Umara
Umara. Plural of amir (“noble”), a term used for the governing class of the two main political entities of medieval India, the Delhi sultanate (1206-1526) and the Mughal Empire (1526-1857). The character and composition of the nobility changed over time, in response either to political pressures or to the personal predilections of rulers. The early Turkish sultans recruited the umara mainly from the Turks, and Iltutmish consolidated them into “forty families.” The Khaljis, however, admitted non-Turks and Muslim converts to the nobility. Under Muhammad bin Tughluq scions of religious families and Alai nobles, converts, Afghans, and Hindus were inducted into the nobility. The land assignments (iqta) held by the nobles during the sultanate period were more in the nature of a bureaucratic institution than a feudal fief.
With the advent of the Mughals, the nobility underwent further changes. Akbar organized the nobles on the basis of mansab (rank), which determined their status, fixed their pay, and laid a concomitant duty of maintaining a certain number of troopers and horses. All mansabdars were directly subordinate to the emperoro. The mansab was represented by two numbers; one indicated zat (personal pay) and the other sawar (cavalry). Toward the end of Akbar’s reign zat was used to designate a mansabdar’s position in the official hierarchy and helped to determine his pay. The sawar rank indicated the number of troopers the mansabdar was required to maintain. During Akbar’s time mansabdars having commands of two hundred or more were entitled to be called umara. Under Shah Jahan, the limit was raised to five hundred.
The Mughal nobility was composed of Turks, Persians, Afghans, Rajputs, and other native born Indians. Under Akbar, Rajputs gained in importance. During the later Mughal period Iranis and Turanis became the two main groupings, and during the eighteenth century the two were in constant conflict.
The Mughal nobility was not hereditary, but the sons of deceased nobles were often taken into service. The law of escheat operated and hence the property of the nobles could be confiscated on death.
Umara. Plural of amir (“noble”), a term used for the governing class of the two main political entities of medieval India, the Delhi sultanate (1206-1526) and the Mughal Empire (1526-1857). The character and composition of the nobility changed over time, in response either to political pressures or to the personal predilections of rulers. The early Turkish sultans recruited the umara mainly from the Turks, and Iltutmish consolidated them into “forty families.” The Khaljis, however, admitted non-Turks and Muslim converts to the nobility. Under Muhammad bin Tughluq scions of religious families and Alai nobles, converts, Afghans, and Hindus were inducted into the nobility. The land assignments (iqta) held by the nobles during the sultanate period were more in the nature of a bureaucratic institution than a feudal fief.
With the advent of the Mughals, the nobility underwent further changes. Akbar organized the nobles on the basis of mansab (rank), which determined their status, fixed their pay, and laid a concomitant duty of maintaining a certain number of troopers and horses. All mansabdars were directly subordinate to the emperoro. The mansab was represented by two numbers; one indicated zat (personal pay) and the other sawar (cavalry). Toward the end of Akbar’s reign zat was used to designate a mansabdar’s position in the official hierarchy and helped to determine his pay. The sawar rank indicated the number of troopers the mansabdar was required to maintain. During Akbar’s time mansabdars having commands of two hundred or more were entitled to be called umara. Under Shah Jahan, the limit was raised to five hundred.
The Mughal nobility was composed of Turks, Persians, Afghans, Rajputs, and other native born Indians. Under Akbar, Rajputs gained in importance. During the later Mughal period Iranis and Turanis became the two main groupings, and during the eighteenth century the two were in constant conflict.
The Mughal nobility was not hereditary, but the sons of deceased nobles were often taken into service. The law of escheat operated and hence the property of the nobles could be confiscated on death.
‘Umara ibn Abi’l-Hasan
‘Umara ibn Abi’l-Hasan (1121-1174). Arab man of letters from Yemen. He studied and taught at Zabid, and was engaged in trade, which brought him in contact with the Najahids. After 1157, he settled in Egypt, where he dedicated his poems to the autocratic viziers Tala’i’ ibn Ruzzik, Ruzzik ibn Tala’i’, Dirgham (d. 1164) and Shirkuh. His sympathies inclined to the Fatimids, for whom he wrote a qasida of lament. He took part in a conspiracy to restore them, and as a result was put to death by Saladin. He wrote a history of the Egyptian viziers, and one of Yemen.
‘Umara ibn Abi’l-Hasan (1121-1174). Arab man of letters from Yemen. He studied and taught at Zabid, and was engaged in trade, which brought him in contact with the Najahids. After 1157, he settled in Egypt, where he dedicated his poems to the autocratic viziers Tala’i’ ibn Ruzzik, Ruzzik ibn Tala’i’, Dirgham (d. 1164) and Shirkuh. His sympathies inclined to the Fatimids, for whom he wrote a qasida of lament. He took part in a conspiracy to restore them, and as a result was put to death by Saladin. He wrote a history of the Egyptian viziers, and one of Yemen.
‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan
‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan (Umar ibn Abdul Aziz) (Umar II) (November 2, 682 - February, 720). Umayyad caliph (r. 717-720). In 706, he became governor of the Hejaz and settled at Medina where he formed an advisory council. He became famous for his piety and frugality, feeling no obligation to spread Islam by the sword. He preferred peaceful missionary activity, which method proved successful among the Berbers and in Sind. He adopted a kindly attitude towards the ‘Alids, the Christians, the Jews and the Zoroastrians, and reduced discrimination against non-Arab converts to Islam. His most important measure was the reform of taxation. The ever-increasing conversion to Islam of non-Arabs led to more and more subjects being exempt from taxation. Furthermore, agriculture suffered to a great extent as a result of many converts settling in the cities. Al-Hajjaj therefore had imposed the land-tax (in Arabic, kharaj) also upon Muslim landowners and prohibited immigration to the cities. ‘Umar, however, adhered to the principle that Muslims should pay no tribute and propounded that conquered land was the common property of the Muslim community and conquered land was the common property of the Muslim community and could not be transformed into immune private property by sale to individual Muslims. In 718, he forbade Muslims to buy land which should pay tribute and permitted immigration of new converts into the cities. In course of time a whole cycle of pious legends gathered round his name. Even the historians of the ‘Abbasid period give him the highest praise, and his tomb at Dayr Sam‘an near Aleppo was left undisturbed after the ‘Abbasid triumph.
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 717 to 720. He was also a cousin of the former caliph, being the son of Abd al-Malik's younger brother, Abd al-Aziz. He was also a great-grandson of the companion of the Prophet Muhammad, Umar ibn Al-Khattab.
Umar was born around 682. Some traditions state that he was born in Medina while others claim that he was born in Egypt.
According to a Sunni Muslim tradition, Umar's lineage to Umar ibn al-Khattab stems from a famous event during the second Caliph's rule. During one of his frequent disguised journeys to survey the condition of his people, Umar overheard a milkmaid refusing to obey her mother's orders to sell adulterated milk. He sent an officer to purchase milk from the girl the next day and learned that she had kept her resolve; the milk was unadulterated. Umar summoned the girl and her mother to his court and told them what he had heard. As a reward, he offered to marry the girl to his son Asim. She accepted, and from this union was born a girl named Layla that would in due course become the mother of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz.
Umar would grow up in Medina and live there until the death of his father, after which he was summoned to Damascus by Abd al-Malik and married to his daughter Fatima. His father-in-law would die soon after, and he would serve as governor of Medina under his cousin Al-Walid I.
Unlike most rulers of that era, Umar formed a council with which he administered the province. His time in Medina was so notable that official grievances sent to Damascus all but ceased. In addition, many people emigrated to Medina from Iraq seeking refuge from their harsh governor, Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef. This angered Al-Hajjaj, and he pressed al-Walid to remove Umar. Much to the dismay of the people of Medina, al-Walid bowed to Hajjaj's pressure and dismissed Umar from his post. However, by this time, Umar had developed an impeccable reputation across the Islamic empire.
Umar continued to live in Medina through the remainder of al-Walid's reign and that of Walid's brother Suleiman. Suleiman, who was Umar's cousin and had always admired him, ignored his own brothers and son when it came time to appoint his successor and instead nominated Umar. Umar reluctantly accepted the position after trying unsuccessfully to dissuade Suleiman, and he approached it unlike any other Ummayad caliph before him.
Umar was extremely pious and disdainful of worldly luxuries. He preferred simplicity to the extravagance that had become a hallmark of the Umayyad lifestyle, depositing all assets and finery meant for the caliph into the public treasury. He abandoned the caliphate palace to the family of Suleiman and instead preferred to live in modest dwellings. He wore rough linens instead of royal robes, and often went unrecognized.
