Umar bin Abdul Aziz: A great Muslim ruler

THERE are a few rulers in the world who have left indelible impressions in history. Caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz tops that list. He is considered one of the finest rulers in Muslim history, second only to the four rightly guided caliphs — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali (RA). In fact, in some circles, he is affectionately referred to as the fifth and the last caliph of Islam.

The Roman emperor, when heard about his death, said: "A virtuous person has passed away... I am hardly surprised to see an ascetic who renounced the world and give himself to the prayers of Allah. But I am certainly surprised at a person who had all the pleasures of the world at his feet and yet he shut his eyes against them and lived a life of piety and renunciation."

Umar bin Abdul Aziz ruled as a caliph for only 30 months but during this short period he changed the world. His tenure was the brightest period in the 92-year history of the Umayyad Caliphate.

He was the son of Abdul Aziz bin Marwan, the governor of Egypt while his mother, Umm-i-Aasim was the granddaughter of Caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab.

Umar bin Abdul Aziz was born in 63 A.H. (682 A.D.) in Halwan, Egypt, but he received his education in Madinah from his mother’s uncle, the celebrated scholar Abdullah Ibn Umar. He stayed in Madinah till his father’s death in 704 A.D., when he was called by his uncle Caliph Abdul Malik and was married to his daughter Fatima. He was appointed governor of Madinah in 706 A.D. succeeding Caliph Waleed bin Abdul Malik.

Umar remained governor of Madinah throughout the reigns of Caliph Walid and Caliph Suleiman. But when Suleiman fell seriously ill, he wanted to appoint heir, as his sons were still minors. Reja ibn Haiwah, the adviser, proposed to him to appoint his cousin Umar bin Abdul Aziz as his successor. Suleiman accepted the suggestion.

After being nominated caliph, Umar addressed the people from the pulpit saying: “O people, I have been nominated your caliph despite my unwillingness and without your consent. So here I am, I relieve you of your pledge (baiyat) that you have taken for my allegiance. Elect whomsoever you find suitable as your caliph." People shouted: "O Umar, we have full faith in you and we want you as our caliph." Umar continued, “O people, obey me as long as I obey Allah; and if I disobey Allah, you are not duty-bound to obey me."

Umar was extremely pious and averse to worldly luxuries. He preferred simplicity to extravagance. He deposited all assets and wealth meant for the ruling caliph into the Bait Al Maal. He even abandoned the royal palace and preferred to live in a modest house. He wore rough clothes instead of royal robes and often went unrecognized in public like his great grandfather Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab.

After his appointment as caliph he discarded all the pompous appendages of princely life-servants, slaves, maids, horses, palaces, golden robes and real estates and returned them to Bait Al Maal. He also asked his wife Fatima to return the jewelry she had received from her father Caliph Abdul Malik. The faithful wife complied with his bidding and deposited all of it in the Bait Al Maal. Later, he got his articles of luxury auctioned for 23,000 dinars and spent the amount for charitable purposes."
He never built a house of his own. Allama Suyuti in his historical work "Taarikh Al Khulafaa" records that Umar spent only two dirhams a day when he was caliph. He received lesser salary than his subordinates. His private properties yielded an income of 50,000 dinars annually before his nomination, but when he returned all his properties to the Bait Al Maal, his private income was reduced to 200 dinars per annum. This was his wealth when he was commanding the vast Caliphate from the borders of France in the West to the borders of China in the East.

Once his wife found him weeping after prayers. She asked what had happened. He replied: "I have been made the ruler over the Muslims and I was thinking of the poor who are starving, and the sick who are destitute, and the naked who are in distress, and the oppressed that are stricken, and the stranger that is in prison, and the venerable elder, and him that hath a large family and small means, and the like of them in countries of the earth and the distant provinces, and I felt that my Lord would ask me about them on the Day of Resurrection, and I feared that no defense would avail me (at that time), and I wept."
He was very considerate to his subjects.

His generous reforms and leniency led the people to deposit their taxes willingly. Ibn Kathir writes that thanks to the reforms undertaken by Umar, the annual revenue from Persia alone increased from 28 million dirham to 124 million dirham.
He undertook extensive public works in Persia, Khorasan and North Africa, including the construction of canals, roads, rest houses for travelers and medical dispensaries.

The result was that during his short reign of two and half years, people had become so prosperous and contented that one could hardly find a person who would accept alms.

Umar is credited with having ordered the first collection of Hadith, in an official manner, fearing that some of it might be lost. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm and Ibn Shihab Al-Zuhri, were among those who compiled Hadith at Umar’s behest.

