Umar Al Farooq - The Great Caliph - Part Two: Glimpses Of The Biography That Shaped His Destiny As Well As That Of Islam

By Moin Qazi, New Age Islam

27 October 2022

Amongst the nations before your time, there have been inspired people (who were not Prophets), and if there is one amongst my Ummah, he is Umar

- Prophet Muhammad

Umar’s Biography

Here are glimpses of the biography of Umar that shaped his destiny as well as that of Islam.

Noble Lineage

Umar came from an impeccable pagan stock. His father expelled his half-brother, Zayd (one of the four Hanif), from Makkah many years earlier because of his apparent lack of respect for the old gods. The pedigree of Umar is Umar, the son of Khattab, the son of Tufail, the son of Abd al-Uzza, the son of Ribah, the son of Abdulla, the son of Qurat, the son of Zurah, the son of Adi, the son of Ka’b, the son of Lovayy, the son of Fahr, the son of Malik.

The people of Arabia are primarily descendants of Adnan or Qahtan, and the descent of the former may be traced to Ismail. Removed to the eleventh degree from Adnan, Fahr, the son of Malik, was a person of significant influence and power, and the famous tribe of Quraysh is his descendant. Ten individuals acquired great eminence among the Quraysh because of their strong capabilities and were the founders of several separate clans named after them. These were Hashim, Ommayya, Naufal Abd al-Dar, Asad, Taim, Makhzum, Adi, Jamah, and Samah. Umar is a descendant of Adi in the direct line. He was a prince among the Quraysh, a man who liked his wine as much as his hunting and was educated enough to write with ease.

Babyhood

Like Muhammad, Umar had the same experience of being reared by Bedouin foster parents in their desert tents. One example is when Umar rode through Dajnan in the desert east of Makkah, its familiar landscape. A memory of these distant childhood days among the Bedouin stirred in him. ‘There was a time, he recalled to his Companions, ‘when I roamed the desert as a camel herd, dressed in a fleece jacket, and whenever I sat down tired, my father would beat me. Now I live in a time when I need reckon none as my superior except God.’

It was the custom of all the great families of Arab towns to send their sons into the desert soon after their birth to be suckled and weaned and spend part of their childhood amongst one of the Bedouin tribes. It was not just the desert’s fresh air that they wished their sons to imbibe. That was for their bodies, but the desert also had its bounty for souls. It was believed that one learned the qualities of self-discipline, nobility, and freedom in the desert. A sojourn in the desert also offered an escape from the domination of time and the city's corruption.

Moreover, it provided the opportunity to become a better speaker through exposure to eloquent Arabic spoken by the Bedouin. In this way, the bond with the desert and its purity and sobriety was renewed for city dwellers in every generation. Like Muhammad, Umar also spent his babyhood in the Arab countryside.

One of the most striking facts about Arabian society was that the spoken language was kept in its purest form by the nomadic tribes. It is almost as if the lack of material objects and the lack of written forms kept the joy and vitality of the language at its most acute. It alone maintained the breathless virility and inventiveness. Nobility and freedom were inseparable, and the nomad was free. In the desert, a man was conscious of being the lord of space, and in virtue of that lordship, he escaped from the domination of time.

Umar’s Youth

‘Umar was born into a respected Quraysh family thirteen years after the birth of Muhammad. In his youth, he used to tend to his father’s camels in the plains near Makkah. His father was famed for his intelligence among his tribe. He was a middle-class merchant and is believed to be a ruthless man and emotional polytheist who often mistreated Umar. During his later political rule, Umar would comment about his father, “My father Al-Khattab was a ruthless man. He used to make me work hard; if I didn’t work, he beat me and worked me to exhaustion.”

Umar’s family was known for its extensive knowledge of genealogy. When he grew up, ‘Umar was proficient in this branch of knowledge and in swordsmanship, wrestling, and the art of speaking. He also learned to read and write while still a child, a scarce thing in Makkah then. ‘Umar earned his living as a merchant. His trade took him to many foreign lands and he met many people. This experience gave him an insight into the affairs and problems of men. ‘Umar’s personality was dynamic, self-assertive, frank, and straightforward. He always spoke whatever was in his mind, even if it displeased others.

