Umayyad caliph from 717 to 720
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan
(
Arabic
:
????? ??? ????? ????????? ??? ????????
,
romanized
:
?Umar ibn ?Abd al-?Az?z ibn Marw?n
;
c.
680
– February 720) or commonly known as
Umar II
(
??? ??????
) was the eighth
Umayyad
caliph
, ruling from 717 until his death in 720. He is credited to have instituted significant reforms to the Umayyad central government, by making it much more efficient and egalitarian. His rulership is marked by the first official collection of
hadiths
and the mandated universal education to the populace.
He dispatched emissaries to
China
and
Tibet
, inviting their rulers to accept
Islam
. It was during his three-year reign that Islam was accepted by huge segments of the populations of
Persia
and
Egypt
. He also ordered the withdrawal of the Muslim forces in various fronts such as in
Constantinople
,
Central Asia
and
Septimania
. However despite this, his reign witnessed the Umayyads gaining many new territories in the
Iberian Peninsula
.
Umar was considered by many to be the first
mujaddid
and the sixth righteous caliph of Islam after
Hasan ibn Ali
according to some Sunni scholars. He was honorifically called
Umar al-Thani
(Umar II) after his maternal great-grandfather, Caliph
Umar
(
r.
634?644
).
Early life
[
edit
]
Umar was likely born in
Medina
around 680.
His father,
Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan
, belonged to the wealthy
Umayyad
clan resident in the city, while his mother,
Layla bint Asim
, was a granddaughter of the second
Rashidun
caliph
Umar
(
r.
634?644
).
His lineage from the much-respected Caliph Umar would later be much emphasized by historians to differentiate him from the other Umayyad rulers.
At the time of his birth, another branch of the Umayyads, the
Sufyanids
, ruled from their capital
Damascus
. When the reigning Caliph
Yazid I
(
r.
680?683
) and his son and successor,
Mu'awiya II
(
r.
683?684
), died in quick succession in 683 and 684, respectively, Umayyad authority collapsed across the Caliphate and the Umayyads of the
Hejaz
, including Medina, were expelled by supporters of the rival caliph, the
Mecca
-based
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
(
r.
683?692
). The Umayyad exiles took refuge in Syria, where loyalist Arab tribes supported the dynasty. Umar's grandfather,
Marwan I
(
r.
684?685
), was ultimately recognized by these tribes as caliph and, with their support, reasserted Umayyad rule in Syria.
In 685, Marwan ousted Ibn al-Zubayr's governor from
Egypt
and appointed Umar's father to the province.
Umar spent part of his childhood in Egypt, particularly in
Hulwan
, which had become the seat of his father's governorship between 686 and his death in 705.
He received his education in Medina, however,
which was retaken by the Umayyads under Umar's paternal uncle, Caliph
Abd al-Malik
(
r.
685?705
), in 692.
Having spent much of his youth in Medina, Umar developed ties with the city's pious men and transmitters of
hadiths
.
Following the death of Umar's father, Abd al-Malik recalled Umar to Damascus, where he arranged Umar's marriage to his daughter, Fatima.
Umar had two other wives: his maternal cousin Umm Shu'ayb or Umm Uthman, the daughter of Shu'ayb or Sa'id ibn Zabban of the
Banu Kalb
tribe, and Lamis bint Ali of the
Balharith
. From his wives he had seven known children, as well as seven other children from
concubines
.
Governor of Medina
[
edit
]
Shortly after his accession, Abd al-Malik's son and successor,
al-Walid I
(
r.
705?715
), appointed Umar governor of Medina.
According to
Julius Wellhausen
, al-Walid's intention was to use Umar to reconcile the townspeople of Medina to Umayyad rule and "obliterate [
sic
] the evil memory" of the preceding Umayyad governors, namely
Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi
, whose rule over Medina had been harsh for its inhabitants.
