| `Umar ibn al-Khattāb (in Arabic, عمر بن الخطاب)
(c. 581 – November 3, 644), sometimes referred by Sunni Muslims as
`Umar al-Farūq (Umar the Distinguisher (between Truth and
Falsehood))), also known in English as Omar or Umar,
was from the Banu Adi clan of the Quraysh tribe. He became the
second Sunni Caliph (634 – 644). When
Muhammad first
declared his message of Islam, `Umar resolved to defend the
traditional religion of the Quraish (regarded by Muslims as
idolatry). `Umar was most adamant in opposing Muhammad and very
prominent in persecuting the Muslims. According to an early story,
recounted in Ibn Ishaq's Sīrah, `Umar resolved to assassinate
Muhammad. A Muslim he met on the way told him to set his own house
in order first, as his sister had converted to Islam. `Umar went
to her house and found her reciting verses of the
Quran. He became infuriated and hit her.
When he saw her bleeding, he was sorry for what he had done and in
order to please her he said he would read the sura, Ta-Ha, that
she had been reading. He was so struck by the sūrah that he
accepted Islam that day.
During `Umar's reign, the Islamic empire grew at an
unprecedented rate, taking Mesopotamia and parts of Persia from
the Sassanids (effectively ending that empire), and taking Egypt,
Palestine, Syria, North Africa and Armenia from the Byzantines.
Many of these conquests followed watershed battles on both the
western and eastern fronts. The Battle of Yarmūk, fought near
Damascus in 636, saw a Muslim army of 20,000 defeat a Byzantine
force estimated to number 70,000, permanently ending Byzantine
rule south of Asia Minor. Another small Muslim army achieved
victory over a larger force in the much-mythologized Battle of al-Qādisiyyah
(c. 636), near the banks of the Euphrates River. During the course
of the battle, Muslim general Sa'ad bin Abu Waqqas|Sa`d bin Abī
Waqqās routed the Sassanid army and achieved the death of the
famed Persian general Rostam Farrokhzād.
In 637, after a prolonged siege of Jerusalem, the Muslims took the
city. `Umar was given the key to the city by the Patriarch of
Jerusalem, Sophronius, and invited to pray at the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre. Umar chose to pray some distance from the Church,
so as not to endanger its status as a Christian temple. Fifty-five
years later, the Mosque of `Umar was constructed on the site where
he prayed. For one version of `Umar's speech to the people after
the surrender of Jerusalem, see [4].
`Umar undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw
public policy, establishing an advanced administration for newly
conquered lands, including several new ministries and
bureaucracies, as well as ordering a census of all the Muslim
territories. During his reign, the garrison cities of Basra and
Kufa were founded or expanded. In 638, he extended and renovated
the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina.
He also began the process of codifying Islamic law. `Umar was
known for his simple, austere lifestyle. Rather than adopt the
pomp and display affected by the rulers of the time, he continued
to live much as he had when Muslims were poor and persecuted. In
the year 17 of the Hijra, the fourth year of the caliphate of 'Umar,
he decreed that the years of the Islamic era should be counted
from the year of the Hijra.
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