Umar (Arabic: عمر ابن الخطاب, Transliteration: `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, Umar Son of Al-Khittab, c. 586–590
CE – 7 November 644), titled Farooq the Great was one of the most powerful and
influential Muslim rulers in history. He was a sahabi (companion) of theIslamic
prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert jurist and is best known for his justice,
that earned him the title Al-Farooq (The one who distinguishes between right and wrong). Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate
ruling the whole Sassanid
Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His
attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire resulted in the conquest of the
Persian empire in less than two years. It was Umar, according to
Jewish tradition, who set aside the Christian ban on Jews and allowed Jews into Jerusalem and to worship.
Early life
Umar was born in Mecca to the Banu Adi clan,
which was responsible for arbitrations among the tribes. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl and his mother was
Fatima bint Hasham, from the tribe of Banu Makhzum.
He is said to have belonged to a middle-class family. In his youth he used to
tend to his father’s camels in the plains near Mecca. 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. As obvious from Umar's own statement regarding his
father during his later political rule, Umar said, "My father Al-Khittab
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."
Despite literacy being uncommon in pre-Islamic
Arabia, Umar learned to read and write in his youth. Though not a poet himself,
he developed a love for poetry and literature. According to the tradition of Quraish,
while still in his teenage years, Umar learned martial arts,
horse riding and wrestling. He was tall and physically powerful and was soon to
became a renowned wrestler. Umar was also a gifted orator, and due
to his intelligence and overwhelming personality, he succeeded his father as an arbitrator of
conflicts among the tribes.
In addition, Umar followed the traditional
profession of Quraish. He became a merchant and had several journeys to Rome and Persia,
where he is said to have met the various scholars and analyzed the Roman and
Persian societies closely. However, as a merchant he is believed to have never
been successful. Drinking alcohol was very common among the Quraish, and Umar was
also fond of drinking in his pre-Islamic days.
Umar's hostility to Islam
In
610 Muhammad started delivering the message of Islam. Umar, alongside others in
Mecca, opposed Islam and threatened to kill Muhammad. He resolved to defend the
traditional, polytheistic religion of Arabia.
He was most adamant and cruel in opposing Muhammad and very prominent in
persecuting the Muslims. Umar was the first man who resolved that Muhammad had
to be murdered in order to finish Islam. Umar
firmly believed in the unity of the Quraish and saw the new faith of Islam as a
cause of division and discord among the Quraish.
Due
to the persecution at the hands of the Quraish, Muhammad ordered his followers
to migrate to Abyssinia. As a small group of Muslims migrated
Umar felt worried about the future unity of the Quraish and decided to have
Muhammad assassinated.
Converting to Islam
Umar converted to Islam in 616, one year after the Migration to Abyssinia. The story was
recounted in Ibn Ishaq's Sīrah; On the way to murder
Muhammad, Umar met his best friend Nuaim who had secretly been converted to a
Muslim but he did not tell Umar anything about it. When Umar told him that he
was going to kill Muhammad he was afraid. He knew Umar would attempt what he
said. So just to divert his attention he told him to set his own house in order
first, because his sister and her husband had converted to Islam. Upon arriving
at her house, Umar found his sister and brother-in-law Saeed bin
Zaid (Umar's cousin),
reciting the verses of the Qur'an(Surah Taha). He started quarreling with his
brother-in-law . When his sister came to rescue her husband, he also started
quarreling with her. Yet still they kept on saying "you may kill us but we
will not give up Islam". Upon hearing these words, Umar slapped his sister
so hard that she fell to the ground bleeding from her mouth. When he saw what
he did to his sister now, out of guilt he calmed down and asked his sister to
give him what she was reciting. She gave him the paper on which was written the
verses of the chapter Ta-Ha.
He was so struck by the beauty of the verses that he accepted Islam that day.
He then went to Muhammad with the same sword he intended to kill him with and
accepted Islam in front of him and his companions. Umar was 27 when he accepted
Islam. Following his conversion, Umar went to inform the chief of Quraish, Amr ibn
Hishām, about his acceptance of Islam. According to one account,
Umar thereafter openly prayed at the Kaaba as the Quraish chiefs, Amr ibn
Hishām and Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, reportedly watched in
anger. This further helped the Muslims to gain confidence in practicing Islam
openly. At this stage Umar even challenged anyone who dared to stop the Muslims
from praying, although no one dared to interfere with Umar when he was openly
praying.
Umar’s
conversion to Islam gave power to the Muslims and the faith in Mecca. It was
after this that Muslims offered prayers openly in Masjid
al-Haram for the first
time. Abdullah bin Masoud said,
Umar's
embracing Islam was our victory, his migration to Medina was our success and
his reign a blessing from Allah, we didn't offer prayers in Al-Haram Mosque
until Umar accepted Islam, when he accepted Islam Quraish were compelled to let
us pray in the Mosque.
Migration to Medina
In
622 due to the growing popularity of Islam in the city of Yathrib (later
renamed Medīnat an-Nabī, or simply Medina) Muhammad
ordered his followers to migrate to Medina. Muslims usually migrated at night
due to fear of Quraish's resistance to that migration, but Umar is reported to
have migrated openly during the day time saying; Any one who wants to make his wife
a widow and his children orphan. should come and meet me there behind that
cliff." Umar migrated to
Medina accompanied by his cousin and brother-in-lawSaeed ibn
Zaid.
Life in Medina
Medina
became the new center of Islam and the religion spread rapidly across Arabia.
When Muhammad arrived in Medina, he paired off each immigrant (Muhajir) with one of the
residents of the city (Ansari), joining Muhammad ibn Maslamah with Umar making them brothers in
faith. Later in Umar's reign as caliph Muhammad ibn Muslamah would be assigned
the office of chief inspector of Accountability. Muslims remained in peace in
Medina for approximately a year before the Quraish raised an army to attack
them. In 624 Umar participated in the first Battle between Muslims and Quraish
of Mecca i.e. Battle of
Badr.In 625 he participated in the Battle of
Uhud. In the second phase of Battle whenKhalid ibn Walid's
Cavalry attacked Muslims at the rear changing the victory of Muslims to defeat,
rumors of Muhammad’s death were spread many Muslim were warriors routed from
the battle field, Umar too was initially routed but hearing that Muhammad was
still alive he went to Muhammad at the mountain of Uhud and prepared for the
defenses of the hill to keep the Quraishi army down the hill. Later in the year
Umar was a part of campaign against the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir.
In 625 Umar’s daughter Hafsah was married to Muhammad. Later in 627 he participated in the Battle of the Trench and also in the Battle of
Banu Qurayza. In 628 Umar participated in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah and was made one of the witness over
the pact. In 628 he was a part of Muslims' campaign to
Khaybar. In 629 Muhammad sent Amr ibn al-A’as to Zaat-ul-Sallasal
from where he called for reinforcement and Muhammad sent Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah with reinforcement, serving under him
were Abu Bakr and Umar, they attacked and defeated
the enemy. In 630 when Muslim armies rushed for the Conquest of
Mecca he was part of
that army. Later in 630 he was part of Battle of
Hunayn and Siege of
Ta'if. He was part of Muslim's army that went for the campaign of
Tabuk under Muhammad's
command and he was reported to have given half of his wealth for the
preparation of this expedition. He also participated in a farewell Hajj of Muhammad in 631.
Death of Muhammad
Muhammad
died on 8 June 632. Umar was full of grief upon hearing the news, Umar, the
devoted disciple, could not accept the reality that the "Messenger of
God" has died. According to the Qur'an, "Muhammad is but a messenger;
messengers have passed away before", i.e. died or killed. It is said that
Umar promised to strike the head of any man who would say that Muhammad died.
At this point Abu Bakr is reported to have come out to the
Muslim community and gave his famous speech which included:
"Whoever
worshipped Muhammad, let them know that Muhammad is dead, and whoever
worshipped God, let them know that Allah is alive and never dies."
Abū
Bakr then recited these verses from the Qur'an:
"Muhammad
is but a messenger; messengers (the like of whom) have passed away before him.
If, then, he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heel?".
Hearing
this from Abu Bakr, the most senior disciple of Muhammad, Umar then fell down
on his knees in great sense of sorrow and acceptance of the reality. Sunni
Muslims say that this denial of Muhammad's death was occasioned by his deep
love for him.
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