Umar took up the post in February/March 706 and his jurisdiction later extended to Mecca and
Ta'if
.
Information about his governorship is scant, but most traditional accounts note that he was a "just governor", according to historian
Paul Cobb
.
He often led the annual
Hajj
pilgrimage in Mecca and showed favor toward the Islamic legal scholars of Medina, notably
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab
.
Umar tolerated many of these scholars' open criticism of the Umayyad government's conduct.
However, other accounts hold that he showed himself to be materialistic during his early career.
On al-Walid's orders, Umar undertook the reconstruction and expansion of the
Prophet's Mosque
in Medina beginning in 707.
Under Umar's generally lenient rule, the Hejaz became a refuge for Iraqi political and religious exiles fleeing the persecutions of
al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf
, al-Walid's powerful viceroy over the eastern half of the Caliphate.
According to Cobb, this served as Umar's "undoing" as al-Hajjaj pressured the caliph to dismiss Umar in May/June 712.
Courtier of al-Walid and Sulayman
[
edit
]
Despite his dismissal, Umar remained in al-Walid's favor, being the brother of the caliph's first wife,
Umm al-Banin bint Abd al-Aziz
.
He remained in al-Walid's court in Damascus until the caliph's death in 715,
and according to the 9th-century historian
al-Ya'qubi
, he performed the funeral prayers for al-Walid.
The latter's brother and successor,
Sulayman
(
r.
715?717
), held Umar in high regard.
Alongside
Raja ibn Haywa
, an influential religious figure in the Umayyads' court, Umar served as a principal adviser of Sulayman.
He accompanied the latter when he led the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 716 and on his return to
Jerusalem
.
Likewise, he was at the caliph's side at the Muslims' marshaling camp at
Dabiq
in northern Syria, where Sulayman directed the massive war effort to conquer the
Byzantine
capital of
Constantinople
in 717.
Caliphate
[
edit
]
Accession
[
edit
]
According to the traditional Muslim sources, when Sulayman was on his deathbed in Dabiq, he was persuaded by Raja to designate Umar as his successor.
Sulayman's son Ayyub had been his initial nominee, but predeceased him,
while his other sons were either too young or away fighting on the Byzantine front.
The nomination of Umar voided the wishes of Abd al-Malik, who sought to restrict the office to his direct descendants.
The elevation of Umar, a member of a cadet branch of the dynasty, in preference to the numerous descendants of Abd al-Malik surprised these princes.
According to Wellhausen, "nobody dreamed of this, himself [Umar] least of all".
Raja managed the affair, calling the Umayyad princes into Dabiq's mosque and demanding that they recognize Sulayman's will, which Raja had kept secret.
Only after the Umayyads accepted did Raja reveal that Umar was the caliph's nominee.
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
voiced his opposition, but relented after being threatened with violence.
A potential intra-dynastic conflict was averted with the designation of a son of Abd al-Malik,
Yazid II
, as Umar's successor.
According to the historian Reinhard Eisener, Raja's role in the affair was likely "exaggerated"; "more reasonable" was that Umar's succession was the result of "traditional patterns, like seniority and well-founded claims" stemming from Caliph Marwan I's original designation of Umar's father, Abd al-Aziz, as Abd al-Malik's successor,
which had not materialized due to Abd al-Aziz predeceasing Abd al-Malik.
Umar acceded without significant opposition on 22 September 717.
Reforms
[
edit
]
The most significant reform of Umar was effecting the equality of Arabs and
mawali
(non-Arab Muslims). This was mainly relevant to the non-Arab troops in the Muslim army, who had not been entitled to the same shares in spoils, lands and salaries given to Arab soldiers. The policy also applied to Muslim society at large.
Under previous Umayyad rulers, Arab Muslims had certain financial privileges over non-Arab Muslims. Non-Arab converts to Islam were still expected to pay the
jizya
(poll tax) that they paid before becoming Muslims. Umar put into practice a new system that exempted all Muslims, regardless of their heritage, from the jizya tax. He also added some safeguards to the system to make sure that mass conversion to Islam would not cause the collapse of the finances of the Umayyad government.
