Biography of caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab part 3
Biography of caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab part 3
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00:00Some characteristics and features of Caliph Umar bin Al-Khattab
00:05He was tall, physically powerful and a renowned wrestler.
00:08He was also a gifted orator who succeeded his father as an arbitrator among the tribes.
00:14Umar became a merchant and made several journeys to Rome and Persia,
00:18where he is said to have met various scholars and analyzed Roman and Persian societies.
00:23The Rashidun Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab,
00:26His qualities and morals since the beginning of the Islamic message and its spread to the world.
00:30Part 3 We continue to tell a stage of the life of the Rashidun Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab.
00:36Sahib al-Qarij, the revenue collector
00:39Sahib al-Adath, the police chief
00:42Sahib Bayt al-Mal, the treasury officer
00:46Qadi, the chief judge
00:48In some districts there were separate military officers,
00:51though the Wali was, in most cases, the commander-in-chief of the army quartered in the province.
00:57Every appointment was made in writing.
01:00At the time of appointment an instrument of instructions was issued with a view to regulating the Wali's conduct.
01:06On assuming office, the Wali was required to assemble the people in the main mosque
01:11and read the instrument of instructions before them.
01:14Umar's general instructions to his officers were,
01:17Remember, I have not appointed you as commanders and tyrants over the people.
01:22I have sent you as leaders instead, so that the people may follow your example.
01:27Give the Muslims their rights and do not beat them lest they become abused.
01:32Do not praise them unduly, lest they fall into the error of conceit.
01:37Do not keep your doors shut in their faces, lest the more powerful of them eat up the weaker ones.
01:43And do not behave as if you were superior to them, for that is tyranny over them.
01:48Various other strict codes of conduct were to be obeyed by the governors and state officials.
01:54The principal officers were required to travel to Mecca on the occasion of the Hajj,
01:59during which people were free to present any complaint against them.
02:02In order to minimize the chances of corruption, Umar made it a point to pay high salaries to the staff.
02:09Provincial governors received as much as 5,000 to 7,000 dirham annually,
02:14besides their shares of the spoils of war, if they were also the commander-in-chief of the army of their sector.
02:19Under Umar, the empire was divided into the following provinces.
02:24Mecca, Medina, Basra, Kufa, Jazira.
02:27In the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, Syria, Iliya, Ramla, Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, Khorasan, Azerbaijan.
02:34Umar was first to establish a special department for the investigation of complaints against the officers of the state.
02:41This department acted as the administrative court, where the legal proceedings were personally led by Umar.
02:47The department was under the charge of Muhammad ibn Maslamah, one of Umar's most trusted men.
02:53In important cases Muhammad ibn Maslamah was deputed by Umar to proceed to the spot, investigate the charge and take action.
03:01Sometimes an inquiry commission was constituted to investigate the charge.
03:06On occasion, the officers against whom complaints were received were summoned to Medina and charged in Umar's administrative court.
03:14Umar was known for this intelligence service through which he made his officials accountable.
03:19This service was also said to have inspired fear in his subjects.
03:24Umar was a pioneer in some affairs.
03:27Umar was the first to introduce the public ministry system, where the records of officials and soldiers were kept.
03:33He also kept a record system for messages he sent to governors and heads of state.
03:38He was the first to appoint police forces to keep civil order.
03:42He was the first to discipline the people when they became disordered.
03:47Another important aspect of Umar's rule was that he forbade any of his governors and agents from engaging in any sort of business dealings whilst in a position of power.
03:56An agent of Umar by the name of Al-Harith ibn Ka'b ibn Wab was once found to have extra money beyond his salary and Umar inquired about his wealth.
04:05Al-Harith replied that he had some money and he engaged in trade with it.
04:10Umar said, By Allah, we did not send you to engage in trade.
04:15And he took from him the profits he had made.
04:18Since Medina, with a rapidly growing population, was at risk of recurring famines when crops were lacking, Umar sought to facilitate the import of grain.
