Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

Part oneAn unexpected caliph

In September 717, the caliph Sulayman lay dying in northern Syria. His armies had just begun a great siege of Constantinople. Before he died, he named a successor from outside his own sons: his cousin Umar, son of Abd al-Aziz.

Umar was in his late thirties. His father, Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, had governed Egypt, but Umar grew up in Madinah and studied there under respected scholars of the generation after the Companions. His mother, Umm Asim, was a granddaughter of Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). As a young man he had been wealthy and elegant. As governor of Madinah for al-Walid, he set up a council of scholars to advise him, and he was known as a governor who listened. Accounts say he was troubled by the news of his appointment and offered to let the people choose someone else. They insisted on him.

The siege that Sulayman had ordered went badly from the start. The winter that followed was unusually cold, food ran short, and the Byzantines used Greek fire against the fleet. Bulgar forces also attacked the Muslims from the rear. Umar inherited this failure with the throne.

Almost at once, his way of life changed. He gave up the luxuries of the palace and lived simply. He returned wealth that had been taken from the public treasury and asked his relatives to hand back lands held without right, beginning with his own household. He began reforming the empire by reforming his own home. Governors known for harshness were replaced, and he wrote to those who remained that office was a trust from Allah and not a prize. His wife Fatimah, the daughter of Abd al-Malik, is remembered as having shared his simple life. The army at Constantinople was withdrawn, and the siege ended in 718. The great wars of expansion slowed, and Umar turned the empire's attention inward.

His two great concerns were justice and faith. He ended a practice, begun in earlier years, of cursing Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) from the pulpit at Friday prayers. In its place, the preachers closed their sermons with a verse of the Quran about justice and kindness.

From the Quran

۞ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَٱلْإِحْسَـٰنِ وَإِيتَآئِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱلْبَغْىِ ۚ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ ۝٩٠

Indeed, Allah commands justice, grace, as well as generosity to close relatives. He forbids indecency, wickedness, and aggression. He instructs you so perhaps you will be mindful.

Part twoFair rule and learning

He made himself available to ordinary people and heard their complaints. Governors were told to treat all subjects fairly, Arab or not, and to stop favouring their own tribes. Appointments went to people thought honest and capable, and Umar asked his officials to account for how they used public money. Reports also speak of wells and rest stops built for travellers.

The empire's money problems had a human side. Many people in the provinces were becoming Muslim, but in practice converts in some places were still being charged taxes meant for non-Muslims. Umar's rulings treated anyone who accepted Islam as a Muslim, with the same standing as any other. His governors were told not to demand more from people who had entered the faith. When one governor complained about falling revenue, Umar replied that the Prophet ﷺ had been sent to guide people and not to collect taxes.

He cared for the law and for knowledge. He insisted that the prayers be held at their proper times, and he asked scholars, including Abu Bakr ibn Hazm in Madinah, to write down the sayings of the Prophet ﷺ so they would not be lost. Those who knew him spoke of his long nights of worship and of his tears when he was reminded of the Hereafter. He protected the churches and synagogues that already stood, as the early caliphs had.

Part threeA short reign remembered

Umar served for two years and five months. He died in 101 AH, in February 720, at about forty, in a village in northern Syria. Accounts differ on whether he fell ill or was poisoned. He left his family little, and he had lived simply to the end.

He is remembered for what he did not do as much as for what he did. He did not use the powers of the caliph to enrich his family, and he did not use them to settle old scores. For many Muslims, that restraint is the heart of his story.

Not everyone welcomed his reforms. Some in the ruling family had lost income by them, and governors of provinces were uneasy with the new rules. After his death, several of his policies were put aside, especially on taxes. The years under him were remembered, though. He was often compared to his great-grandfather, Umar ibn al-Khattab, which is one reason historians call him Umar II. Many scholars named him among the great just rulers, and some called him the fifth rightly guided caliph. People in later centuries still told his story to show what power could look like when used with fear of Allah.

He began reforming the empire by reforming his own home.

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The mapWhere it happened

• Madinah
• Damascus
• Constantinople
• Egypt
• Khurasan

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