Under the new tax policy, converted
mawali
would not pay the jizya (or any other
dhimmi
tax), but upon conversion, their land would become the property of their villages and would thus remain liable to the full rate of the
kharaj
(land tax). This compensated for the loss of income due to the diminished jizya tax base.
He issued an edict on taxation stating:
Whosoever accepts Islam, whether Christian, Jew or Zoroastrian, of those now subject to taxes and who joins himself to the body of the Muslims in their abode, forsaking the abode in which he was before, he shall have the same rights and duties as they have, and they are obliged to associate with him and to treat him as one of themselves.
Possibly to stave off potential blowback from opponents of the equalization measures, Umar expanded the Islamization drive that had been steadily strengthening under his Marwanid predecessors. The drive included measures to distinguish Muslims from non-Muslims and the inauguration of an Islamic
iconoclasm
.
According to
Khalid Yahya Blankinship
, He put a stop to the ritual cursing of Caliph
Ali
(
r.
656?661
), the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, in
Friday prayer
sermons.
Umar is credited with having ordered the first official collection of
hadith
(sayings and actions attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad), fearing that some of it might be lost.
Provincial administrations
[
edit
]
Shortly after his accession, Umar overhauled the administrations of the provinces.
He appointed competent men that he could control, indicating his intention "to keep a close eye on provincial administration".
Wellhausen noted that the caliph did not leave the governors to their own devices in return for their forwarding of the provincial revenues; rather, he actively oversaw his governors' administrations and his main interest was "not so much the increase of power as the establishment of right".
He subdivided the vast governorship established over Iraq and the eastern Caliphate under Abd al-Malik's viceroy al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.
Sulayman's appointee to this super-province,
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab
, was dismissed and imprisoned by Umar for failing to forward the spoils from his earlier conquest of
Tabaristan
along the southern
Caspian
coast to the caliphal treasury.
In place of Ibn al-Muhallab, he appointed Abd al-Hamid ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn al-Khattab, a member of Caliph Umar I's family, to
Kufa
,
Adi ibn Artah al-Fazari
to
Basra
,
al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami
to
Khurasan
and
Amr ibn Muslim al-Bahili
, a brother of the conqueror
Qutayba ibn Muslim
, to
Sind
. He appointed
Umar ibn Hubayra al-Fazari
to the
Jazira
(Upper Mesopotamia). Although many of these appointees were pupils of al-Hajjaj or affiliated with the
Qays
faction, Umar chose them based on their reliability and integrity, rather than opposition to Sulayman's government.
Umar appointed
al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani
to
al-Andalus
(Iberian Peninsula) and
Isma'il ibn Abd Allah
to
Ifriqiya
. He chose these governors because of their perceived neutrality in the
tribal factionalism between the Qays and Yaman
and justice toward the oppressed.
Military policy
[
edit
]
After his accession in late 717, Umar ordered the withdrawal of the Muslim army led by his cousin
Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik
from their abortive siege against Constantinople to the regions of
Antioch
and
Malatya
, closer to the Syrian frontier.
He commissioned an expedition in the summer of 718 to facilitate their withdrawal.
Umar kept up the annual summer raids against the Byzantine frontier,
out of the obligation to
jihad
.
He remained in northern Syria, often residing at his estate in
Khunasira
, where he built a fortified headquarters.
At some point in 717, he dispatched a force under Ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man al-Bahili to
Adharbayjan
to disperse a group of Turks who had launched damaging raids against the province.
In 718, he successively deployed Iraqi and Syrian troops to suppress the
Kharijite
rebellion of
Shawdhab al-Yashkuri
in Iraq, though some sources say the revolt was settled diplomatically.
