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Umar bin Abdul Aziz, The first Reviver of Islam.


Several of the rulers of the world, who have made a lasting impact on world history. The caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz one of the top of that list. He is considered to be one of the top leaders in Islamic history. After the caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, and Hasan, in some circles, he is known as the sixth and last Caliph(Rashidun) of Islam. 

The Roman emperor, hearing of his death, said: "Omar was a very good person.  I'm almost not surprised to see an ascetic, who renounced the world pleasure and give himself to the prayers of God. But I am really in wonder, that the man who had all the pleasures of the world in its feet, and yet he has turned a blind eye to them, and they lived a life of piety and self-denial." 

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, as the reign of the caliph, for 30 months, but in that short period, he changed the world. This period was the shiniest in the 92-year history of the Umayyad Caliphate. 

His father was Abdul-Aziz bin Marwan, an Egyptian ruler and his mother, Umm-I-I Asim, was a granddaughter of the Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab. 

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz was born in Halwan, Egypt, in 63 Hijri (682 A.D.), but his early education was given by his mother's uncle, the famous scholar 'Abdullah Ibn' Omar in Madinah. He stayed in Madinah, until the death of his father in 704 AD. after his father's death he was summoned by his uncle, Caliph Abdul Malik, and married to daughter Fatima. He has appointed as the governor of Medina in the year 706 AD.

Omar remained as the ruler of Medina, during the reign of the Caliph Waleed bin Abdul Malik, and the Caliph Sulayman. However, when Suleiman was seriously ill, he wanted to appoint a successor, but his sons were still minors.  A senior adviser Reg-al-Haiwa proposed to Caliph Sulayman that his cousin ' Abd Allah ibn Abdulaziz appoint as his heirs. Suleiman accepted the offer. 

Since he was appointed Caliph, Omar addressed the people and said: "O people, that I was appointed to the din of the Caliph, even with my reluctance, and without your consent. So here I am, I disburden you of your pledge (bayat) that you have taken for my adherence. Elect whomsoever you find satisfactory as your caliph" The people cried, " O Umar, that we believe in, what you are, and we want you to be the caliph." and he said, "O people, be obedient to me and that I will obey the God, and if I don't obey God, and you are not bound to obey me." 

He was very god-fearing and doesn't like the king's level of luxury. He has the option, the convenience with which the powers of that. Omar bin Abdul Aziz deposited all personal wealth and assets into the Bait Al Maal. Omar also left the royal palace and would have preferred to live in a modest home. he wore a crude dress instead of royal robes and often remained unknown to the general public, as did his great-grandfather, Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab.

After he was appointed caliph, he discarded all the magnificent appendices of the nobles, slaves, maids, horses, palaces, gold robes, and real estate and returned them to Bait Al Maal. He also asked his wife Fatima to return the jewelry he had received from his father Caliph Abdul Malik. The faithful wife followed his request and submitted it to Bait Al Maal. Later he sold his articles of luxury for 23,000 denari and used that money for charitable purposes. "

He did not build a house of his own. Allama Suyuti in his history book "Tarikh Al Khulafaa" records that Umar spent only two dirhams a day while he was a caliph. His salary was less than his subservient. His private properties brought in 50,000 dinars annually before his nomination, but when he returned all his belongings to Bait Al Maal, his private income was reduced to 200 dinars a year. This was his personal treasure when he ordered the Great Empire from the borders of France in the West to the borders of China in the East.

His flexible and modest demeanor led many to pay their taxes voluntarily. Ibn Kathir writes that due to the changes made by Umar, the annual revenue from Persia alone has increased from 28 million dirhams to 124 million. He performed many public works in Persia, Khorasan, and North Africa, including the construction of canals, roads, lounges, and medical facilities.

The result was that during his short two-and-a-half-year reign, the people were so prosperous and satisfied that there was no beggar. Umar is praised for ordering the first collection of Hadith, formally, fearing that one of them might be lost. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm and Ibn Shihab Al-Zuhri were among those who compiled the hadith at the command of Umar.

Following the example of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), Umar sent envoys to China and Tibet, inviting their rulers to embrace Islam. It was in the time of Umar that the Muslims took root and Islam was adopted by a large part of the people of Persia and Egypt. While officials complained that as a result of the reforms, the revenue of the state jizya had fallen sharply, Umar wrote him that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had been sent as a prophet (inviting people to Islam) and not as a tax collector. "He has abolished the family tax, the marriage tax, the stamp duty, and many other taxes. When most of his officers wrote that conversion of new people into Islam would end the Treasury, he replied," I am happy to say, by Allah, to see everyone become Muslims, for you and me we will cultivate the land with our own hands to support ourselves. "

On another occasion, a Muslim killed a non-Muslim Hira. Caliph Umar, when informed of the incident, ordered the governor to do justice to the case. A Muslim was handed over to relations of the murderer who killed him.

The princely class of that time could not digest these policies of simplicity, justice, and equality.  So Umar's slave was bribed to give this deadly poison to Umar. Upon hearing of the poison, Umar asked the slave why he had poisoned him. The slave replied that he had been given 1,000 dinars for the task. The Umar took that money from him and deposited it in Bait Al Maal. He released the slave and ordered him to get out of the house quickly, lest anyone kill him. This was his last deposit at Bait Al-Maal on Islamic welfare.

Umar died at Rajab 101 AH at the age of 38 in a rented house in Dair Sim'aan near Homs. He was buried at Dair Sim’aan in a piece of land he had bought from a Christian. He reportedly left only 17 dinars with a wish that out of this amount the rent of the house in which he died and the price of the land in which he was buried would be paid. That is how the great soul of the world went.

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