According to a Muslim tradition, a female visitor once came to Umar's house seeking charity and saw a raggedly-dressed man patching holes in the building's walls. Assuming that the man was a servant of the caliph, she asked Umar's wife, "Don't you fear God? Why don't you veil in the presence of this man?" The woman was shocked to learn that the "servant" was in fact the caliph himself.
Though he had the people's overwhelming support, he publicly encouraged them to elect someone else if they were not satisfied with him (an offer no one ever took him up on). Umar confiscated the estates seized by Ummayad officials and redistributed them to the people, while making it a personal goal to attend to the needs of every person in his empire. Fearful of being tempted into bribery, he rarely accepted gifts, and when he did; he promptly deposited them in the public treasury. He even encouraged his own wife—who had been daughter, sister and wife to three caliphs in their turn—to donate her jewelry to the public treasury. He is widely known for reinforcing the Zakat and according to Muslim tradition, at the end of his rule, there were scarcely any poor people to receive the charity money.
At one point Umar almost ordered the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus to be stripped of its precious stones and expensive fixtures in favor of the treasury, but he desisted on learning that the Mosque was a source of envy to his Byzantine rivals in Constantinople. These moves made him unpopular with the Umayyad court, but endeared him to the masses, so much so that the court could not move against him in the open.
Umar made a number of important religious reforms. According to both Sunni and Shi'i sources, he abolished the long-standing Umayyad and Khawaarij custom of cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib, at the end of Friday sermons and ordered the following Qu'ranic verse be recited instead:
- Surely God enjoins justice, doing of good and giving to kinsfolk.
In addition, Umar was keen to enforce the Sharia, pushing to end drinking and bathhouses where men and women would mix freely. He continued the welfare programs of the last few Umayyad caliphs, expanding them and including special programs for orphans and the destitute. He would also abolish the Jizya tax for converts to Islam, who were former dhimmis, who used to be taxed even after they had converted under other Umayyad rulers.
Generally, Umar II is credited with having ordered the first collection of hadith material in an official manner, fearing that some of it might be lost. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, are among those who compiled hadiths at `Umar II’s behest.
Though Umar did not place as much of an emphasis on expanding the Empire's borders as his predecessors had, he was not passive. He sent Ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man to repel Turks invading Azerbaijan. He faced a Kharijite uprising and preferred negotiations to armed conflict, personally holding talks with two Kharijite envoys shortly before his death. He recalled the troops besieging Constantinople. These were led by his cousin Maslama. This Second Arab siege of Constantinople had failed to take the city and was sustaining heavy losses at the hands of allied Byzantine and Bulgarian forces. Its defeat was a serious blow to Umayyad prestige.
Umar's reforms in favor of the people greatly angered the nobility of the Umayyads, and they would eventually bribe a servant into poisoning his food. Umar learned of this on his death bed and pardoned the culprit, collecting the punitive payments he was entitled to under Islamic Law but depositing them in the public treasury. He died in February, 720, in Aleppo. He was succeeded by his cousin Yazid II.
Although Umar's reign was very short (three years), he is very highly regarded in Muslim memory. He is considered one of the finest rulers in Muslim history, second only to the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs. In fact, in some circles, he is affectionately referred to as the Fifth and the last Rightly Guided Caliph.
Umar ibn Abdul Aziz see ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan
Umar II see ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan
‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan (Umar ibn Abdul Aziz) (Umar II) (November 2, 682 - February, 720). Umayyad caliph (r. 717-720). In 706, he became governor of the Hejaz and settled at Medina where he formed an advisory council. He became famous for his piety and frugality, feeling no obligation to spread Islam by the sword. He preferred peaceful missionary activity, which method proved successful among the Berbers and in Sind. He adopted a kindly attitude towards the ‘Alids, the Christians, the Jews and the Zoroastrians, and reduced discrimination against non-Arab converts to Islam. His most important measure was the reform of taxation. The ever-increasing conversion to Islam of non-Arabs led to more and more subjects being exempt from taxation. Furthermore, agriculture suffered to a great extent as a result of many converts settling in the cities. Al-Hajjaj therefore had imposed the land-tax (in Arabic, kharaj) also upon Muslim landowners and prohibited immigration to the cities. ‘Umar, however, adhered to the principle that Muslims should pay no tribute and propounded that conquered land was the common property of the Muslim community and conquered land was the common property of the Muslim community and could not be transformed into immune private property by sale to individual Muslims. In 718, he forbade Muslims to buy land which should pay tribute and permitted immigration of new converts into the cities. In course of time a whole cycle of pious legends gathered round his name. Even the historians of the ‘Abbasid period give him the highest praise, and his tomb at Dayr Sam‘an near Aleppo was left undisturbed after the ‘Abbasid triumph.
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 717 to 720. He was also a cousin of the former caliph, being the son of Abd al-Malik's younger brother, Abd al-Aziz. He was also a great-grandson of the companion of the Prophet Muhammad, Umar ibn Al-Khattab.
Umar was born around 682. Some traditions state that he was born in Medina while others claim that he was born in Egypt.
According to a Sunni Muslim tradition, Umar's lineage to Umar ibn al-Khattab stems from a famous event during the second Caliph's rule. During one of his frequent disguised journeys to survey the condition of his people, Umar overheard a milkmaid refusing to obey her mother's orders to sell adulterated milk. He sent an officer to purchase milk from the girl the next day and learned that she had kept her resolve; the milk was unadulterated. Umar summoned the girl and her mother to his court and told them what he had heard. As a reward, he offered to marry the girl to his son Asim. She accepted, and from this union was born a girl named Layla that would in due course become the mother of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz.
Umar would grow up in Medina and live there until the death of his father, after which he was summoned to Damascus by Abd al-Malik and married to his daughter Fatima. His father-in-law would die soon after, and he would serve as governor of Medina under his cousin Al-Walid I.
Unlike most rulers of that era, Umar formed a council with which he administered the province. His time in Medina was so notable that official grievances sent to Damascus all but ceased. In addition, many people emigrated to Medina from Iraq seeking refuge from their harsh governor, Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef. This angered Al-Hajjaj, and he pressed al-Walid to remove Umar. Much to the dismay of the people of Medina, al-Walid bowed to Hajjaj's pressure and dismissed Umar from his post. However, by this time, Umar had developed an impeccable reputation across the Islamic empire.
Umar continued to live in Medina through the remainder of al-Walid's reign and that of Walid's brother Suleiman. Suleiman, who was Umar's cousin and had always admired him, ignored his own brothers and son when it came time to appoint his successor and instead nominated Umar. Umar reluctantly accepted the position after trying unsuccessfully to dissuade Suleiman, and he approached it unlike any other Ummayad caliph before him.
Umar was extremely pious and disdainful of worldly luxuries. He preferred simplicity to the extravagance that had become a hallmark of the Umayyad lifestyle, depositing all assets and finery meant for the caliph into the public treasury. He abandoned the caliphate palace to the family of Suleiman and instead preferred to live in modest dwellings. He wore rough linens instead of royal robes, and often went unrecognized.
According to a Muslim tradition, a female visitor once came to Umar's house seeking charity and saw a raggedly-dressed man patching holes in the building's walls. Assuming that the man was a servant of the caliph, she asked Umar's wife, "Don't you fear God? Why don't you veil in the presence of this man?" The woman was shocked to learn that the "servant" was in fact the caliph himself.
Though he had the people's overwhelming support, he publicly encouraged them to elect someone else if they were not satisfied with him (an offer no one ever took him up on). Umar confiscated the estates seized by Ummayad officials and redistributed them to the people, while making it a personal goal to attend to the needs of every person in his empire. Fearful of being tempted into bribery, he rarely accepted gifts, and when he did; he promptly deposited them in the public treasury. He even encouraged his own wife—who had been daughter, sister and wife to three caliphs in their turn—to donate her jewelry to the public treasury. He is widely known for reinforcing the Zakat and according to Muslim tradition, at the end of his rule, there were scarcely any poor people to receive the charity money.
At one point Umar almost ordered the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus to be stripped of its precious stones and expensive fixtures in favor of the treasury, but he desisted on learning that the Mosque was a source of envy to his Byzantine rivals in Constantinople. These moves made him unpopular with the Umayyad court, but endeared him to the masses, so much so that the court could not move against him in the open.
Umar made a number of important religious reforms. According to both Sunni and Shi'i sources, he abolished the long-standing Umayyad and Khawaarij custom of cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib, at the end of Friday sermons and ordered the following Qu'ranic verse be recited instead:
- Surely God enjoins justice, doing of good and giving to kinsfolk.