Following the example of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), Umar sent out emissaries to China and Tibet, inviting their rulers to embrace Islam. It was during the time of Umar that Islam took roots and was accepted by a large segment of the population of Persia and Egypt. When the officials complained that because of conversions, the jizya revenues of the state had experienced a steep decline, Umar wrote back saying that “Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent as a prophet (to invite the people to Islam) and not as a tax collector." He abolished home tax, marriage tax, stamp tax and many other taxes as well. When many of his agents wrote that his fiscal reforms in favor of new converts would deplete the Treasury, he replied, "Glad would I be, by Allah, to see everybody become Muslim so that you and I would have to till the soil with our own hands to earn a living."

Once a Muslim murdered a non-Muslim of Hira. Caliph Umar, when informed of the event, ordered the governor to do justice in the case. The Muslim was surrendered to the relations of the murdered person who killed him.

The general princely class of that time could not digest these policies of justice, simplicity and equality. A slave of the caliph was bribed to administer the deadly poison to him. The caliph having felt the effect of the poison sent for the slave and asked him why he had poisoned him. The slave replied that he was given 1,000 dinars for the job. The caliph took the amount from him and deposited it in Bait Al Maal. Freeing the slave he asked him to leave the place immediately, lest anyone might kill him. This was his last deposit in the Bait Al-Maal for the welfare of Muslims.

Umar died in Rajab 101 AH at the age of 38 in a rented house at the place called Dair Sim’aan near Homs. He was buried in Dair Sim’aan on a piece of land he had purchased from a Christian. He reportedly left behind only 17 dinars with a will 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. And thus departed the great soul from the world.

May Almighty Allah rest his soul in peace and award him the best place in Paradise.

http://www.arabnews.com/islam-perspective/umar-bin-abdul-aziz-great-muslim-ruler

Amongst Muslims and non-Muslims, the story of this great Muslim leader and his impact in human history is not well known. Perhaps if it is, we can begin to reassess our disposition towards Islam.

The fundamental lesson I think people should learn here is: Yes, there will always be bad Muslims but that has nothing to do with Islam. Islam dictates that every human being (Muslim or not) will be judged on the day of judgement for his/her actions. Hence, there is no reality in the thought that a Muslim as someone who practices Islam must be without fault (although we must strive to be perfect)for Islam to be the true religion.

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_bin_Abdul_Aziz

Beat me to it! Anyway do you know that Umar Abd Aziz is actually a descendant of Umar r.a?

Nice one though, may Allah reward you. Amin

Even as a Shia Muslim,Umar Ibn Abdul-Aziz though an Umayyad himself,is respected and honored.he was a man of humility.he rescinded abu bakr's usurpation of Fadak and gave the land back to the descendants of the Prophet (sa).he also stopped muawiya's tradition of cursing Imam Ali (as) from the pulpit of mosques and in friday sermons after that practice was in place for 40 years.

But definitely,even though this man deserve praise from muslims and non-muslims alike,there was the caliphate of Imam Ali (as) muslims and non-muslims alike have praised.the UN have showered praise on Imam Ali's (as) caliphate as a model of justice and good governance.it would also be a good idea for non-muslims to know more about Umar Ibn Abdul-Aziz (may Allah pardon his mistakes) and come to appreciate Islam better for the good things found in good muslims and not for the bad things the bad eggs do and tarnish the image of muslims.

Lineage
Umar was born around 2 November 682. He was
born in Medina.
According to a Sunni Muslim tradition, Umar's
lineage to Umar ibn al-Khattab stems from a
famous event during the second Caliph's rule.
During one of his frequent disguised journeys to
survey the condition of his people, Umar overheard
a milkmaid refusing to obey her mother's orders to
sell adulterated milk. The mother reportedly told
her daughter to add water to the milk as Caliph
Umar is not there looking at them. The girl shot
back that though Caliph Umar is not looking at
them, Allah is always watching over everyone. He
sent an officer to purchase milk from the girl the
next day and learned that she had kept her
resolve; the milk was unadulterated. Umar
summoned the girl and her mother to his court
and told them what he had heard. As a reward, he
offered to marry the girl to his son Asim. She
accepted, and from this union was born a girl
named Layla that would in due course become the
mother of Umar ibn Abdulaziz.


en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_II

vedaxcool: Beat me to it! Anyway do you know that Umar Abd Aziz is actually a descendant of Umar r.a?

Nice one though, may Allah reward you. Amin

Amin.

The general princely class of that time could not digest these policies of justice, simplicity and equality. A slave of the caliph was bribed to administer the deadly poison to him. The caliph having felt the effect of the poison sent for the slave and asked him why he had poisoned him. The slave replied that he was given 1,000 dinars for the job. The caliph took the amount from him and deposited it in Bait Al Maal. Freeing the slave he asked him to leave the place immediately, lest anyone might kill him. This was his last deposit in the Bait Al-Maal for the welfare of Muslims.

When I say that I am losing my faith, my fellow muslims on Nairaland complain!


I have read the history of Umar II but I have never heard of this "slave poison".


All of you on this thread are praising each other for this exaggerated claims about Umar II. Umar II was a great leader but we should not lie and sweeten his story to a diabetic level.



