Umar Ibn Khattab

Sparing worshippers of Christianity in the Realm of War, but killing your own son for drinking alcohol?! Welcome to the world of Umar Ibn Khattab, the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate!

Umar Ibn Khattab Biography

Umar Ibn Khattab was a different leader from his predecessor, Abu Bakr, who served as the first caliph of the Rightly Guided Caliphs or Rashidun Caliphate. A significantly younger man, born in 585 in Mecca, he was the initial choice of the Council of Medina to replace the Prophet Muhammad as the caliph of Islam in 632. In the end, as elders command respect in Islam, Umar convinced the council to elect the more senior Abu Bakr.

While Abu Bakr was a calming influence, humble, taking a small salary and keeping his day job of milking cows, Umar was an intimidating man. A warrior with a reputation for a short temper, he was also a heavy drinker of alcohol before his conversion to Islam in 615.

Fig. 1 - Engraving of Umar entering Jerusalem

Umar Ibn Khattab failed to agree with the ideas of the Prophet initially. He was in the Adi clan, part of the Quraysh tribe that dominated Mecca, but became a key player in Islam after he converted. Khattab accompanied Muhammad on his 'hijira' to Medina to avoid persecution. Just as he had done with Abu Bakr, the Prophet married Umar's daughter Hafsah in 625. This helped convince the Medinans of his worth and was certainly a significant factor in the initial choice of Umar as the first caliph, a duty which he refused.

The Second Caliph

With the sudden death of Abu Bakr after only two years of rule in 634, Umar was a unanimous replacement. There were no disputes about his ascension to power and he had the endorsement of Muhammad's relative and future caliph Ali.

As the military exploits of Umar Ibn Khattab were a key part of his period as caliph, let's look at some of the key empires and regions that defined this period.

Umar quickly set about continuing the expansion of the Islamic state. Now that the Muslims controlled the Arabian Peninsula, they were on the doorstep of the Byzantine and Sassanid empires.

Abu Bakr, who sent war veteran Khalid ibn al-Walid to attack and defeat the Sassanid army in Firaz, pre-empted an invasion from one of the two empires. Umar streamlined his plans, winning control of the countryside and then the important Byzantine stronghold of Damascus in 634.

Fig. 2 - Byzantine Emperor Heraclius

The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius did not expect an attack from the south. His army had just beaten the Sassanid Empire in the east in 628 in a gruelling conflict that lasted more than two and a half decades. Moreover, seizing the Levant was of great strategic importance to the Muslims, as it was a gateway into Mesopotamia and the Maghreb.

For Umar, the Byzantines and Sassanids were non-believers that needed to be converted into the Dar al-Islam.

Umar Ibn Khattab Jerusalem

After taking Damascus, Umar set his eyes on Jerusalem, deciding that the Byzantine Empire posed a greater threat than the defeated Sassanids. Eager for revenge and fearing further progress into Syria, Heraclius aligned with the Sassanids and sought to buy time by assembling an army from across his empire in northern Syria. Umar's commanders tactically pulled back towards the Yarmouk river at the bidding of al-Walid.

The Battle of Yarmouk in 636 was the crowning glory of Khalid ibn al-Walid's glittering military career. He united and pooled together all the Muslim forces and lurked in waiting at the Yarmouk river, near the Arabian Peninsula for access to resources and the possibility of retreat. He made expert use of the terrain, tempting tens of thousands of Byzantines and their allies to their deaths in the steep valley. Although the true figures are up for debate, the victory was resounding. Despite being heavily outnumbered, al-Walid's army inflicted around 40,000 losses on their enemy and only sacrificed 4000 men to do so.

Fig. 3 - Yarmouk valley

The road to Jerusalem was now clear and the Muslim armies besieged the city. Sophronius, the man in charge, refused to surrender. He stated that he would only relinquish Jerusalem to Caliph Umar in person. Umar ingratiated himself to the local population with his arrival from Medina at the city gates. Showcasing his humility, Umar also wore the clothes of a poor man, which shocked Sophronius. His rule of Jerusalem was successful, as he made the following changes that mirrored Muslim treatment of conquered territories across the caliphate:

These actions perfectly capture the ability of Umar to synergise the religious with the political, but they were not his only accomplishments.

Umar Ibn Khattab Achievement

The second caliph referred to himself as 'commander of the faithful', and he truly was a commander in many senses of the word. Let's see what made him such an effective CALIPH by examining his achievements:

Creation of a proto-welfare state: Under Umar's rule, bounty from defeated cities went to the poor in Medina. Taxes were low (even for non-Muslims) and Umar granted free trade across the caliphate.

Appointment of a successor: Uthman. Despite being on his deathbed, Umar commissioned a council to choose the next caliph, who continued his military successes.

Levant: A region of huge strategic importance was now in the hands of the Rashidun Caliphate, having conquered Jerusalem, paving the way for future conquests into the Maghreb and beyond Mesopotamia into Central Asia.

Islamic Doctrine: In 639 Umar created the Islamic or Hijri Calendar, which began from the forced emigration of Muhammad to Medina from Mecca in 622. It had twelve months, but around ten fewer days than the Julian Calendar. He also created a culture of study surrounding the Qu'ran and developed a sunnah.

Profit from territories: The caliphate accumulated collective wealth through their taxing system and also their ability to share profit from conquered lands. It was distributed equally among soldiers, rather than being funnelled straight to the elite.

Humility and hierarchy: Umar showed that he was not a tyrant, casting himself as a peasant upon his arrival in Jerusalem. He also set up provincial leaders and rulers of individual communities in a standardised system of hierarchy.

Umar Ibn Khattab Death

Despite all these successes, fate cut the life and reign of Umar short. In 644, a Sassanid slave named Firoz attacked and wounded him during morning prayers. He would die shortly after, with the council choosing Uthman as his successor, despite the claim to power of Ali.

Legacy of Umar Ibn Khattab

Along with all of his achievements, many of Umar's decisions have permeated into Islamic doctrine today. He helped create a culture of scholarship in terms of the Prophet's teachings, reduced sexual temptation by having men and women pray separately and characterised drinking alcohol as slander, to be punished by lashing.

Though seemingly pious and tolerant, certainly in his treatment of conquered cities and by the standards of the period, Simon Sebag Montefiore paints a different picture of the second caliph, reminding us of the fearsome warrior image from his younger days:

We will never be able to assert any certainty about Umar the man. However, we can characterise his rule as successful, through his pragmatism. It was a continuation of Abu Bakr's groundwork and (until his assassination) a period of stability and growth in what would turn out to be a turbulent Rashidun Caliphate.