Umar was twenty-seven when the Prophet proclaimed his mission. The ideas Muhammad was preaching enraged him as much as they did the other notables of Makkah. He was just as bitter against anyone accepting Islam as others among the Quraysh. When his slave-girl accepted Islam, he beat her until he was exhausted and told her, “I have stopped because I am tired, not out of pity for you.” Later after he embraced Islam, he was the most ardent votary of the Prophet.

Umar’s Hatred of Islam

When the Prophet proclaimed his apostlehood, the reaction among the Quraysh was violent. Umar, then a young man, held the new faith to be a sacrilege of the idols of Ka’bah. Young, well-built, and fiery-tempered as he was, Umar was at the forefront of opposition to Islam.

Some accounts have come down to us showing Umar’s attitude to Islam in the days before his conversion. Umar had related that in the days of ignorance, he was one day standing by an idol with several Quraysh when an Arab sacrificed a calf. From the belly of the calf, the following cry was heard:

“O blood red one,

The deed is done.

A man will cry

Besides God, none.”

Umar, however, dismissed the cry as a sheer hallucination.

It is on record that along with some Arabs, Umar went to a soothsayer and asked him to look into Muhammad's life, who had proclaimed a new faith. The soothsayer looked up to heaven for a long time. Then he leaped and said:

“O men, God has honoured and chosen Muhammad,

Purified his heart and bowels.

His stay, among you,

O men will be short.”

Umar cursed the soothsayer and returned home upset. By then, Labina, a slave girl in the house, incurred his wrath by turning Muslim. When Umar knew of her conversion, he beat her violently and asked her to retract. She said he might kill her, but she would not leave Islam. After that, he won't think of Umar that he would beat her every day and would stop only when he was exhausted. Despite that, the slave girl remained steadfast.

Another shock came when Umm Abdullah bint Khatamah, a lady related to Umar, also accepted Islam. Umar was furious at her conversion. As she and her husband Amar bin Rabiah and other early converts decided to migrate to Abyssinia, Umar felt moved. He visited her and said, “Umm Abdullah are you going?” She said, By God, you have made our living in Makkah very difficult. There is no option with us but to migrate elsewhere.” Inadvertently Umar said, “Umm Abdullah, may God protect you; go in peace.” At that time, Umm Abdullah felt that despite Umar’s opposition to Islam, he would one day accept the new faith.

It has been said by Umar himself that one day he came across the Prophet in the Ka’bah. The Prophet was reciting verses from the Qur’an, and as Umar listened to them, he felt that it was the work of some poet. Then the Prophet recited, “This is the revealed word of God; it’s not the work of any poet. Yet you people do not believe”. Umar felt that if this were not the work of any poet, it would be the work of a soothsayer. After the Prophet recited the verses, “And this is not the word of any soothsayer; it is divine word communicated through Gabriel.” Hearing these verses, Umar stood transfixed for some time. In his heart of hearts, he thought that perhaps truth lay with Muhammad.

Umar, however, dismissed these feelings, and soon he was his former self, as usual, hostile to Islam. He went to the Quraysh and participated in their meetings. They felt concerned that the venom of the new faith was spreading, and the only remedy was that Muhammad should be killed. All present at the meeting agreed that Muhammad should be killed. Then the meeting invited volunteers who would destroy the Prophet. Umar volunteered to kill the Prophet and vindicate the faith of their forefathers.

The Entry into the Islamic Fold

Besides Umar, there was another strong, determined man opposed to Islam. This was the man known initially as Abu Hakim (‘the father of wisdom’), but history remembers him as Abu Jail (‘the father of ignorance), the avowed enemy of Islam. The Prophet gave him the name Abu Jahl to denote his ignorance in not recognizing the truth of Islam. On one occasion, traditional accounts reveal that the Prophet raised his hands in supplication and begged God to strengthen Islam by whoever of the two—Muar bin al Chatted or Abu Hakim—he loved most. To the enemies of Islam and the Companions of the Prophet Muar, embracing Islam was an unthinkable notion. Muar was in the twenty-seventh year of his age when Muhammad declared his prophet hood.

The message of the oneness of God had not been altogether unfamiliar to the ears of members of the house of Muar owing to Said, his cousin who was an ardent advocate of monotheism. The poems of Said are extant to the present day and throw light on the purity of his soul and conscientious search for Truth. The following two couplets are by him:

“Shall I, a single deity, adore?

Or sink in awe, a thousand gods, before?

The idols, Lat and Uzi I, ignore

A wise and cautious man can do no more”.

Aid’s son Saied was the first to be converted to Islam. Saied married Muar’s sister Fatima, and he persuaded her to embrace the new faith. Another respectable member of the same family, Nu’aym ibn ‘Abd Allah, had likewise adopted Islam. Umar, however, was as yet a stranger. One day, Prophet Muhammad was walking at the foot of Mount As-Safa in Makkah when Abu Jahl met him. Abu Jahl began to hurl insults at him and ridicule the message of the Oneness of God that he was preaching. Some reports even say that he took a stone and hit Muhammad with it, causing his head to bleed. The Prophet did not respond to the taunts, and Abu Jahl moved to the Ka’bah at the center of the town, where he boasted to his tribe’s people for what he had done.

It was just at this time that Hamzah was coming back from hunting. Hamzah was a brave man who was very popular with the people of Makkah and used to love hunting. He came across the freed slave woman of `Abdullah bin Judean, who told him what had happened to his nephew.

Hamah was friendly and had an easy disposition. He was nonetheless a great stalwart of Quays, and when roused, he was the most formidable and unyielding. His strong frame now shook with anger as he had never felt, and his rage urged him to avenge his nephew’s humiliation. Striding into the Mosque, he went straight for Abu Jail; standing over him, he raised his bow and brought it down with all his force on his back. “Wilt thou insult him,” he said, “now that I am of his religion, and now that I avouch what he avouched? Strike me blow for blow if thou canst.” Abu Jail appeared demoralized when some of the Makhzumites' presents rose to their feet as if to help him. He motioned them to be seated, saying: “Let Abu ‘Umrah be, for by God I reviled his brother’s son with a right ugly reviling.” From that moment on, declaring before the people of Makkah that he believed in the message of his nephew, Hamzah became one of the Prophet’s staunchest supporters and did everything he could to protect him.

Umar happened to be Abu Jahl’s nephew. He was angered by how the Prophet created division among the Quraysh. He also could not swallow the insult heaped by Hamzah on his uncle, Abu Jahl. In a pique of anger, he picked up his sword and decided to kill the Prophet to avenge the humiliation of the Quraysh. ‘Umar was at this time about twenty-six years old, a headstrong young man, not easily deterred, and of great resolution. But unlike his uncle, he was pious, and here, in fact, lay his chief motive for opposing the new religion. His father had brought him up to venerate the Ka’bah and to respect everything that had come to be inseparably connected with it in the way of gods and goddesses. It was all woven together for him into a sacred unity that was not to be questioned. Quraysh also had been one, but Makkah was now a city of two religions and communities. He saw, moreover, that the trouble had one cause only. Remove the man who was that cause; everything would soon be as it had been. There was no other remedy, but that would be a certain remedy. He continued to brood along these lines, and eventually, the day came soon after the unsuccessful envoys returned from Abyssinia when a sudden wave of anger goaded him to action. He took up his sword he set out from his house. No sooner had he left it than he came face to face with Nu’aym ibn ‘Abd Allah, one of his fellow clansmen. Nu’aym had entered Islam, but he kept this a secret in fear of ‘Umar and others of his people. The grim expression he now saw on ‘Umar’s face prompted him to ask him where he was going. “I am going to Muhammad, that renegade, who hath split Quraysh into two,” said ‘Umar, “and I shall kill him.” Nu’aym tried to stop him by pointing out that he would certainly be killed. But when he saw that ‘Umar was deaf to such an argument, he thought of another way by which he might at least delay him in time to give the alarm. This would mean betraying a secret of fellow Muslims who, like himself, were concealing their Islamic identity. Still, he knew that they would forgive him and even applaud him in the circumstances. “O ‘Umar,” he said, “why not first go back to the people of thine own house, and set them right.” “What people of my house?” said Umar. “Thy brother-in-law Sa’id and thy sister Fatimah,” said Nu’aym. “They are both followers of Muhammad.”

Astonished at this startling news, Umar proceeded straight to his sister’s house. When he knocked at the door, they studied the Qur’an with a young Companion, Khabbab. Umar’s sister Fatima was terrified when she heard Umar’s voice and tried to conceal the parchments of the Qur’an from which she was reciting. Umar had listened to the recitation and confronted them scornfully, asking what they were repeating. They both denied they were reading the Qur’an. Fatima had already hidden the parchments before Umar came in. Umar insisted that he had heard them reciting it. They remained stubborn and tried to deflect his interrogative questions. This exasperated Umar. He sprang on his brother-in-law to strike him. When his sister tried to intervene, he hit her account and she started bleeding. There was chaos and disarray. Umar suddenly realized he didn’t do the right thing and was filled with contrition and remorse. He realized his mistake. The tension slowly defused. Fatima summoned the courage to speak out. “Yes, Umar, we are Muslims and believe in God and his messenger. As for you, you can do what you consider fit, but our stand is final; we will not budge from it.”

Umar was taken aback. He caught his brother-in-law by the throat and said, “So you have apostatized from the faith of your forefathers.” Saeed retorted, “Rather, we have abandoned falsehood for truth.” Thereupon Umar was about to strike Saeed when Fatima intervened, saying, “Hands off from my husband. If you have anything to say, say it to me, but do not touch my husband.” Umar asked, “Is it a fact that you have become Muslims.” She replied, “Yes. We have become Muslims. You may kill us if you like, but we will not waver in our faith”.

Umar stayed his hands and desired that the leaf they had been reading should be shown to him. Fatima said he could not touch the sacred leaf until he washed his hands. Umar washed his hands, and the holy leaf was handed over to him. It was the Sura Ta Ha. It read:

Ta-Ha

We have not sent the Qur’an to thee,

To be an occasion for thy distress,

But only as an admonition to those who fear God.

A revelation from Him,

Who created the earth and the heavens on high.

God most gracious,

It is firmly established on the throne of authority.

To Him belongs what is in the heavens and on earth,

And all between them and all beneath the soil.

If thou pronounce the word aloud, it’s no matter

For verily He knoweth what is secret

And what is yet hidden.

Verily there is no god but He

To Him belongs the most beautiful names. (Q20: 1-8)

As Umar read the verses repeatedly, he felt as if these verses were addressed to him in person, and the mysterious Ta Ha referred to Umar the Man. Umar shuddered with the fear of God, and he felt as if his conscience was upbraiding him, “Umar, how long would you stay away from the path of truth? Has not the time come for you to follow the truth?”

Umar then immediately acknowledges the truth. Turning to his sister and brother-in-law, he said, “I came to you as an enemy of Islam; I go from you as a friend of Islam. I had buckled this sword to slay the Prophet of Islam; I now go to him to offer him allegiance.”

Fatima and Saeed cried, “Allah o-Akbar.”

Allama Iqbal has dramatized the episode in his poem “Secrets of the Self.” He has urged Muslim women to be like the sister of Umar. He says:

“O Muslim women;

Out of the evening create a new dazzling morn.

To the true lovers of God,

Recite the Holy Qur’an

And enthusiastically translate

Its spirit into action

Don’t you know that such a recitation

Changed Umar’s fate altogether.”