In addition, Umar was keen to enforce the Sharia, pushing to end drinking and bathhouses where men and women would mix freely. He continued the welfare programs of the last few Umayyad caliphs, expanding them and including special programs for orphans and the destitute. He would also abolish the Jizya tax for converts to Islam, who were former dhimmis, who used to be taxed even after they had converted under other Umayyad rulers.
Generally, Umar II is credited with having ordered the first collection of hadith material in an official manner, fearing that some of it might be lost. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, are among those who compiled hadiths at `Umar II’s behest.
Though Umar did not place as much of an emphasis on expanding the Empire's borders as his predecessors had, he was not passive. He sent Ibn Hatim ibn al-Nu'man to repel Turks invading Azerbaijan. He faced a Kharijite uprising and preferred negotiations to armed conflict, personally holding talks with two Kharijite envoys shortly before his death. He recalled the troops besieging Constantinople. These were led by his cousin Maslama. This Second Arab siege of Constantinople had failed to take the city and was sustaining heavy losses at the hands of allied Byzantine and Bulgarian forces. Its defeat was a serious blow to Umayyad prestige.
Umar's reforms in favor of the people greatly angered the nobility of the Umayyads, and they would eventually bribe a servant into poisoning his food. Umar learned of this on his death bed and pardoned the culprit, collecting the punitive payments he was entitled to under Islamic Law but depositing them in the public treasury. He died in February, 720, in Aleppo. He was succeeded by his cousin Yazid II.
Although Umar's reign was very short (three years), he is very highly regarded in Muslim memory. He is considered one of the finest rulers in Muslim history, second only to the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs. In fact, in some circles, he is affectionately referred to as the Fifth and the last Rightly Guided Caliph.
Umar ibn Abdul Aziz see ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan
Umar II see ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Marwan
‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a
‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a (Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah) ('Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi) ('Umar ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi) (November, 644, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia] - 712/719, Mecca). Greatest love poet of the Arabs. He was from a wealthy family in Mecca, and served for a time as governor in Yemen. He was the first townsman poet in Arabic.
'Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi is known for his love poetry and for being one of the originators of the literary form ghazel in Islamic literature.
ʿUmar belonged to the wealthy merchant family of Makhzūm, a member of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (of which the Prophet Muhammad was also a member). He spent most of his life in Mecca, also traveling to southern Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Little is known about his life, for the numerous anecdotes related about him are manifestly literary fabrications. The internal evidence of his poetry, however, gives a valuable picture of the social life of the Meccan and Medinan aristocracy of his time.
His poetry centers on his own life and emotions, eschewing the traditional themes of journeys, battles, and tribal lore, and celebrates his love affairs with the noble Arab ladies who came to Mecca on pilgrimage. Although this genre had been sporadically practiced before his time, ʿUmar ibn Abī Rabīʿah was the first to perfect it with a light meter and an accurate emotional perception.
Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah see ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a
'Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi see ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a
'Umar ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi see ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a
‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a (Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah) ('Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi) ('Umar ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi) (November, 644, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia] - 712/719, Mecca). Greatest love poet of the Arabs. He was from a wealthy family in Mecca, and served for a time as governor in Yemen. He was the first townsman poet in Arabic.
'Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi is known for his love poetry and for being one of the originators of the literary form ghazel in Islamic literature.
ʿUmar belonged to the wealthy merchant family of Makhzūm, a member of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (of which the Prophet Muhammad was also a member). He spent most of his life in Mecca, also traveling to southern Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Little is known about his life, for the numerous anecdotes related about him are manifestly literary fabrications. The internal evidence of his poetry, however, gives a valuable picture of the social life of the Meccan and Medinan aristocracy of his time.
His poetry centers on his own life and emotions, eschewing the traditional themes of journeys, battles, and tribal lore, and celebrates his love affairs with the noble Arab ladies who came to Mecca on pilgrimage. Although this genre had been sporadically practiced before his time, ʿUmar ibn Abī Rabīʿah was the first to perfect it with a light meter and an accurate emotional perception.
Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah see ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a
'Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi see ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a
'Umar ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Rabi'ah al-Makhzumi see ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a
‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri
‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri (Ibn al-Farid) (Ibn Farid) (Sharaf al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn al-Fāriḍ)
( b. March 22, 1181/March 11, 1182, Cairo - 1234/January 23, 1235, Cairo). Sufi poet. The outer and inner meanings of his poems are so interwoven that they may be read as love poems or as mystical hymns. But the collection of his works also contains two purely mystical odes, one on divine love, the other on “the Pilgrim’s Progress.”
Ibn al-Farid was born in Cairo. He lived for some time in Mecca and died in Cairo. His poetry is entirely Sufic, and he was esteemed the greatest mystic poet of the Arabs. Some of his poems are said to have been written in ecstasies.
Son of a Syrian-born inheritance-law functionary, Ibn al-Fāriḍ studied for a legal career but abandoned law for a solitary religious life in the Muqaṭṭam hills near Cairo. He spent some years in or near Mecca, where he met the renowned Sufi al-Suhrawardī of Baghdad. Venerated as a saint during his lifetime, Ibn al-Fāriḍ was buried in the Muqaṭṭam hills, where his tomb is still visited.
Many of Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s poems are qaṣīdah (“odes”) on the lover’s longing for reunion with his beloved. He expresses through this convention his yearning for a return to Mecca and, at a deeper level, a desire to be assimilated into the spirit of Muhammad. He developed this theme at length in Naẓm as-sulūk (The Poem of the Way). Almost equally famous is his “Khamrīyah” (“Wine Ode”). This long qaṣīdah describes the effects of the wine of divine love. Although Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s poetry is mannered in style, with rhetorical embellishments and conventional imagery, his poems contain passages of striking beauty and deep religious feeling.
The poetry of Shaykh Umar Ibn al-Farid is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Arabic mystical verse, though surprisingly he is not widely known in the West. (Rumi and Hafiz, probably the best known in the West of the great Sufi poets, both wrote primarily in Persian, not Arabic.) Ibn al-Farid's two masterpieces are The Wine Ode, a beautiful meditation on the "wine" of divine bliss, and The Poem of the Sufi Way, a profound exploration of spiritual experience along the Sufi Path and perhaps the longest mystical poem composed in Arabic. Both poems have inspired in-depth spiritual commentaries throughout the centuries, and they are still reverently memorized by Sufis and other devout Muslims today.
Ibn al-Farid see ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri
Ibn Farid see ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri
Sharaf al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn al-Fāriḍ see ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri
‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri (Ibn al-Farid) (Ibn Farid) (Sharaf al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn al-Fāriḍ)
( b. March 22, 1181/March 11, 1182, Cairo - 1234/January 23, 1235, Cairo). Sufi poet. The outer and inner meanings of his poems are so interwoven that they may be read as love poems or as mystical hymns. But the collection of his works also contains two purely mystical odes, one on divine love, the other on “the Pilgrim’s Progress.”
Ibn al-Farid was born in Cairo. He lived for some time in Mecca and died in Cairo. His poetry is entirely Sufic, and he was esteemed the greatest mystic poet of the Arabs. Some of his poems are said to have been written in ecstasies.
Son of a Syrian-born inheritance-law functionary, Ibn al-Fāriḍ studied for a legal career but abandoned law for a solitary religious life in the Muqaṭṭam hills near Cairo. He spent some years in or near Mecca, where he met the renowned Sufi al-Suhrawardī of Baghdad. Venerated as a saint during his lifetime, Ibn al-Fāriḍ was buried in the Muqaṭṭam hills, where his tomb is still visited.
Many of Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s poems are qaṣīdah (“odes”) on the lover’s longing for reunion with his beloved. He expresses through this convention his yearning for a return to Mecca and, at a deeper level, a desire to be assimilated into the spirit of Muhammad. He developed this theme at length in Naẓm as-sulūk (The Poem of the Way). Almost equally famous is his “Khamrīyah” (“Wine Ode”). This long qaṣīdah describes the effects of the wine of divine love. Although Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s poetry is mannered in style, with rhetorical embellishments and conventional imagery, his poems contain passages of striking beauty and deep religious feeling.
The poetry of Shaykh Umar Ibn al-Farid is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Arabic mystical verse, though surprisingly he is not widely known in the West. (Rumi and Hafiz, probably the best known in the West of the great Sufi poets, both wrote primarily in Persian, not Arabic.) Ibn al-Farid's two masterpieces are The Wine Ode, a beautiful meditation on the "wine" of divine bliss, and The Poem of the Sufi Way, a profound exploration of spiritual experience along the Sufi Path and perhaps the longest mystical poem composed in Arabic. Both poems have inspired in-depth spiritual commentaries throughout the centuries, and they are still reverently memorized by Sufis and other devout Muslims today.
