Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), simply known as Umar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Initially, Umar opposed Muhammad, who was his distant Qurayshite kinsman. However, after converting to Islam in 616, he became the first Muslim to openly pray at the Kaaba. He participated in nearly all of Muhammad's battles and expeditions, and Muhammad conferred upon him the title al-Fārūq ("the Distinguisher") for his sound judgement. After Muhammad's death in June 632, Umar pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr as the first caliph and served as his chief adviser. In 634, shortly before his death, Abu Bakr nominated Umar as his successor.
During Umar's reign, the caliphate expanded at an unprecedented rate, conquering the Sasanian Empire and more than two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire. His campaigns against the Sasanians resulted in the conquest of Persia within two years (642–644). According to Jewish tradition, Umar lifted the Christian ban on Jews entering Jerusalem and permitted them to worship there. Umar was assassinated by the Persian slave Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz in 644.
Umar is widely credited with expanding the Islamic world beyond Arabia and introducing the Hijri Calendar. Historians generally regard him as one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history. In Sunni Islamic tradition, he is revered as a just ruler and a paragon of Islamic virtues, with some hadiths identifying him as the second greatest of the Sahabah after Abu Bakr. In Twelver Shia tradition, however, he is viewed negatively.
Early life
Umar was born in Mecca to the Banu Adi clan, which was responsible for arbitration among the tribes. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl, and his mother was Hantamah bint Hisham of the Banu Makhzum tribe. In his youth, Umar tended his father's camels in the plains near Mecca. His father, a merchant, was renowned for his intelligence among his tribe. However, modern historians do not accept genealogies from the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods as verifiable information. Genealogies were oral products of the ayyām (Days of the Arabs) culture, which was established in Bedouin and semi-Bedouin Arab communities, as part of other traditional narrative forms based on lineage boasting. This form of transmission is one in which narratives are transmitted in a flexible manner, reshaped according to the social expectations present in each performance and the interaction between the narrator and the listener. (The ayyām circulated earlier as scattered oral materials, the formation of the genre as a distinct textual corpus is attributed to the Basran grammarian and lexicographer Abū ʿUbayda Maʿmar b. al-Muthannā (110–209/728–824).) Umar says: "My father, al-Khattab, was a ruthless man. He would make me work until I was exhausted, and if I didn't, beat me".
Although literacy was uncommon in pre-Islamic Arabia, Umar learned to read and write during his youth. While not a poet himself, he developed a love for poetry and literature. In accordance with the traditions of the Quraysh, he was trained in martial arts, horse riding, and wrestling during his adolescence. He was tall, physically powerful and a renowned wrestler. He was also recognized as a gifted orator and succeeded his father as an arbitrator among the tribes. Like others around him, Umar was fond of drinking in his pre-Islamic days.
Umar became a merchant and made several journeys to Byzantine and Sasanian territories, where he is said to have met various scholars and analyzed Byzantine and Sasanian societies. As a merchant, he was unsuccessful.
Early military career
Opposition to Islam
In 610, Muhammad started preaching the message of Islam. However, like many others in Mecca, Umar opposed Islam and even threatened to kill Muhammad. He resolved to defend the traditional polytheistic religion of Arabia. He was adamant and cruel in opposing Muhammad and very prominent in persecuting Muslims. He recommended Muhammad's death. He firmly believed in the unity of the Quraysh and saw the new faith of Islam as a cause of division and discord.
Conversion to Islam
Umar converted to Islam in 616, one year after the Migration to Abyssinia. The story was recounted in Ibn Ishaq's Sīrah. On his way to murder Muhammad, Umar encountered his friend Nu'aym ibn Abd Allah, who had secretly converted to Islam. After Umar stated his intention to kill Muhammad, After Umar stated his intention, Nu'aym directed him to inquire about his own household. Upon returning home, Umar found his sister, Fatima bint al-Khattab, and his brother-in-law, Sa'id ibn Zayd, who was also his cousin, being taught by Khabbab ibn al-Aratt. He discovered them reciting verses of the Quran from Surat Ta-Ha.
He began quarreling with Sa'id and physically attacked him. When his sister attempted to rescue her husband, Umar also began arguing with her. Sources differ on what happened next, as some state that upon hearing these words, Umar slapped his sister so hard that she fell to the ground, while others claim Fatima was hit by accident and lost her balance while trying to pull Umar away from Sa'id. In both accounts, his sister began to bleed from her mouth.
After seeing what he had done, Umar calmed down due to a sense of guilt and asked Fatima to give him the text she had been reciting. She refused and told him that he was unclean and that no person in an unclean state could touch the Scripture. He insisted on seeing it, but his sister was not prepared to allow him to touch the pages until he had washed his body. Umar eventually gave in to her request. He washed his body and then began to read the verses which stated that it is truly He, that He is Allah, that there is no god worthy of worship except Him, and that one should worship Him alone and establish prayer for His remembrance (Quran 20:14). He wept and declared, "Surely this is the word of Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah". Upon hearing this, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt came out from his hiding place and told Umar that there were glad tidings for him, as Muhammad had prayed to Allah the previous day to strengthen Islam with either Umar or Abu Jahl, and it appeared that the prayer had been answered in his favor."
Umar then went to Muhammad with the same sword he intended to kill him with and accepted Islam in front of him and his companions. Umar was 39 years old when he accepted Islam.
After his conversion to Islam, Umar is described as praying openly at the Kaaba, with Quraysh figures observing without intervening. These reports present his actions as contributing to the increased visibility of Muslim worship in Mecca following his acceptance of Islam, and as openly challenging opposition to Muslim prayer in Mecca, reflecting a stage in which Muslims are depicted as beginning to pray publicly in the sanctuary.
Service under Muhammad
Migration to Medina
In 622, due to the safety offered by Yathrib (later renamed Medīnat an-Nabī, or simply Medina), Muhammad ordered his followers to migrate to Medina. Most Muslims migrated at night fearing Quraysh resistance, but Umar is reported to have left openly during the day saying:
Umar migrated to Medina accompanied by his cousin and brother-in-law Sa'id ibn Zayd.
Death of Muhammad
When Muhammad died on 8 June 632, Umar initially disbelieved that he was dead. It is said that Umar promised to strike the head of any man who would say that Muhammad died. Umar said: "Some of the hypocrites allege that the Messenger of God is dead. By God, he is not dead, but has gone to his Lord as Mūsā ibn ʿImrān went and remained hidden from his people for forty days. Moses returned after it was said that he had died. By God, the Messenger of God will (also) return" Abu Bakr then publicly spoke to the community in the mosque, saying:
Abū Bakr then recited these verses from the Quran :