“O Khabbab,” said ‘Umar, “where will Muhammad   be now, that I may go to him and enter Islam?” Khabbab told him that he was at the house of Arqam near the Safa Gate with many of his Companions. ‘Umar buckled his sword again and went to Safa, knocked at the door of the house, and said who he was. They had been warned by Nu’aym so that his coming was not unexpected, but his softened voice struck them. One of the Companions went to the door and looked through a chink and came back in some dismay. “O Prophet,” he said, “it is indeed ‘Umar, and he is with his sword.” “Let him come in,” said Hamzah. “If he hath come with good intent, we will give him a wealth of good; and if his intent is evil, we will slay him with his sword.” The Prophet agreed that he should be admitted, and, advancing to meet him, he seized him by the belt and pulled him into the middle of the room, saying: “What hath brought thee here, O son of Khattab? I cannot see thee desisting until God sends down some calamity upon thee.” “O Prophet,” said ‘Umar, “I have come to thee that I may declare my faith in God, and in His Messenger and in what he hath brought from God.” “ is Most Great),” said the Prophet, in such a way that every man and woman in the house knew that ‘Umar had entered Islam, and they all rejoiced.

That day even Gabriel congratulated the Prophet on the conversion of Umar. Gabriel said: “O Prophet of God, the dwellers in Heaven are rejoicing at the conversion of Umar and offer you their congratulations.” With the pride of a Muslim, Umar visited various parts of Makkah to announce his conversion. He first went to the house of his maternal uncle Abu Jahl. He knocked at the door.

“Who comes” asked Abu Jahl.

“It’s Umar,” said Umar.

Abu Jahl opened the door and said, “Welcome, nephew.”

Umar said, “Uncle, do you know I have become a Muslim.”

Abu Jahl retorted sternly, “Do not talk like that. I know that a man like you can never become a Muslim”.

Umar insisted, “No, uncle, it is a fact that I have become a Muslim.”

Abu Jahl said, “If what you say is true, then be damned.” Saying this, Abu Jahl shut the door in the face of Umar. After that, Umar went to see some other Quraysh chiefs. He told them of his conversion to Islam. Like Abu Jahl, they damned him and shut the doors of their houses against him.

Umar then proceeded to the Ka’bah. There he met Jamil bin Ma’mar al-Jamahi who enjoyed a reputation for being the swiftest disseminator of news in Makkah. Umar told him that he had accepted Islam. Jamil rose from his feet and cried at the top of his voice: “O ye Quraysh know that Umar bin al Khattab has been converted to Islam and apostatized from the faith of his forefathers.”

On hearing this news, some Quraysh youth gathered at Ka’bah. Umar said, “What Jamil said is not correct. I have not apostatized: I have seen the truth and accepted Islam”. Thereupon the Quraysh youth rushed to Umar. A Shaikh dressed in Yemeni robes, Al-Aas bin Wail passed that way and enquired what the matter was. The Quraysh said that Umar had apostatized, and they wanted to punish him for straying from the faith of his forefathers. The Shaikh said, “A man should be free to choose whatever religion he likes. Why beat him for that?” Abu Jahl also happened to come that way. Seeing the Quraysh, he said, “I offer protection to my nephew.” Umar said, “Uncle, I do not need your protection. For me, the protection of God and the Prophet is enough”.

Umar then went to the Prophet and told him that he had publicly announced his conversion. Earlier, those who converted to Islam kept their decision secret for fear of the oppression of the Quraysh. They also prayed in secret. Umar submitted to the Prophet:

“O Prophet, are we not in the truth?”

The Prophet said, “Why not? We are verily in the truth”.

“Then why should we not pray in public? Has not the time come for us to declare our faith publicly?” said Umar. Umar tried to convince the Prophet that the truth of Islam should become public. The Prophet agreed with Umar.

The following day all the Muslims emerged from the house of Arqam and proceeded to the Ka’bah, in two lines, one led by Umar and the other by Hamzah. At the Ka’bah the Muslims prayed openly. The Quraysh watched the Muslims pray and said, “Verily, by the conversion of Umar to Islam, the Muslims have taken revenge against Quraysh.” While the Makkah elite had previously persecuted the Muslims for their beliefs, the early Muslims could now worship at the Ka’bah and partake in their religious rituals without fear, as Umar was now one of the Muslims.

