Umar and the Expansion

Part oneNames in a register

In Madinah, around 15 AH, clerks began writing names in a book. Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) had decided that the wealth coming in from the new lands should be shared by rule and not by favour. The register was called the diwan. Every name was entered by tribe, and the payments were set by service to Islam and closeness to the Prophet ﷺ. The earliest Muslims and the family of the Prophet ﷺ received the most.

Umar had become caliph in 13 AH (634 CE), named by Abu Bakr. He took the title Amir al-Mu'minin, the Commander of the Believers, which later caliphs also used. He was also known as al-Faruq, the one who separates truth from falsehood. Before Islam he had been among the fiercest opponents of the Prophet ﷺ. After he accepted it in Makkah, the Muslims felt stronger.

His reign built the working parts of a state. Around 17 AH (638 CE), the Companions agreed that the Muslim years should be counted from the Hijrah, with Muharram as the first month. This is the Hijri calendar still in use today. In the new lands Muslim soldiers were settled in garrison towns, among them Kufah and Basrah in Iraq and Fustat in Egypt. Judges were appointed, the mosques in Makkah and Madinah were enlarged, and a public treasury, the Bayt al-Mal, paid for the army, the poor and the needy.

Umar kept a close eye on his governors. They were expected to live simply and to hear the complaints of ordinary people, and he gathered them each pilgrimage season to answer questions in public. In the conquered provinces the Muslims mostly kept the offices and records they found, and local officials stayed at their posts.

Part twoThree fronts

Abu Bakr's armies had already crossed the frontier, and under Umar the campaigns reached full strength. In Syria, Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) held the overall command, with Khalid ibn al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) among his great field commanders. Damascus came under Muslim control in 635 CE. In 636 CE, by the river Yarmuk, the Muslims faced the large army the Byzantine emperor had sent against them and won. Syria opened to them after that, and the next chapter tells how Jerusalem surrendered to Umar in person.

In Iraq, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) led the Muslims against the Persian Empire. At Qadisiyyah, in about 636 CE, the Persian army was defeated, and the Muslims went on to take Ctesiphon, the capital, in 637 CE. In 642 CE the Persians gathered one more large army at Nahawand. They lost, and the Muslims called it the victory of victories. The last Persian emperor, Yazdegerd III, fled east, and the rest of Persia came under Muslim rule over the following years.

In Egypt, Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) crossed in 639 CE with a small force. By about 641 or 642 CE Alexandria had fallen too, and Fustat was founded as a camp city beside the Nile.

These were vast lands won in a few years. The two great empires of the day, the Byzantine and the Persian, had worn each other down in long wars, and many of the people they ruled had little reason to defend them. Under Umar, Christians, Jews and others kept their places of worship and practised their faith, and paid a tax in place of military service.

Part threeThe Year of Ashes and the last prayer

In 18 AH, a drought turned the ground of Arabia dark, and the year is remembered as the Year of Ashes. A plague also spread through Syria, and it took the life of Abu Ubaydah and other Companions. Umar had set out for the north, but he turned back when he learned the plague was still there. He told those who questioned him that he was moving from one decree of Allah to another.

During the famine Umar sent to his governors in Egypt and Syria for food. He ate only coarse food while the poorest Muslims had nothing better, and he saw to the distribution himself. He is also remembered for walking the lanes of Madinah at night to see how people were, and for living so simply that visitors found no guard at his door.

In Dhu al-Hijjah of 23 AH (November 644 CE), while he was leading the dawn prayer in the Prophet's Masjid, he was stabbed by a Persian slave named Abu Lu'lu'ah. He lived three more days. He asked Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) for permission to be buried next to the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr, and she agreed. He did not name a son or a friend as his successor. He named a council of six senior Companions to choose from among themselves.

Umar ruled lands from Egypt to Iran and still lived without a guard at his door.

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The mapWhere it happened

• Madinah
• Damascus
• Yarmuk
• Qadisiyyah
• Ctesiphon
• Nahawand
• Alexandria
• Fustat

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter