Biography of caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab part 7
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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 7
00:32We continue to tell a stage of the life of the Rashidun Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab.
00:37From first-hand accounts of his physical appearance,
00:40Umar is said to be vigorous, robust and a very tall man.
00:44In markets he would tower above the people.
00:47The front part of his head was bald.
00:49Always Asir-e-Yusrin working with two hands.
00:52Both his eyes were black, with yellow skin.
00:55However, Ibn Sa'ad in his book stated that he never knew that Umar had yellow skin,
01:00except for a certain part of Umar's life where his color changed due to his frequent consumption of oil.
01:06Moreover, it is also narrated that he was initially white
01:09but his color turned dark during the year of Ashes 18a.h
01:13where a famine caused him to exert considerable effort in running the caliphate
01:17whilst there was a widespread lack of food.
01:20It is also narrated by Abu Nu'aym Al-Isfahani that he had reddish-white skin.
01:25His teeth were Ashnable Asnan, very white shining.
01:29He would always color his beard and take care of his hair using a type of plant.
01:34The early Muslim historians Ibn Sa'ad and Al-Hakim mentioned that Abu Miriam Zir,
01:39a native of Kufa, described Umar as being advanced in years,
01:43bald, of a tawny color, a left-handed man, tall and towering above the people.
01:49Umar's eldest son Abdullah described his father as a man of fair complexion,
01:54a ruddy tint prevailing, tall, bald and gray.
01:57Historian Salimah bin al-Akwaz said that Umar was ambidextrous,
02:02he could use both his hands equally well.
02:05On the authority of Abu Raja al-Yutairidi,
02:08Ibn Asakir records that Umar was a man tall, stout, very bald,
02:13very ruddy with scanty hair on the cheeks,
02:15his mustache is large, and the ends thereof reddish.
02:19In addition, on the authority of Amir bin Rabi'ah,
02:22Ibn Sa'ad records that I saw Umar a white man, pale,
02:26prevailing ruddiness, tall and bald.
02:29Umar was the first caliph to adopt the title Amir al-Mu'minin.
02:34Umar was one of Muhammad's chief advisors.
02:37After Muhammad's passing,
02:39it was Umar who reconciled the Medinan Muslims
02:42to accept Abu Bakr, a Meccan, as the caliph.
02:46During Abu Bakr's era,
02:48he actively participated as his secretary and main advisor.
02:52After succeeding Abu Bakr as caliph,
02:55Umar won over the hearts of Bedouin tribes
02:57by emancipating all their prisoners and slaves taken during the Ridda Wars.
03:02He built up an efficient administrative structure
03:04that held together his vast realm.
03:07He organized an effective intelligence network,
03:10one of the reasons for his strong grip on his bureaucracy.
03:14Umar never appointed governors for more than two years,
03:17for they might amass too much local power.
03:20He dismissed his most successful general, Khalid ibn Walid,
03:24because he wanted people to know that it is Allah who grants victory,
03:27and to counter the cult of personality that had built up around Khalid,
03:31for the sake of the Muslim faith.
03:33He would patrol the streets of Medina with a whip in his hand,
03:36ready to punish any offenders he might come across.
03:40It is said that Umar's whip was feared more than the sword of another man.
03:44But with all of this, he was also known for being kind-hearted,
03:48answering the needs of the fatherless and widows.
03:51Umar's swift imposition of justice against his governors for misdeeds
03:55made even powerful governors such as Muawiyah scared of him.
03:59Ali ibn Abu Talib, during the later rule of Uthman ibn Affan,
04:04wanted Uthman to be more strict with his governors, saying,
04:07I adjure you by God, do you know that Muawiyah was more afraid of Umar
04:11than was Umar's own servant Yarfa?
04:14Under Umar's rule, in order to promote strict discipline,
04:17Arab soldiers were settled outside of cities,
04:20between the desert and cultivated lands in special garrison towns known as Amsr.
04:25Known examples of such settlements are Basra and Kufa, in Iraq,
04:29and Fustat south of what would later become Cairo.
04:33His soldiers were forbidden to own land outside of Arabia.
04:37There were restrictions on their right to seize buildings
04:40and other immovable things usually thought of as prizes of war.
04:44Movable spoils were shared with the people of the Ummah,
04:47regardless of their social stratum.
04:49A modern researcher writes about this he used to monitor public policy very closely
04:54and had kept the needs of the public central to his leadership approach.
04:58As second caliph of Islam, he refused to chop off the hands of thieves
05:02because he felt he had fallen short of his responsibility
05:05to provide meaningful employment to all his subjects.
05:09As a ruler of a vast kingdom,
05:11his vision was to ensure that everyone in his kingdom should sleep on a full stomach.
05:16If a dog dies hungry on the banks of the river Euphrates,
05:19Umar will be responsible for dereliction of duty.
05:23Umar he also knew that just having a vision is not enough
05:26unless it is supported by effective strategies.
05:29He didn't only have a vision,
05:31he truly transformed his vision into actions.
05:34For example, to ensure that nobody sleeps hungry in his empire,
05:38he used to walk through the streets almost every night
05:40to see if there is anyone needy or ill.
05:43In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
05:46Gibbon refers to Umar in the following terms
05:48yet the abstinence and humility of Umar were not inferior to the virtues of a boobicker.
05:53His food consisted of barley bread or dates.
05:56His drink was water.
05:58He preached in a gown that was torn or tattered in 12 places.
06:01And a Persian satrap who paid his homage to the conqueror
06:04found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the Mosque of Medina.
06:09His rule was one of the few moments in the history of Islam
06:12where Muslims were united as a single community.
06:15Abdullah ibn Nasud would often weep whenever the subject of Umar was brought up.
06:20He said Umar was a fortress of Islam.
06:23People would enter Islam and not leave.
06:26When he died, the fortress was breached and now people are going out of Islam.
06:31Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah before Umar died famously said,
06:35If Umar dies, Islam would be weakened.
06:39People asked him why and his reply was,
06:41You will see what I am speaking about if you survive.
06:45His greatest achievement from a religious perspective was the compilation of the Quran.
06:50This had not been done during the time of Muhammad.
06:53However, during the Battle of Yamama,
06:55a great number of the memorizers of the Quran perished in the battle.
06:59On the advice of Umar, Abu Bakr tasked Zayd ibn Thabit
07:03with the momentous task of compiling the Quran into a single book.
07:07The Faruqi dynasty which ruled the Khandesh region in north of Maharashtra, India,
07:12from 14th century until 16th century,
07:15has claimed their descent from Umar lineage.
07:19Along with Khalid ibn Walid, Umar was influential in the Ridda Wars.
07:24One strategic success was his sundering of the Byzantine-Sassanid alliance in 636
07:30when Emperor Heraclius and Emperor Yazdegerd III allied against their common enemy.
07:35He was lucky in that the Persian Emperor Yazdegerd III
07:39couldn't synchronize with Heraclius as planned.
07:42Umar fully availed himself of the opportunity by inducing the Byzantines to act prematurely.
07:48This was contrary to the orders of Emperor Heraclius
07:51who presumably wanted a coordinated attack along with the Persians.
07:55Umar did this by sending reinforcements to the Roman front in the Battle of Yarmouk
08:00with instructions that they should appear in the form of small bands,
08:03one after the other,
08:05giving the impression of a continuous stream of reinforcements
08:08that finally lured the Byzantines to an untimely battle.
08:11On the other hand, Yazdegerd III was engaged in negotiations
08:15that further gave Umar time to transfer his troops from Syria to Iraq.
08:19These troops proved decisive in the Battle of Qadisha.
08:23His strategy resulted in a Muslim victory at the Second Battle of Emesa in 638
08:29where the pro-Byzantine Christian Arabs of Jazira, aided by the Byzantine Emperor,
08:33made an unexpected flanking movement and laid siege to Emesa Homs.
08:38Umar issued an order to invade the very homeland of the Christian Arab forces
08:42besieging Emesa, the Jazira.
08:45A three-pronged attack against Jazira was launched from Iraq.
08:49To further pressure the Christian Arab armies,
08:52Umar instructed Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, commander of Muslim forces in Iraq,
08:57to send reinforcements to Emesa.
08:59Umar himself led reinforcements there from Medina.
09:03Under this unprecedented pressure,
09:05the Christian Arabs retreated from Emesa before Muslim reinforcements could arrive.
09:10The Muslims annexed Mesopotamia and parts of Byzantine Armenia.
09:14After the Battle of Nahavand,
09:16Umar launched a full-scale invasion of the Sassanid Persian Empire.
09:21The invasion was a series of well-coordinated multi-pronged attacks
09:25designed to isolate and destroy their targets.
09:28Umar launched the invasion by attacking the very heart of Persia,
09:32aiming to isolate Azerbaijan and eastern Persia.
09:36This was immediately followed by simultaneous attacks on Azerbaijan and Fars.
09:41Next, Sistan and Kerman were captured,
09:44thus isolating the stronghold of Persia, the Khorasan.
09:48The final expedition was launched against Khorasan,
09:51where, after the Battle of Oxus River,
09:54the Persian Empire ceased to exist,
09:56and Yazdegerd III fled to Central Asia.
09:59Umar is remembered by Sunnis as a rigid Muslim
10:02of a sound and just disposition in matters of religion,
10:05a man they title Farooq.
10:07I stop at this point today.
10:09Until next time, stay curious.
10:12Stay informed, and keep exploring the world's incredible stories.
10:18Soon we will publish.
10:20Part. 8
10:23Thank you. For watching.
10:29Part. 8