The implication of the above quote;

-Umar allowed slavery under his regime
-If Umar died at the hands of a slave. Imagine if he had freed all slaves durign his reign. He wouldt have died by the hands of a slave.

^Logicboy for sure!!

tbaba1234: ^Logicboy for sure!!

A muslim shouldn't be asking those kind of sily questions he asked and d worst part of it is that he said he is a sunni(a sunni indeed).logicboy sleek

He is not a muslim. he is logicboy, macdaddy, cheers ... Trying to pull a fast one... He has all the 'logicboy' traits...

Evidence of "Logicboy's" obsession with slavery:

https://www.nairaland.com/998816/honest-question-muhammad-pbuh

Has logicboy ever said he was never a muslim?

His being permanently parked in religion section as an atheist, doesnt necessarily mean that.


He does attack christians a lot, should be a clue.

I think there's another one who used to be muslim, says he's currently atheist, and now spends all his time insulting christians.

Dont know if i'm mistaken but i seem to have that impression.

Mac, God bless you, well done!!! Umar II is indeed a reference muslim.

Historians have documented the life of Umar ibn Abdulaziz, it is neither a lie nor an exaggeration.

There were several exemplary caliphs, why would his reign be singled out?

The "4" rightly guided caliphs are held in greater esteem than Umar II, no one has claimed that it was hard to find people to receive the zakat during their respective periods. peace be on them all.

I don't understand am I being persecuted? I cannot post in the religion section and all this because I wonder why atheism could be the religion of gays? Check here www.nairaland.com/1072447/could-atheism-considered-gay-religion


Ok I just found out

Banned by manmustwac in Religion for being to
insultive.Ban expires on
10:09am On Oct 15

But where is freedom of speech? Na wa make unah helep me shout!

busar: A muslim shouldn't be asking those kind of sily questions he asked and d worst part of it is that he said he is a sunni(a sunni indeed).logicboy sleek

Seems like most muslims here are the type that repeat whatever the imam or cleric says.


Maclatunji says that a "slave" and not a servant killed Umar. All of you dont ven bother to correct him and I am the non-muslim? I am Logicboy?


Please from the behaviour here, who is acting like a muslim between me and all of you?

[/quote]

tbaba1234: He is not a muslim. he is logicboy, macdaddy, cheers ... Trying to pull a fast one... He has all the 'logicboy' traits...

Ditto

AbdulSleek:


Seems like most muslims here are the type that repeat whatever the imam or cleric says.


Maclatunji says that a "slave" and not a servant killed Umar. All of you dont ven bother to correct him and I am the non-muslim? I am Logicboy?


Please from the behaviour here, who is acting like a muslim between me and all of you?

AbdulSleek:


Seems like most muslims here are the type that repeat whatever the imam or cleric says.


Maclatunji says that a "slave" and not a servant killed Umar. All of you dont ven bother to correct him and I am the non-muslim? I am Logicboy?


Please from the behaviour here, who is acting like a muslim between me and all of you?

You came out real from the beginning but when you now got to a stage you started contradicting yourself with your questions and asumptions.You believed that alcohol and interest are unlawful for you but still asked a question an average muslim shouldn't be asking.Save yourself from all dis stress and become a muslim though it's not obligatory but necessary.

busar: You came out real from the beginning but when you now got to a stage you started contradicting yourself with your questions and asumptions.You believed that alcohol and interest are unlawful for you but still asked a question an average muslim shouldn't be asking.Save yourself from all dis stress and become a muslim though it's not obligatory but necessary.

An average muslim can not question his religion to get good answers? Are you that illogical? have seen threads asking for what is shirk and whether having shares is haraam. Please.

tpia@:
Has logicboy ever said he was never a muslim?

His being permanently parked in religion section as an atheist, doesnt necessarily mean that.


He does attack christians a lot, should be a clue.

I think there's another one who used to be muslim, says he's currently atheist, and now spends all his time insulting christians.

Dont know if i'm mistaken but i seem to have that impression.

I don't know whether to say this is the daftest post I have read in a while or to say this represent the most dreadful example of porous logic? Logicboy is a christian who drinks wine and eats maggot stop trying to pin your disgraceful product on Islam. Muslims don't typically insult christianity!

@ vex

why are you throwing a tantrum?

truly one should lie, certain posters appear to have some psychological issues when they post.

How ironic


I assume what you're after is a modship position?

I dont think you need to embarass yourself to this extent just because of it.

Also, i dont know you from adam, although you seem to know yourself, therefore i wont be going back and forth with you. You can consider your jihad fought against the wall in front of you.

same character as the aluu killers who because of material gain, calmly videoed one of the most sickening scenes known to mankind without even pausing to wonder at what they were doing.

good for you and your likes- you will reap whatever you sow.

vedaxcool: truly one should lie, certain posters appear to have some psychological issues when they post.

And all can see my point has been proven indeed!