Umar II

Umar II عمر بن عبد العزيز
Caliph of Damascus
Reign	717-720
Predecessor	Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik
Successor	Yazid bin Abd al-Malik
Full name
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
Dynasty	Umayyad
Father	Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan
Mother	Umm Asim bint Asim
Born	2 November 682 Medina - Hejaz (Saudi Arabia)
Died	February 720 Aleppo
Religion	Islam

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (c. 682 - February, 720) ^[1] (Arabic: عمر بن عبد العزيز‎) was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 717 to 720. He was also a cousin of the former caliph, being the son of Abd al-Malik's younger brother, Abd al-Aziz. He was also a great-grandson of the companion of the Prophet Muhammad, Umar bin Al-Khattab.

Lineage

Umar was born around 682. Some traditions state that he was born in Medina while others claim that he was born in Egypt.

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. 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.

Biography

682 – 715: Early Life

Umar would grow up in Medina and live there until the death of his father, after which he was summoned to Damascus by Abd al-Malik and married to his daughter Fatima. His father-in-law would die soon after, and he would serve as governor of Medina under his cousin Al-Walid I.

705 – 715: Al-Walid I's era

Unlike most rulers of that era, Umar formed a council with which he administered the province. His time in Medina was so notable that official grievances sent to Damascus all but ceased. In addition, many people emigrated to Medina from Iraq seeking refuge from their harsh governor, Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef. This angered Al-Hajjaj, and he pressed al-Walid to remove Umar. Much to the dismay of the people of Medina, al-Walid bowed to Hajjaj's pressure and dismissed Umar from his post. By this time, Umar had developed an impeccable reputation across the Islamic empire.

715 – 717: Sulayman's era

Umar continued to live in Medina through the remainder of al-Walid's reign and that of Walid's brother Suleiman. As Suleiman became fell seriously ill and was unlikely to recover, he was anxious to leave the throne to one of his sons who were still minors, but was unable to do so because of their youth. Reja ibn Haiwah then promptly proposed Umar as the successor to the throne. Suleiman accepted this suggestion and Umar reluctantly accepted the position after trying unsuccessfully to dissuade Suleiman.

717 – 720: Caliphate and his own era

Disdainful of luxuries

Umar approached the Caliphate unlike any other Ummayad Caliph has done before him. He was extremely pious and disdainful of worldly luxuries. He preferred simplicity to the extravagance that had become a hallmark of the Umayyad lifestyle, depositing all assets and finery meant for the caliph into the public treasury. He abandoned the caliphate palace to the family of Suleiman and instead preferred to live in modest dwellings. He wore rough linens instead of royal robes, and often went unrecognized.

A female visitor once came to Umar's house seeking charity and saw a raggedly-dressed man patching holes in the building's walls. Assuming that the man was a servant of the caliph, she asked Umar's wife, "Don't you fear God? Why don't you veil in the presence of this man?" The woman was shocked to learn that the "servant" was in fact the caliph himself.

Though he had the people's overwhelming support, he publicly encouraged them to elect someone else if they were not satisfied with him (an offer no one ever took him up on). Umar confiscated the estates seized by Ummayad officials and and some of relatives of ummayad caliphs which he then redistributed them to the people,as it was reported that he once declined the request of money and favours by one of his aunt's who was favoured by his predecessors, while making it a personal goal to attend to the needs of every person in his empire. Fearful of being tempted into bribery, he rarely accepted gifts, and when he did; he promptly deposited them in the public treasury. He even encouraged his own wife—who had been daughter and sister to three caliphs in their turn—to donate her jewelry to the public treasury. He is widely known for reinforcing the Zakat and at the end of his rule, there were scarcely any poor people to give the charity money to.

At one point he almost ordered the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus to be stripped of its precious stones and expensive fixtures in favor of the treasury, but he desisted on learning that the Mosque was a source of envy to his Byzantine rivals in Constantinople. These moves made him unpopular with the Umayyad court, but endeared him to the masses, so much so that the court could not move against him in the open.