Ibn al-Farid see ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri
Ibn Farid see ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri
Sharaf al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn al-Fāriḍ see ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali al-Misri
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab ('Umar I) (Omar) (Umar the Great) (Farooq the Great) (b.c. 586-592, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia] – d. November 3/7, 644, Medina, Arabia). Second Rashidun caliph and founder of the Arab empire (r. 634-644). At first, he was a declared enemy of the Prophet’s message. Hadith places his conversion to Islam in 618 when he was 26 years old. He belonged to the Banu ‘Adi ibn Ka‘b who enjoyed no political influence at Mecca. Due to his strength of will, his influence began in Medina after the Hijra, in perfect agreement with Abu Bakr. He became the Prophet’s father-in-law when the Prophet married his daughter Hafsa. He took part in the battles of Badr, Uhud and later ones, although his part was that of a counsellor rather than of a soldier.
Umar ibn al-Khattab was a devoted companion of Muhammad and was the initiator of the administrative mechanisms which made the Islamic empire possible. Throughout Muhammad’s Medinan career, ‘Umar seems to have been in complete harmony with the policies of both the Prophet and Abu Bakr, the first caliph, with whom he shared the honor of being father-in-law of Muhammad. No military exploits were credited to him, but he was involved in the revelation of portions of the Qur’an {see Sura 2:125; 33:53; and 66:6}.
After the death of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was recognized as the latter’s successor by the majority of the Companions, there being dissatisfaction only on the side of the party of ‘Ali and of the “Helpers,” who had already suffered defeat when Abu Bakr became caliph two years earlier. At the death of Abu Bakr, there seems to have been no formal designation of ‘Umar as successor, but his rule received almost unanimous acceptance, the only opposition deriving from supporters of Ali. Once in office, he assumed the title Commander of the Faithful, and dared to dismiss Khalid ibn al-Walid, early Islam’s most successful general. Khalid ibn al-Walid had challenged the authority of ‘Umar.
During the great expansion of Muslim conquests, which had already begun, ‘Umar never lost control of his generals. He dismissed Khalid ibn al-Walid and treated ‘Amr ibn al-‘As with tact. He also made use of the powerful family of the Umayyads. All the political institutions by which the Muslim state was later to be ruled had their origin in his caliphate.
‘Umar instituted a system of checks on provincial administrators by dividing the authority between the military and civil commander and the fiscal officer. He established the pension register and the office of judge, regulated worship in the mosques, and established a number of military centers, which later developed into famous Islamic cities.
The regulations for the non-Muslim subjects, the institution of a register of those having right to military pensions, the founding of military centers out of which were to grow the future great cities of Islam, and the creation of the office of judge (qadi), were all the work of ‘Umar ibn Khattab. Religious ordinances, such as the prayer of Ramadan and the obligatory pilgrimage, as well as civic and penal ordinances, such as the era of the hijra, the punishment of drunkenness, and stoning as a punishment for adultery, go back to him.
‘Umar is said to have substituted in 640 the title of “Commander of the Believers” (in Arabic, amir al-mu’minin) for that of khalifa –“deputy.” He fell in 644 by the dagger of Abu Lu’lu’a. As a motive for the murder, hadith gives the very heavy tax against which the slave had appealed in vain to the caliph.
‘Umar was assassinated by the disgruntled slave, Abu Lu’lu’a, before providing for a successor. Despite rumors, there is no indication of a conspiracy to kill him. However, the histories are unanimous that ‘Umar was more feared than liked, particularly because he expected all to adhere to his own severe ascetic standards.
‘Umar really was the second founder of Islam, but the Shi‘a have never concealed their antipathy to him because he was the first to thwart the claims of ‘Ali.
Umar was born in Mecca. A brief timeline of his life reads as follows:
In 615, Umar converted to Islam, but according to some traditions, the coversion may have been as late as 618.
In 622, Umar participated in the hijra, the escape to Medina. By this time, he had become one of Muhammad’s chief advisors.
In 624, Umar participated in the battle of Badr, but judging from the sources, he was not a central figure.
In 625, Umar participated in the battle of Uhud, but again his role was a marginal one. However, in 625, Muhammad married Umar’s daughter Hafsa.
In 632, following the death of Muhammad, Umar campaigned for Abu Bakr to become the leader of the Muslim community. Umar and Abu Bakr worked closely together, and according to some traditions Abu Bakr nominated Umar to be his successor. It is, however, clear that there was no form of formal nomination.
In 634, Abu Bakr died, and Umar became leader of the Muslims.
In 636, Umar founded Basra as a military station.
In 638, Jerusalem was conquered, and Umar promised to protect the Christian population in the city.
In 641, Umar took the title “amir al-mu’minin,” -- “Prince of the true believers.”
On November 3, 644, Umar died in Medina after being assassinated by the Christian Persian slave Abu Lu’lu’a. Umar had not arranged for a successor, but would be succeeded by Uthman, who was appointed by a six man strong council.
Umar’s reign represents one of the most important stages in the early Muslim expansion. Under him, the Muslims developed from being an Arabian principality, into becoming a world power. His armies conquered Mesopotamia and Syria, and by the time of his death campaigns had been launched against Egypt.
Umar was a clever administrator and made sure that conquered lands came under control of men who respected the caliph and worked according to his guidelines. Considering that Muhammad was mainly involved in establishing Islam as a religion, it would be correct to say that Umar is the real founder of the Islamic state. Yet, it must be clarified, Umar made his decisions based upon the revelations received by Muhammad and upon the example of Muhammad.
Umar dealt with his generals in a shrewd manner, and never lost control over them, no matter how much success they might have. He found an important ally in the Ummawiyy clan.
In his work for developing the administration, Umar also laid the foundations for a legal system, which would eventually develop into sharia. Among Umar’s regulations was to ban non-Muslims from the land of Arabia, punishment for drunkenness and it is also claimed by some traditions that it is Umar who made adultery punishable by stoning. Umar institutionalized the prayer, the month of Ramadan, the obligatory pilgrimage, and defined the Hijra calendar system.
Umar was a strict Muslim, hard on himself as well as on offenders. He never claimed to be anything except a representative for the only rightful ruler, Muhammad. He was generally highly respected by his contemporaries, as well as by later generations of Sunni Muslims. The Shi ‘a regard him with suspicion, considering him an opponent of Ali.
A member of the clan of ʿAdi of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (Koreish), ʿUmar at first opposed Muḥammad but, about 615, became a Muslim. By 622, when he went to Medina with Muḥammad and the other Meccan Muslims, he had become one of Muḥammad’s chief advisers, closely associated with Abū Bakr. His position in the state was marked by Muḥammad’s marriage to his daughter Hafsa in 625. On Muḥammad’s death in 632 ʿUmar was largely responsible for reconciling the Medinan Muslims to the acceptance of a Meccan, Abū Bakr, as head of state (caliph). Abū Bakr (reigned 632–634) relied greatly on ʿUmar and nominated him to succeed him. As caliph, ʿUmar was the first to call himself “commander of the faithful” (amīr al-muʾminīn). His reign saw the transformation of the Islāmic state from an Arabian principality to a world power. Throughout this remarkable expansion ʿUmar closely controlled general policy and laid down the principles for administering the conquered lands. The structure of the later Islāmic empire, including legal practice, is largely due to him. Assassinated by a Persian slave for personal reasons, he died at Medina 10 years after coming to the throne. A strong ruler, stern toward offenders, and himself ascetic to the point of harshness, he was universally respected for his justice and authority.
'Umar was the most powerful of the four Rashidun Caliphs and one of the most powerful and influential Muslim rulers. He was a sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert jurist and is best known for his justice, that earned him the title Al-Farooq (The one who distinguishes between right and wrong) and his house as Darul Adal (house of justice). Also, Umar was the first Caliph to be called Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful or Prince of the Believers).
Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His legislative abilities, his firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire and his brilliantly coordinated multi-prong attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire that resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years, marked his reputation as a great political and military leader. It was Umar who for the first time in 500 years since expulsion of Jews from the Holy Land, allowed the Jews to practice their religion freely and live in Jerusalem.
Religiously a controversial figure in the Shia Muslim world, Umar is regarded by Sunni Muslims as one of the four Rashidun or rightly guided caliphs who were true successors of Muhammad. In stark contrast, 'Umar is regarded by Shi'a Muslims as unjust in his usurpation of Ali's right to the caliphate and is viewed as the principal political architect of the opposition to Ali.