The Prophet titled Umar “Al-Faruq” (“the one who distinguishes between right and wrong”). If anyone was known for bringing strength to the Ummah, it was Umar. When the Muslims were making hijra (migration) from Makkah to Madīnah, all but ‘Umar would perform it secretly for fear of oppression. Ali said, “I do not know of anyone who did not emigrate in secret except for Umar ibn al-Khattab; because when he wanted to emigrate, he strapped on his sword, put his bow over his shoulder, carried his arrows in his hand, and came to the Ka’bah where the nobles of Quraysh were in its courtyard. He strongly performed seven circumambulations and then prayed two raka’as at the Station (of Ibrahim). Then he approached their circle one step at a time and said, ‘Many faces can be deformed. Whoever wishes to bereave his mother, orphan his children, and widow his wife, then let him meet me behind this valley.’?” Ali said, “Not one of them followed him except some weak people whom he guided and then he went his way.

Umar’s Nomination

Following the death of the prophet in 632, a period of great unrest stirred in the Islamic world. Muhammad’s place was now occupied by caliphs (literally: substitutes) who were considered the prophet’s heirs. This period is characterized by bloody warfare that brought about the murder of three of the first four caliphs.

Since Muhammad neither produced an heir nor set rules for appointing one, his authority was passed on to four men considered the most righteous of Muslims, who were close to the prophet and shared family ties with him. These continued to rule as caliphs from Medina and were the Muslim people's spiritual, political and military leaders. The first caliph was Abu Bakr, a close friend of Muhammad and the father of `Aisha, the favorite of the prophet’s nine wives. Abu Bakr wanted to ensure that no differences should divide Muslims after his death.

As his sickness grew, Abu Bakr seriously considered identifying his successor. After careful thought, he chose to nominate Umar. He put his proposal before the leading Companions. Most of them appreciated and endorsed the

During a fragmentary moment of dissent by weak opponents, Ali said he would acknowledge no other Caliph save Umar. Abu Bakr was much impressed with their selflessness of Ali for not pressing his claim and for putting the interests of the Muslim community above personal interests. Turning to Ali, Abu Bakr said:

“You are indeed a prince in the most exalted sense of the term, for others are mere men.”

On 22 August, Caliph Abu Bakr died. On the same day, Umar assumed the office of the caliphate. After taking office as the Caliph, Umar I (ruled 634–644) addressed the Muslims in his Inaugural address:”O ye faithful! Abu Bakr is no more amongst us. He has the satisfaction that he has successfully piloted the ship of the Muslim state to safety after negotiating the stormy sea. He successfully waged the apostasy wars, and thanks to him, Islam is now supreme in Arabia. After Abu Bakr, the mantle of the caliphate has fallen on my shoulders. I swear before God that I never coveted this office. I wished that it would have devolved into some other person more worthy than me. But now that in the national interest, the responsibility for leading the Muslims has come to vest in me, I assure you that I will not run away from my post and will make an earnest effort to discharge the onerous duties of the office to the best of my capacity by the injunctions of Islam. Allah has examined me from you and you from me. In performing my duties, I will seek guidance from the Holy Book and follow the examples the Holy Prophet and Abu Bakr set. In this task, I seek your assistance. If I follow the right path, follow me. Correct me if I deviate from the right direction so we are not led astray.”

Umar believed that the true traits of a great leader must be: he is firm but not overbearing; he is soft but not weak; he is generous but not extravagant and he is thrifty but not miserly.Umar was humble without being weak. He combined two opposing character traits, making him unique among the men around Prophet Muhammad. 

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Moin Qazi is the author of the bestselling book, Village Diary of a Heretic Banker. He has worked in the development finance sector for almost four decades.

First Part of the Article:   Umar Al Farooq - The Great Caliph - Part One: Timeline Of The Life Of Caliph Umar

URL:  https://newageislam.com/books-documents/umar-farooq-caliph-part-two-biography/d/128277

  

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