Halt to the cursing of Ali

Umar made a number of important religious reforms. According to both Sunni^[2] and Shi'i sources, he abolished the long-standing Umayyad and Khawaarij custom of cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib, at the end of Friday sermons and ordered the following Qur'anic verse^[3] be recited instead:

Surely God enjoins justice, doing of good and giving to kinsfolk.

—Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, book 31, 5924:

Sharia

In addition, Umar was keen to enforce the Sharia, pushing to end drinking and bathhouses where men and women would mix freely. He continued the welfare programs of the last few Umayyad caliphs, expanding them and including special programs for orphans and the destitute. He would also abolish the Jizya tax for converts to Islam, who were former dhimmis, who used to be taxed even after they had converted under other Umayyad rulers.

Generally, Umar II is credited with having ordered the first collection of hadith material in an official manner, fearing that some of it might be lost. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, are among those who compiled hadiths at `Umar II’s behest.^[4]

Military

Though Umar did not place as much an emphasis on expanding the Empire's borders as his predecessors had, he was not passive. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari states that he sent Ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man to repel Turks invading Azerbaijan (v. 24 pp. 74–75). He faced Kharijite uprising and preferred negotiations to armed conflict, personally holding talks with two Kharijite envoys shortly before his death (v. 24, p. 77-78). He recalled the troops besieging Constantinople (p. 74). These were led by his cousin Maslama. This Second Arab siege of Constantinople had failed to take the city and was sustaining heavy losses at the hands of allied Byzantine and Bulgarian forces. Its defeat was a serious blow to Umayyad prestige.

Death

His reforms in favor of the people greatly angered the nobility of the Umayyads, and they would eventually bribe a servant into poisoning his food. Umar learned of this on his death bed and pardoned the culprit, collecting the punitive payments he was entitled to under Islamic Law but depositing them in the public treasury. He died in February, 720, probably the 10th and probably forty years old (v. 24, pp. 91–92) in Aleppo.

He was succeeded by his cousin Yazid II.

Quote

“

Rulers usually appoint people to watch over their subjects. I appoint you a watcher over me and my behaviour. If you find me at fault in word or action guide me and stop me from doing it.

”

-Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz

Legacy

While Umar's reign was very short (three years), he is very highly regarded in Muslim memory.

Views

He is considered one of the finest rulers in Muslim history, second only to the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs. In fact, in some circles, he is affectionately referred to as the Fifth and the last Rightly Guided Caliph.

Shah Waliullah, a 18th century Sunni Islamic scholar stated ^[5]:

“

A Mujadid appears at the end of every century: The Mujadid of the 1st century was Imam of Ahlul Sunnah, Umar bin Abdul Aziz. The Mujadid of the 2nd century was Imam of Ahlul Sunnah Muhammad Idrees Shaafi the Mujadid of the 3rd century was Imam of Ahlul Sunnah Abu Hasan Ashari the Mujadid of the 4th century was Abu Abdullah Hakim Nishapuri.

”

See also

• Mujaddid
• Pact of Umar
• Sunni view of the Sahaba

References

1. ^ Umar II - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
2. ^ http://darulfatwa.org.au/content/view/1227/326/
3. ^ Qur'an An-Naĥl 16:90
4. ^ http://people.uncw.edu/bergh/par246/L21RHadithCriticism.htm
5. ^ Izalat al-Khafa p. 77 part 7

Bibliography

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. The Empire in Transition, v. 24. transl. David Stephan Powers, SUNY, Albany, 1989.

Preceded by Suleiman

Caliph 717–720

Succeeded by Yazid II

Preceded by Hishām ibn Ismā`īl al-Makhzūmī

Governor of Madina 706–712

Succeeded by Khalid bin Abd Allah

Persondata
Name	Umar Ii
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	682
Place of birth	Medina or Egypt
Date of death	720
Place of death	Aleppo