Umar is often deemed a pacifist by the sources and Cobb attributes the caliph's war-weariness to concerns over the diminishing funds of the caliphal treasury.
Wellhausen asserts that Umar was "disinclined to wars of conquest, well-knowing that they were waged, not for God, but for the sake of spoil".
Blankinship considers this reasoning to be "insufficient".
He proposed it was the massive losses faced by the Arabs in their abortive siege against Constantinople, including the destruction of their navy, that caused Umar to view his positions in al-Andalus, separated by the rest of the Caliphate by sea, and
Cilicia
as acutely vulnerable to Byzantine attack. Thus he favored withdrawing Muslim forces from these two regions. This same calculus led to him to consider withdrawing Muslim forces from Transoxiana so as to shore up the defenses of Syria.
Shaban views Umar's efforts to curb offensives as linked to the resentment of the Yamani elements of the army, who Shaban views to have been politically dominant under Umar, at excessive deployments in the field.
Although he halted further eastward expansion, the establishment of Islam in a number of cities in Transoxiana, precluded Umar's withdrawal of Arab troops from there.
During his reign, the Muslim forces in al-Andalus conquered and fortified the Mediterranean coastal city of
Narbonne
in modern-day France.
Death
[
edit
]
On his way back from Damascus to
Aleppo
or possibly to his Khunasira estate, Umar fell ill.
He died between 5 February and 10 February 720,
at the age of 39,
in the village of
Dayr Sim'an
(also called Dayr al-Naqira) near
Ma'arrat Nu'man
.
Umar had purchased a plot there with his own funds and was buried in the village, where the ruins of his tomb, built at an unknown date, are still visible.
Umar was succeeded by Yazid II.
Assessment and legacy
[
edit
]
The unanimous view in the Muslim traditional sources is that Umar was pious and ruled like a true Muslim in singular opposition to the other Umayyad caliphs, who were generally considered "godless usurpers, tyrants and playboys".
The tradition recognized Umar as an authentic caliph, while the other Umayyads were viewed as kings.
In the view of
Gerald Hawting
, this is partly based on the historical facts and Umar's character and actions. He holds that Umar "truly as all evidence indicates was a man of honour, dignity and a ruler worthy of every respect".
As a result of this and his short term in office, it is difficult to assess the achievements of his caliphate and his motives.
Indeed, Kennedy calls Umar "the most puzzling character among the Marwanid rulers".
As Kennedy states "He was a pious individual who attempted to solve the problems of his day in a way which would reconcile the needs of his dynasty and state with the demands of Islam".
In the assessment of
H. A. R. Gibb
, Umar acted to prevent the collapse of the caliphate by "maintaining the unity of the Arabs; removing the grievances of the
maw?l?
; and reconciling political life with the claims of religion."
Ancestry
[
edit
]
Ancestors of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
|
---|
|
Who was his grandfather
==
- ^
Yarshater 1985?2007
, v. 23: pp. 131-33, 139, 145, 148, 156, 183, 201-03;
McMillan 2011
, pp. 95?96, 103?04;
EI2
, s.v. "Umar (II) b. Abd al-Aziz");
Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985
, p. 311;
Al-Ya'qubi 1883
, p. 339;
Al-Baladhuri 1916
, p. 20.
- ^
Yarshater 1985?2007
, v. 23: pp. 33, 71, 76, 114, 131-33;
McMillan 2011
, pp. 79, 92?93, 95, 102?03;
EI2
, s.v. "Makhzum");
Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985
, pp. 293, 311;
Al-Ya'qubi 1883
, p. 335.
- ^
Yarshater 1985?2007
, v. 23: pp. 202-03, 206 ff., 214, 217; v. 24: pp. 3-4;
McMillan 2011
, pp. 105, 110?11;
EI2
, s.v. "Murra");
Khalifah ibn Khayyat 1985
, pp. 311, 317;
Al-Ya'qubi 1883
, p. 353.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
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