04:27He ordered the building of a canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea and an improvement of port infrastructure on the Arabian coast.
04:35When Basra was established during Umar's rule, he started building a nine-mile canal from the Tigris to the new city for irrigation and drinking water.
04:44Al-Tabari reports that Utbah ibn Ghazwan built the first canal from the Tigris River to the site of Basra when the city was in the planning stage.
04:53After the city was built, Umar appointed Abu Musa Ash'ari, 1729–638–650, as its first governor.
05:03He began building two important canals, the Al-Ubula and the Makal, linking Basra with the Tigris River.
05:10These two canals were the basis for the agricultural development for the whole Basra region and used for drinking water.
05:17Umar also adopted a policy of assigning barren lands to those who undertook to cultivate them.
05:23This policy continued during the Umayyad period and resulted in the cultivation of large areas of barren lands through the construction of irrigation canals by the state and by individuals.
05:34Under Umar's leadership, the empire expanded. Accordingly, he began to build a political structure that would hold together the vast territory.
05:43He undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy, establishing an advanced administration for the newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, and ordered a census of all the Muslim territories.
05:58During his rule, the garrison cities Amsr of Basra and Kufa were founded or expanded.
06:04In 638, he extended and renovated the Masjid al-Haram Grand Mosque in Mecca and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi Mosque of the Prophet in Medina.
06:14Umar also ordered the expulsion to Syria and Iraq of the Christian and Jewish communities of Najran and Khaybar.
06:21He also permitted Jewish families to resettle in Jerusalem, which had previously been barred from all Jews.
06:28He issued orders that these Christians and Jews should be treated well and allotted them the equivalent amount of land in their new settlements.
06:35Umar also forbade non-Muslims from residing in the Hejaz for longer than three days.
06:41He was first to establish the army as a state department.
06:45Umar was founder of fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence.
06:49He is regarded by Sunni Muslims as one of the greatest fiqhi, and, as such, he started the process of codifying Islamic law.
06:57In 641, he established Bait al-Mal, a financial institution and started annual allowances for the Muslims.
07:05As a leader, Umar was known for his simple, austere lifestyle.
07:10Rather 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.
07:19In 638, his fourth year as caliph and the seventeenth year since the Hijra, he decreed that the Islamic calendar should be counted from the year of the Hijra of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.
07:30Umar's visit to Jerusalem is documented in several sources.
07:35A recently discovered Judeo-Arabic text has disclosed the following anecdote.
07:40Umar ordered Gentiles and a group of Jews to sweep the area of the Temple Mount.
07:45Umar oversaw the work.
07:47The Jews who had come sent letters to the rest of the Jews in Palestine and informed them that Umar had permitted resettlement of Jerusalem by Jews.
07:55Umar, after some consultation, permitted 70 Jewish households to return.
08:01They returned to live in the southern part of the city, i.e., the market of the Jews.
08:06Their aim was to be near the water of Silwan and the Temple Mount and its gates.
08:11Then the commander Umar granted them this request.
08:15The 70 families moved to Jerusalem from Tiberias and the area around it with their wives and children.
08:22It is also reported in the name of the Alexandrian bishop Udi-Chus, 932-940 CE,
08:29that the rock known as the Temple Mount had been a place of ruins as far back as the time of the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who built churches in Jerusalem.
08:39The Byzantines, he said, had deliberately left the ancient site of the Temple as it was, and had even thrown rubbish on it, so that a great heap of rubble formed.
08:48It was only when Umar marched into Jerusalem with an army that he asked Kab, who was Jewish before he converted to Islam,
08:55where do you advise me to build a place of worship?
08:58Kab indicated the Temple Rock, now a gigantic heap of ruins from the Temple of Jupiter.
09:04I stop at this point today. Until next time, stay curious, stay informed, and keep exploring the world's incredible stories.
09:14Soon we will publish, Part 4. Thank you for watching.