’s stomach. The internal bleeding could not be stopped and Omar (r), the citadel of the community of believers, passed away the following day. The year was 645 CE.
It is reported that Omar (r) wept when the following verse in the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet: “We offered the trust to the mountains, heavens and the earth, but they declined, being afraid thereof, but humankind accepted it, indeed humankind was unjust and foolish” (Qur’an, 33:72-73). Omar (r) understood that the trust referred to here is the ruh (the spirit), which confers free will on humankind. When the will of man is exercised in a manner that befits human nobility, it elevates him to a position higher than that of the angels. No man understood this better than Omar (r) and few since the Prophet carried this trust with as much wisdom, humility, determination, sensitivity, persistence and courage. Measured by any yardstick, Omar (r) was one of the greatest figures in human history.
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