Umar is regarded as one of the greatest political geniuses in history. Under his leadership, the Islamic empire expanded at a unprecedented rate, while at the same time 'Umar also began to build the political structure that would hold together the vast empire that was being built. He undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy. He established an advanced administration for the newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, and ordered a census of all the Muslim territories. During his rule, the garrison cities (amsar) of Basra and Kufa were founded or expanded. In 638, he extended and renovated the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca and the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina. Umar also ordered the expulsion of the Christian and Jewish communities of Najran and Khaybar allowing them to reside in Syria or Iraq. He issued orders that these Christians and Jews should be treated well and allotted them the equivalent land in their new settlements. Umar also forbade non-Muslims to reside in the Hejaz for longer than three days. He was first to establish the army as a state department. Umar was founder of Fiqh, the Islamic jurisprudence. He is regarded by Sunni Muslims to be one of the greatest Faqih. 'Umar as a jurist started the process of codifying Islamic Law (Shari'a). In 641, he established Bayt al-mal, a financial institution and started annual allowance for Muslims. A year later he also started allowance for the poor, underprivileged and old non-Muslim citizens of the empire. As a leader, 'Umar was known for his simple, austere lifestyle. Rather than adopt the pomp and display affected by the rulers of the time, he continued to live much as he had when Muslims were poor and persecuted. In 639, his fourth year as caliph and the seventeenth year after the Hijra, he decreed that the Islamic calendar should be counted from the year of the Hijra of Muhammad from Mecca to Madinah (Medina).
'Umar married a total of 9 women in his lifetime and had 14 children, 10 sons and 4 daughters. The details are as follow:
Wife: Zaynab bint Mazh'un (at the time of Jahiliyyah [Days of Ignorance])
Son: Abdullah ibn Umar
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar (The Older)
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar
Daughter: Hafsa bint Umar
Wife: Umm Kulthum bint Jarwila Khuzima (divorced)
Son: Ubaidullah ibn Umar
Son: Zayd ibn 'Umar
Wife: Quraybah bint Abi Umayyah al-Makhzumi (divorced, married by Abdulrehman ibn Abu Bakr)
Wife: Umm Hakim bint al-Harith ibn Hisham (after her husband, a former ally of 'Umar and a companion Ikrimah ibn Abi-Jahl was killed in Battle of Yarmouk, later divorced but al-Madaini says he did not divorce her)
Daughter: Fatima bint 'Umar
Wife: Jamilah bint Ashim ibn Thabit ibn Abi al-Aqlah (from the tribe of Aws)
Son: Asim ibn Umar
Wife: Atikah bint Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nifayl (cousin of Umar and former wife of Abdullah ibn Abu Bakr married 'Umar in the year 12 AH and after 'Umar was murdered, she married az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam)
Son: Iyaad ibn 'Umar
Wife: Umm Kulthum bint 'Ali (the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib)
Son: Zayd ibn 'Umar, (famously known as Ibnul Khalifatayn; the son of the two Caliphs i.e Umar and Ali).
Daughter: Ruqayyah bint 'Umar
Wife: Luhyah (a woman from Yemen (Yaman) who's marital status with 'Umar is disputed, al-Waqidi said that she was Umm Walad, meaning a slave woman)
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar (the youngest Abdulrehman while some say the middle Abdulrehman from Luhyah)
Wife: Fukayhah (as Umm Walad)
Daughter: Zaynab bint 'Umar (the smallest child of 'Umar from Fukayhah)
Another son is, az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, called Abu Shahmah, though from which wife is unknown.
'Umar I see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Omar see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Umar the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq, al- see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab ('Umar I) (Omar) (Umar the Great) (Farooq the Great) (b.c. 586-592, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia] – d. November 3/7, 644, Medina, Arabia). Second Rashidun caliph and founder of the Arab empire (r. 634-644). At first, he was a declared enemy of the Prophet’s message. Hadith places his conversion to Islam in 618 when he was 26 years old. He belonged to the Banu ‘Adi ibn Ka‘b who enjoyed no political influence at Mecca. Due to his strength of will, his influence began in Medina after the Hijra, in perfect agreement with Abu Bakr. He became the Prophet’s father-in-law when the Prophet married his daughter Hafsa. He took part in the battles of Badr, Uhud and later ones, although his part was that of a counsellor rather than of a soldier.
Umar ibn al-Khattab was a devoted companion of Muhammad and was the initiator of the administrative mechanisms which made the Islamic empire possible. Throughout Muhammad’s Medinan career, ‘Umar seems to have been in complete harmony with the policies of both the Prophet and Abu Bakr, the first caliph, with whom he shared the honor of being father-in-law of Muhammad. No military exploits were credited to him, but he was involved in the revelation of portions of the Qur’an {see Sura 2:125; 33:53; and 66:6}.
After the death of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was recognized as the latter’s successor by the majority of the Companions, there being dissatisfaction only on the side of the party of ‘Ali and of the “Helpers,” who had already suffered defeat when Abu Bakr became caliph two years earlier. At the death of Abu Bakr, there seems to have been no formal designation of ‘Umar as successor, but his rule received almost unanimous acceptance, the only opposition deriving from supporters of Ali. Once in office, he assumed the title Commander of the Faithful, and dared to dismiss Khalid ibn al-Walid, early Islam’s most successful general. Khalid ibn al-Walid had challenged the authority of ‘Umar.
During the great expansion of Muslim conquests, which had already begun, ‘Umar never lost control of his generals. He dismissed Khalid ibn al-Walid and treated ‘Amr ibn al-‘As with tact. He also made use of the powerful family of the Umayyads. All the political institutions by which the Muslim state was later to be ruled had their origin in his caliphate.
‘Umar instituted a system of checks on provincial administrators by dividing the authority between the military and civil commander and the fiscal officer. He established the pension register and the office of judge, regulated worship in the mosques, and established a number of military centers, which later developed into famous Islamic cities.
The regulations for the non-Muslim subjects, the institution of a register of those having right to military pensions, the founding of military centers out of which were to grow the future great cities of Islam, and the creation of the office of judge (qadi), were all the work of ‘Umar ibn Khattab. Religious ordinances, such as the prayer of Ramadan and the obligatory pilgrimage, as well as civic and penal ordinances, such as the era of the hijra, the punishment of drunkenness, and stoning as a punishment for adultery, go back to him.
‘Umar is said to have substituted in 640 the title of “Commander of the Believers” (in Arabic, amir al-mu’minin) for that of khalifa –“deputy.” He fell in 644 by the dagger of Abu Lu’lu’a. As a motive for the murder, hadith gives the very heavy tax against which the slave had appealed in vain to the caliph.
‘Umar was assassinated by the disgruntled slave, Abu Lu’lu’a, before providing for a successor. Despite rumors, there is no indication of a conspiracy to kill him. However, the histories are unanimous that ‘Umar was more feared than liked, particularly because he expected all to adhere to his own severe ascetic standards.
‘Umar really was the second founder of Islam, but the Shi‘a have never concealed their antipathy to him because he was the first to thwart the claims of ‘Ali.
Umar was born in Mecca. A brief timeline of his life reads as follows:
In 615, Umar converted to Islam, but according to some traditions, the coversion may have been as late as 618.
In 622, Umar participated in the hijra, the escape to Medina. By this time, he had become one of Muhammad’s chief advisors.
In 624, Umar participated in the battle of Badr, but judging from the sources, he was not a central figure.
In 625, Umar participated in the battle of Uhud, but again his role was a marginal one. However, in 625, Muhammad married Umar’s daughter Hafsa.
In 632, following the death of Muhammad, Umar campaigned for Abu Bakr to become the leader of the Muslim community. Umar and Abu Bakr worked closely together, and according to some traditions Abu Bakr nominated Umar to be his successor. It is, however, clear that there was no form of formal nomination.
In 634, Abu Bakr died, and Umar became leader of the Muslims.
In 636, Umar founded Basra as a military station.
In 638, Jerusalem was conquered, and Umar promised to protect the Christian population in the city.
In 641, Umar took the title “amir al-mu’minin,” -- “Prince of the true believers.”
On November 3, 644, Umar died in Medina after being assassinated by the Christian Persian slave Abu Lu’lu’a. Umar had not arranged for a successor, but would be succeeded by Uthman, who was appointed by a six man strong council.
Umar’s reign represents one of the most important stages in the early Muslim expansion. Under him, the Muslims developed from being an Arabian principality, into becoming a world power. His armies conquered Mesopotamia and Syria, and by the time of his death campaigns had been launched against Egypt.
Umar was a clever administrator and made sure that conquered lands came under control of men who respected the caliph and worked according to his guidelines. Considering that Muhammad was mainly involved in establishing Islam as a religion, it would be correct to say that Umar is the real founder of the Islamic state. Yet, it must be clarified, Umar made his decisions based upon the revelations received by Muhammad and upon the example of Muhammad.
Umar dealt with his generals in a shrewd manner, and never lost control over them, no matter how much success they might have. He found an important ally in the Ummawiyy clan.
In his work for developing the administration, Umar also laid the foundations for a legal system, which would eventually develop into sharia. Among Umar’s regulations was to ban non-Muslims from the land of Arabia, punishment for drunkenness and it is also claimed by some traditions that it is Umar who made adultery punishable by stoning. Umar institutionalized the prayer, the month of Ramadan, the obligatory pilgrimage, and defined the Hijra calendar system.
Umar was a strict Muslim, hard on himself as well as on offenders. He never claimed to be anything except a representative for the only rightful ruler, Muhammad. He was generally highly respected by his contemporaries, as well as by later generations of Sunni Muslims. The Shi ‘a regard him with suspicion, considering him an opponent of Ali.
A member of the clan of ʿAdi of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (Koreish), ʿUmar at first opposed Muḥammad but, about 615, became a Muslim. By 622, when he went to Medina with Muḥammad and the other Meccan Muslims, he had become one of Muḥammad’s chief advisers, closely associated with Abū Bakr. His position in the state was marked by Muḥammad’s marriage to his daughter Hafsa in 625. On Muḥammad’s death in 632 ʿUmar was largely responsible for reconciling the Medinan Muslims to the acceptance of a Meccan, Abū Bakr, as head of state (caliph). Abū Bakr (reigned 632–634) relied greatly on ʿUmar and nominated him to succeed him. As caliph, ʿUmar was the first to call himself “commander of the faithful” (amīr al-muʾminīn). His reign saw the transformation of the Islāmic state from an Arabian principality to a world power. Throughout this remarkable expansion ʿUmar closely controlled general policy and laid down the principles for administering the conquered lands. The structure of the later Islāmic empire, including legal practice, is largely due to him. Assassinated by a Persian slave for personal reasons, he died at Medina 10 years after coming to the throne. A strong ruler, stern toward offenders, and himself ascetic to the point of harshness, he was universally respected for his justice and authority.
'Umar was the most powerful of the four Rashidun Caliphs and one of the most powerful and influential Muslim rulers. He was a sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert jurist and is best known for his justice, that earned him the title Al-Farooq (The one who distinguishes between right and wrong) and his house as Darul Adal (house of justice). Also, Umar was the first Caliph to be called Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful or Prince of the Believers).
Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His legislative abilities, his firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire and his brilliantly coordinated multi-prong attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire that resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years, marked his reputation as a great political and military leader. It was Umar who for the first time in 500 years since expulsion of Jews from the Holy Land, allowed the Jews to practice their religion freely and live in Jerusalem.
Religiously a controversial figure in the Shia Muslim world, Umar is regarded by Sunni Muslims as one of the four Rashidun or rightly guided caliphs who were true successors of Muhammad. In stark contrast, 'Umar is regarded by Shi'a Muslims as unjust in his usurpation of Ali's right to the caliphate and is viewed as the principal political architect of the opposition to Ali.
Umar is regarded as one of the greatest political geniuses in history. Under his leadership, the Islamic empire expanded at a unprecedented rate, while at the same time 'Umar also began to build the political structure that would hold together the vast empire that was being built. He undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy. He established an advanced administration for the newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, and ordered a census of all the Muslim territories. During his rule, the garrison cities (amsar) of Basra and Kufa were founded or expanded. In 638, he extended and renovated the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca and the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina. Umar also ordered the expulsion of the Christian and Jewish communities of Najran and Khaybar allowing them to reside in Syria or Iraq. He issued orders that these Christians and Jews should be treated well and allotted them the equivalent land in their new settlements. Umar also forbade non-Muslims to reside in the Hejaz for longer than three days. He was first to establish the army as a state department. Umar was founder of Fiqh, the Islamic jurisprudence. He is regarded by Sunni Muslims to be one of the greatest Faqih. 'Umar as a jurist started the process of codifying Islamic Law (Shari'a). In 641, he established Bayt al-mal, a financial institution and started annual allowance for Muslims. A year later he also started allowance for the poor, underprivileged and old non-Muslim citizens of the empire. As a leader, 'Umar was known for his simple, austere lifestyle. Rather than adopt the pomp and display affected by the rulers of the time, he continued to live much as he had when Muslims were poor and persecuted. In 639, his fourth year as caliph and the seventeenth year after the Hijra, he decreed that the Islamic calendar should be counted from the year of the Hijra of Muhammad from Mecca to Madinah (Medina).
'Umar married a total of 9 women in his lifetime and had 14 children, 10 sons and 4 daughters. The details are as follow:
Wife: Zaynab bint Mazh'un (at the time of Jahiliyyah [Days of Ignorance])
Son: Abdullah ibn Umar
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar (The Older)
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar
Daughter: Hafsa bint Umar
Wife: Umm Kulthum bint Jarwila Khuzima (divorced)
Son: Ubaidullah ibn Umar
Son: Zayd ibn 'Umar
Wife: Quraybah bint Abi Umayyah al-Makhzumi (divorced, married by Abdulrehman ibn Abu Bakr)
Wife: Umm Hakim bint al-Harith ibn Hisham (after her husband, a former ally of 'Umar and a companion Ikrimah ibn Abi-Jahl was killed in Battle of Yarmouk, later divorced but al-Madaini says he did not divorce her)
Daughter: Fatima bint 'Umar
Wife: Jamilah bint Ashim ibn Thabit ibn Abi al-Aqlah (from the tribe of Aws)
Son: Asim ibn Umar
Wife: Atikah bint Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nifayl (cousin of Umar and former wife of Abdullah ibn Abu Bakr married 'Umar in the year 12 AH and after 'Umar was murdered, she married az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam)
Son: Iyaad ibn 'Umar
Wife: Umm Kulthum bint 'Ali (the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib)
Son: Zayd ibn 'Umar, (famously known as Ibnul Khalifatayn; the son of the two Caliphs i.e Umar and Ali).
Daughter: Ruqayyah bint 'Umar
Wife: Luhyah (a woman from Yemen (Yaman) who's marital status with 'Umar is disputed, al-Waqidi said that she was Umm Walad, meaning a slave woman)
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar (the youngest Abdulrehman while some say the middle Abdulrehman from Luhyah)
Wife: Fukayhah (as Umm Walad)
Daughter: Zaynab bint 'Umar (the smallest child of 'Umar from Fukayhah)
Another son is, az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, called Abu Shahmah, though from which wife is unknown.
'Umar I see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Omar see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Umar the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq, al- see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
e: Umm Kulthum bint 'Ali (the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib)
Son: Zayd ibn 'Umar, (famously known as Ibnul Khalifatayn; the son of the two Caliphs i.e Umar and Ali).
Daughter: Ruqayyah bint 'Umar
Wife: Luhyah (a woman from Yemen (Yaman) who's marital status with 'Umar is disputed, al-Waqidi said that she was Umm Walad, meaning a slave woman)
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar (the youngest Abdulrehman while some say the middle Abdulrehman from Luhyah)
Wife: Fukayhah (as Umm Walad)
Daughter: Zaynab bint 'Umar (the smallest child of 'Umar from Fukayhah)
Another son is, az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, called Abu Shahmah, though from which wife is unknown.
'Umar I see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Omar see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Umar the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq, al- see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Son: Zayd ibn 'Umar, (famously known as Ibnul Khalifatayn; the son of the two Caliphs i.e Umar and Ali).
Daughter: Ruqayyah bint 'Umar
Wife: Luhyah (a woman from Yemen (Yaman) who's marital status with 'Umar is disputed, al-Waqidi said that she was Umm Walad, meaning a slave woman)
Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar (the youngest Abdulrehman while some say the middle Abdulrehman from Luhyah)
Wife: Fukayhah (as Umm Walad)
Daughter: Zaynab bint 'Umar (the smallest child of 'Umar from Fukayhah)
Another son is, az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, called Abu Shahmah, though from which wife is unknown.
'Umar I see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Omar see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Umar the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq the Great see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Farooq, al- see ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
‘Umar ibn Hafs
‘Umar ibn Hafs (d. 771). Governor of Ifriqiya. He was appointed by the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur in 768 to subdue the Kharijites who rose in a general insurrection under the Sufi Abu Qurra.
‘Umar ibn Hafsun
‘Umar ibn Hafsun ('Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ja'far) (Omar ben Hafsun) (c. 850-917/918). Leader of a famous rebellion in Muslim Spain. After his conversion to Islam, he spent some time at Tahert, Algeria. Upon returning he established himself in the almost impregnable fortress of Bobastro and exercised complete authority over the mountainous region between Ronda and Malaga. In 883, he submitted to the Umayyad amir Muhammad I ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman II (r. 852-886), but in the following year recaptured Bobastro. He now became the champion of the malcontents, whether Christians or neo-Muslims, repudiated Islam openly, took the name Samuel and began to lead a regular crusade against Islam. Bobastro was captured by the Umayyad amir ‘Abd al-Rahman III in 928.
`Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ja'far, known in Spanish history as Omar ben Hafsun, was a 9th century Muslim leader of anti-Ummayad dynasty forces in southern Iberia.
The background of Umar ibn Hafsun has been the subject of conflicting claims. His contemporary, the poet Ibn Abd Rabbih (860-940) referred to him as a Sawada, a descendant of black Africans. Writing a century later, Ibn Hayyan recorded a pedigree for Umar ibn Hafsan, tracing his descent to a great-grandfather, Ja'far, who had converted to Islam and settled in the Ronda area. The pedigree then traces back several additional generations to a Count Marcellus (or perhaps Frugelo), son of Alfonso, apparently a Christian Visigoth. This pedigree was copied by later historians, including Ibn Idhari, Ibn Khatib and Ibn Khaldun, as well as the A'lam Malaga (History of Malaga) begun by ibn 'Askar and completed by Ibn Khamis, and more recent authors such as Dozy, in his Histoire des Mussulmans d'Espagne (History of the Muslims of Spain). However, the pre-conversion portion of this pedigree was probably invented by Umar himself. Regardless, his family owned lands in Iznate, Málaga where ibn Hafsun grew up.
Ibn Hafsun was born around 850 in the mountains near Parauta, in what is now Málaga province. A wild youth, he had a very violent temper and was involved in a number of disputes, even a homicide around the year 879. He joined a group of brigands, was captured by the wali (governor) of Málaga, who merely imposed a fine (having not been informed of the homicide). The governor subsequently lost his post. Ibn Hafsun fled the jurisdiction to Africa where he worked briefly as an apprentice tailor or stone mason.
He soon returned to Andalucia, albeit as an outlaw, and joined the bandits who were in rebellion against the caliphate, wherein he soon rose to a leadership position. He settled in the ruins of the old Bobastro castle. He rebuilt the castle, and fortified the nearby town of Ardales, Malaga. He rallied disaffected muwallads and mozárabs to the cause, playing off resentment at the unfair, heavy taxation and humiliating treatment they were receiving at the hands of Abd ar-Rahman and his successors. He acquired castles and lands in a wide area, not only in Malaga, but including portions of the provinces of Cádiz, Granada known then as Elvira, Jaén, and Seville. By 883, he had become the leader of the rebels in the provinces to the south and west of the Emirate of Cordoba. The year before, in 882, he is said to have fought the Emir in a battle in which ally García Íñiguez of Pamplona was killed. About 885, in order to be more centrally located and quicker to respond to external threats, ibn Hafsun moved his headquarters to the town of Poley, which is now known as Aguilar de la Frontera.
After Ibn Hafsun’s defeat by the forces of Abdallah ibn Muhammad at the battle of Poley in 891, he moved his headquarters back to Bobastro. In 898, Lubb ibn Muhammad, of the Banu Qasi, was marching an army to support Umar when the death of his father at Zaragoza forced Lubb to abandon the campaign. In 899, Ibn Hafsun renounced Islam and became a Christian, being christened as Samuel. His motivations seem to have been opportunistic, hoping to obtain military support from Alfonso III of Leon, who had met with indifference overtures by Ibn Hafsun on behalf of Ibn Marwan. His conversion proved a major political mistake which although helping to attract significant Mozarab support, cost him the support of most of his Mullawad followers. He also built at Bobastro the Iglesia Mozarabe (Mozarab Church).
Ibn Hafsun remained a serious threat to Córdoba, even though in 910 he offered allegiance to the Fatimid rulers of north Africa, and when Abd-ar-Rahman III became Emir of Cordoba in 912 he instigated a policy of annual Spring offensives against Ibn Hafsun, using mercenary troops. In 913, they captured the city of Seville, and by the end of 914 had captured 70 of Ibn Hafsun’s castles. In 916, he joined forces with the Umayyads in a campaign against northern Christian kingdoms. The reasons for this are obscure, as is whether it was done in contrition or merely as an expedient compromise. For awhile, even taxes were paid to the Umayyads.
Ibn Hafsun died in 917/918 and was buried in the Iglesia Mozarabe. His coalition then crumbled, and while his sons Ja'far, 'Abd-ar-Rahman and Hafs tried to continue the resistance, they eventually fell to 'Abd-ar-Rahman III's plots and armies. The last, Hafs, surrendered Bobastro in 928 and afterward fought with the Umayyad army in Galicia. With Bobastro's fall, the mortal remains of Ibn Hafsun and his slain sons were exhumed by the emir and posthumously crucified outside the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
'Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ja'far see ‘Umar ibn Hafsun
Omar ben Hafsun see ‘Umar ibn Hafsun
‘Umar ibn Hafsun ('Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ja'far) (Omar ben Hafsun) (c. 850-917/918). Leader of a famous rebellion in Muslim Spain. After his conversion to Islam, he spent some time at Tahert, Algeria. Upon returning he established himself in the almost impregnable fortress of Bobastro and exercised complete authority over the mountainous region between Ronda and Malaga. In 883, he submitted to the Umayyad amir Muhammad I ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman II (r. 852-886), but in the following year recaptured Bobastro. He now became the champion of the malcontents, whether Christians or neo-Muslims, repudiated Islam openly, took the name Samuel and began to lead a regular crusade against Islam. Bobastro was captured by the Umayyad amir ‘Abd al-Rahman III in 928.
`Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ja'far, known in Spanish history as Omar ben Hafsun, was a 9th century Muslim leader of anti-Ummayad dynasty forces in southern Iberia.
The background of Umar ibn Hafsun has been the subject of conflicting claims. His contemporary, the poet Ibn Abd Rabbih (860-940) referred to him as a Sawada, a descendant of black Africans. Writing a century later, Ibn Hayyan recorded a pedigree for Umar ibn Hafsan, tracing his descent to a great-grandfather, Ja'far, who had converted to Islam and settled in the Ronda area. The pedigree then traces back several additional generations to a Count Marcellus (or perhaps Frugelo), son of Alfonso, apparently a Christian Visigoth. This pedigree was copied by later historians, including Ibn Idhari, Ibn Khatib and Ibn Khaldun, as well as the A'lam Malaga (History of Malaga) begun by ibn 'Askar and completed by Ibn Khamis, and more recent authors such as Dozy, in his Histoire des Mussulmans d'Espagne (History of the Muslims of Spain). However, the pre-conversion portion of this pedigree was probably invented by Umar himself. Regardless, his family owned lands in Iznate, Málaga where ibn Hafsun grew up.
Ibn Hafsun was born around 850 in the mountains near Parauta, in what is now Málaga province. A wild youth, he had a very violent temper and was involved in a number of disputes, even a homicide around the year 879. He joined a group of brigands, was captured by the wali (governor) of Málaga, who merely imposed a fine (having not been informed of the homicide). The governor subsequently lost his post. Ibn Hafsun fled the jurisdiction to Africa where he worked briefly as an apprentice tailor or stone mason.
He soon returned to Andalucia, albeit as an outlaw, and joined the bandits who were in rebellion against the caliphate, wherein he soon rose to a leadership position. He settled in the ruins of the old Bobastro castle. He rebuilt the castle, and fortified the nearby town of Ardales, Malaga. He rallied disaffected muwallads and mozárabs to the cause, playing off resentment at the unfair, heavy taxation and humiliating treatment they were receiving at the hands of Abd ar-Rahman and his successors. He acquired castles and lands in a wide area, not only in Malaga, but including portions of the provinces of Cádiz, Granada known then as Elvira, Jaén, and Seville. By 883, he had become the leader of the rebels in the provinces to the south and west of the Emirate of Cordoba. The year before, in 882, he is said to have fought the Emir in a battle in which ally García Íñiguez of Pamplona was killed. About 885, in order to be more centrally located and quicker to respond to external threats, ibn Hafsun moved his headquarters to the town of Poley, which is now known as Aguilar de la Frontera.
After Ibn Hafsun’s defeat by the forces of Abdallah ibn Muhammad at the battle of Poley in 891, he moved his headquarters back to Bobastro. In 898, Lubb ibn Muhammad, of the Banu Qasi, was marching an army to support Umar when the death of his father at Zaragoza forced Lubb to abandon the campaign. In 899, Ibn Hafsun renounced Islam and became a Christian, being christened as Samuel. His motivations seem to have been opportunistic, hoping to obtain military support from Alfonso III of Leon, who had met with indifference overtures by Ibn Hafsun on behalf of Ibn Marwan. His conversion proved a major political mistake which although helping to attract significant Mozarab support, cost him the support of most of his Mullawad followers. He also built at Bobastro the Iglesia Mozarabe (Mozarab Church).
Ibn Hafsun remained a serious threat to Córdoba, even though in 910 he offered allegiance to the Fatimid rulers of north Africa, and when Abd-ar-Rahman III became Emir of Cordoba in 912 he instigated a policy of annual Spring offensives against Ibn Hafsun, using mercenary troops. In 913, they captured the city of Seville, and by the end of 914 had captured 70 of Ibn Hafsun’s castles. In 916, he joined forces with the Umayyads in a campaign against northern Christian kingdoms. The reasons for this are obscure, as is whether it was done in contrition or merely as an expedient compromise. For awhile, even taxes were paid to the Umayyads.
Ibn Hafsun died in 917/918 and was buried in the Iglesia Mozarabe. His coalition then crumbled, and while his sons Ja'far, 'Abd-ar-Rahman and Hafs tried to continue the resistance, they eventually fell to 'Abd-ar-Rahman III's plots and armies. The last, Hafs, surrendered Bobastro in 928 and afterward fought with the Umayyad army in Galicia. With Bobastro's fall, the mortal remains of Ibn Hafsun and his slain sons were exhumed by the emir and posthumously crucified outside the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
'Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ja'far see ‘Umar ibn Hafsun
Omar ben Hafsun see ‘Umar ibn Hafsun
‘Umar ibn Idris
‘Umar ibn Idris (d. c. 1388). Ruler of the Kanuri empire of Kanem-Bornu (r.1384-1388). He moved the center of the empire from Kanem to Bornu. One of his predecessors, the famous Dunama Dibbalemi (around 1250), had precipitated a conflict with the neighboring Bulala nomads, who were descendants of an earlier Kanem ruler. The conflict continued into the 14th century, and ‘Umar’s five immediate predecessors were killed fighting the Bulala. ‘Umar abandoned Kanem, east of Lake Chad, and moved his kingdom to Bornu, west of the lake. The wars with the Bulala continued to the end of the century.
‘Umar ibn Idris (d. c. 1388). Ruler of the Kanuri empire of Kanem-Bornu (r.1384-1388). He moved the center of the empire from Kanem to Bornu. One of his predecessors, the famous Dunama Dibbalemi (around 1250), had precipitated a conflict with the neighboring Bulala nomads, who were descendants of an earlier Kanem ruler. The conflict continued into the 14th century, and ‘Umar’s five immediate predecessors were killed fighting the Bulala. ‘Umar abandoned Kanem, east of Lake Chad, and moved his kingdom to Bornu, west of the lake. The wars with the Bulala continued to the end of the century.
‘Umar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi
‘Umar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi (Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin) (Umar of Bornu) (d. 1881). Ruler of the Kanuri state of Bornu (r.1837-1881).
‘Umar succeeded his father al-Kanemi. Al-Kanemi had usurped power from the thousand year old Sefawa dynasty of Bornu. ‘Umar, like his father, permitted the Sefawa kings to remain as titular rulers. But when one of these Sefawa kings (Ibrahim) tried to regain power by allying with the state of Wadai. ‘Umar killed both Ibrahim and Ibrahim’s son. This act ended the ancient dynasty of the Sefawa kings.
‘Umar was a weak and indecisive ruler who came to rely heavily on his unpopular wazir -- his unpopular chief advisor. The nobles of the court became so dissatisfied that, in 1853, they supported a coup led by ‘Umar’s brother, Abdurrahman.
Abdurrahman proved to be a tryrannical ruler. Support soon swung back in favor of ‘Umar, who had seemed all the more preferable because his wazir had died. The next year Abdurrahman was deposed and ‘Umar was reinstated. Abdurrahman was killed shortly afterwards.
For the next thirteen years, the most powerful man in Bornu was Laminu Njitiya. Laminu Njitiya was a former bandit who rose to become ‘Umar’s new advisor. A capable and popular man, Laminu died in 1871.
In the last years of ‘Umar’s reign the power of the nobility increased at the king’s expense. ‘Umar was succeeded at his death by his own son, Bukar. Bukar had made his reputation as a military commander while his father was still alive.
Bukar was probably the de facto ruler of Bornu during ‘Umar’s last year.
Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin or Umar of Borno was shehu (Sheik) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire and son of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi.
Umar came to power after a civil war, the first ruler in a long line from the Kanemi dynasty, and not from the traditional Sayfawa dynasty. The Kanem-Bornu Empire survived the end of the latter dynasty; but Umar, who eschewed the ancient title mai for the simpler designation shehu (from the Arabic shaykh), could not match his father's vitality and gradually allowed the kingdom to be ruled by advisers (wazirs). Bornu began to decline, as a result of administrative disorganization, regional particularism, and attacks by the militant Ouaddai Empire to the east. The decline continued under Umar's sons, and in 1893 Rabih az-Zubayr, leading an invading army from eastern Sudan, conquered Bornu.
Umar ruled from 1846 until November 1853, and for a second time from September 1854 to 1881. Between these periods, `Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Amin was mai.
Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin see ‘Umar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi
Umar of Bornu see ‘Umar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi
‘Umar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi (Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin) (Umar of Bornu) (d. 1881). Ruler of the Kanuri state of Bornu (r.1837-1881).
‘Umar succeeded his father al-Kanemi. Al-Kanemi had usurped power from the thousand year old Sefawa dynasty of Bornu. ‘Umar, like his father, permitted the Sefawa kings to remain as titular rulers. But when one of these Sefawa kings (Ibrahim) tried to regain power by allying with the state of Wadai. ‘Umar killed both Ibrahim and Ibrahim’s son. This act ended the ancient dynasty of the Sefawa kings.
‘Umar was a weak and indecisive ruler who came to rely heavily on his unpopular wazir -- his unpopular chief advisor. The nobles of the court became so dissatisfied that, in 1853, they supported a coup led by ‘Umar’s brother, Abdurrahman.
Abdurrahman proved to be a tryrannical ruler. Support soon swung back in favor of ‘Umar, who had seemed all the more preferable because his wazir had died. The next year Abdurrahman was deposed and ‘Umar was reinstated. Abdurrahman was killed shortly afterwards.
For the next thirteen years, the most powerful man in Bornu was Laminu Njitiya. Laminu Njitiya was a former bandit who rose to become ‘Umar’s new advisor. A capable and popular man, Laminu died in 1871.
In the last years of ‘Umar’s reign the power of the nobility increased at the king’s expense. ‘Umar was succeeded at his death by his own son, Bukar. Bukar had made his reputation as a military commander while his father was still alive.
Bukar was probably the de facto ruler of Bornu during ‘Umar’s last year.
Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin or Umar of Borno was shehu (Sheik) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire and son of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi.
Umar came to power after a civil war, the first ruler in a long line from the Kanemi dynasty, and not from the traditional Sayfawa dynasty. The Kanem-Bornu Empire survived the end of the latter dynasty; but Umar, who eschewed the ancient title mai for the simpler designation shehu (from the Arabic shaykh), could not match his father's vitality and gradually allowed the kingdom to be ruled by advisers (wazirs). Bornu began to decline, as a result of administrative disorganization, regional particularism, and attacks by the militant Ouaddai Empire to the east. The decline continued under Umar's sons, and in 1893 Rabih az-Zubayr, leading an invading army from eastern Sudan, conquered Bornu.
Umar ruled from 1846 until November 1853, and for a second time from September 1854 to 1881. Between these periods, `Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Amin was mai.
Umar I ibn Muhammad al-Amin see ‘Umar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi
Umar of Bornu see ‘Umar ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi
‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall (al-Hajj ‘Umar) (El Hadj Umar Tall) (El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall) (ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd Tal) (el-Hadj Omar ibn Saʿīd Tal) (b. c. 1794/1797, Halvar, Fouta-Toro [now in Senegal] - d. February 12, 1864, near Hamdalahi, Tukulor empire [now in Mali]). Founder of the Tukolor Empire. A theologian, political reformer, and military strategist, he led one of the major West African Islamic revolutionary movements. He was born in Futa Toro in present Senegal, a region known historically for the export of Islamic reform throughout West Africa. His family belonged to the ruling Tukolor clerical class. Although his father was a member of the ancient Qadiriyya Islamic brotherhood, he himself elected to join the newer Tijaniyya sect. The latter appealed more to the masses, emphasizing salvation through deeds rather than through study. