UMAR BIN ABDUL AZIZ

There are a few rulers in the world who have left indelible impressions in history. Caliph Umar
bin Abdul Aziz tops that list. He is considered as one of the finest rulers in Muslim history. He
is also referred as the fifth caliph of Islam.
Umar bin Abdul Aziz ruled as a caliph for only 30 months but during this short period he
changed the world. His tenure was the brightest period in the 92 year history of the Umayyad
Caliphate.
The Roman emperor, when heard about his death, said:
"A virtuous person has passed away. I am hardly surprised to see an ascetic who
renounced the world and give himself to the prayers of Allah. But I am certainly
surprised at a person who had all the pleasures of the world at his feet and yet he shut his
eyes against them and lived a life of piety and renunciation."  Introduction

He was the son of Abdul Aziz bin Marwan, the governor of Egypt while his mother, Umm-
iAasim was the granddaughter of Caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab.
Umar bin Abdul Aziz was born in 63 A.H. (682 A.D.) in Halwan, Egypt, but he received his
education in Madinah from his mother’s uncle, the celebrated scholar Abdullah Ibn Umar. He
stayed in Madinah till his father’s death in 704 A.D., when he was called by his uncle Caliph
Abdul Malik and was married to his daughter Fatima. He was appointed governor of Madinah
in 706 A.D. succeeding Caliph Waleed bin Abdul Malik.

 Eighth Umayyad Caliph

Umar remained governor of Madinah throughout the reigns of Caliph Walid and Caliph
Suleiman. But when Suleiman fell seriously ill, he wanted to appoint heir, as his sons were still
minors. Reja ibn Haiwah, the adviser, proposed to him to appoint his cousin Umar bin Abdul
Aziz as his successor. Suleiman accepted the suggestion.
After being nominated caliph, Umar addressed the people from the pulpit saying: “O
people, I have been nominated your caliph despite my unwillingness and without your
consent. So here I am, I relieve you of your pledge (baiyat) that you have taken for my
allegiance. Elect whomsoever you find suitable as your caliph." People shouted:
"O Umar, we have full faith in you and we want you as our caliph."
Umar continued,

“O people, obey me as long as I obey Allah; and if I disobey Allah, you are not duty-bound to
obey me."
 Reforms of Umar bin Abdul Aziz
• After his appointment as a caliph, he discarded all the pompous appendages of
princely life-servants, slaves, maids, horses, palaces, golden robes and real estates and
returned them to Bait Al Maal.
• He also asked his wife Fatima to return the jewelry she had received from her father
Caliph Abdul Malik. The faithful wife complied with his bidding and deposited all of it
in the Bait Al Maal.
• He never built a house of his own. Allama Suyuti in his historical work "Taarikh Al
Khulafaa" records that Umar spent only two dirhams a day when he was caliph. He
received lesser salary than his subordinates.
• He wore rough clothes instead of royal robes and often went unrecognized in public like
his great grandfather Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab.
• As caliph, his personal transformation led to a revival of the entire empire. He began by
removing any oppressive governors.
• He removed unjust taxes implemented by his predecessors, standardized weights and
measurements, and reduced corruption amongst the governmental officers.  His
generous reforms and leniency led the people to deposit their taxes willingly. Ibn Kathir
writes that thanks to the reforms undertaken by Umar, the annual revenue from Persia
alone increased from 28 million dirham to 124 million dirham.
• His financial reforms were so successful that it became difficult to find poor people to
distribute the zakat.
• His reforms included strict abolition of drinking, forbidding public nudity, elimination
of mixed bathrooms for men and women and fair dispensation of Zakat.
• Umar re-established accountability and abolished the corrupt practices by which the
government officials had become rich, powerful and abusive.
• It was during this time that the religion of Islam began to be accepted by large segments
of the populations of Persia and Egypt.
• His strict adherence to Islamic principles even allowed him to offer stipends to teachers
whilst encouraging education for men, women and children.
• Umar undertook extensive public works throughout the empire, in Persia, Khorasan
(includes parts of modern day Iran, Afghanistan and central Asia) and across North
Africa.
• This included roads, bridges, and canals, inns for travelers, educational facilities and
medical dispensaries.
• He instilled piety, steadfastness, business ethics, and Islamic morals and manners into the
general population.
• Umar also oversaw the fair dispensation of money given in charity.
 • Once a Muslim murdered a non-Muslim of Hira. Caliph Umar, when informed of the
event, ordered the governor to do justice in the case. The Muslim was surrendered to
the relations of the murdered person who killed him.
 Death
The general princely class of that time could not digest these policies of justice, simplicity and
equality. A slave of the caliph was bribed to administer the deadly poison to him. The caliph
having felt the reaction of the poison sent for the slave and asked him why he had poisoned
him. The slave replied that he was given 1,000 dinars for the job. The caliph took the amount
from him and deposited it in Bait Al Maal. Freeing the slave he asked him to leave the place
immediately, lest anyone might kill him. This was his last deposit in the Bait Al-Maal for the
welfare of Muslims.

Umar died in Rajab 101 AH at the age of 38 in a rented house at the place called Dair Sim’aan
near Homs. He was buried in Dair Sim’aan on a piece of land he had purchased from a
Christian. He reportedly left behind only 17 dinars with a will that out of this amount the rent of
the house in which he died and the price of the land in which he was buried would be paid. And
thus departed the great soul from the world.

“May Allah S.W.T rest his soul in peace and award him the best place in paradise.”

 Quotes of Umar bin Abdul Aziz

• The best acts of worship are the performance of the obligatory deeds and the
avoidance of the prohibited ones.
• The best good deeds are those that one has to force the ego to perform.
• Be not of those who curse Iblees in public yet obey him in private.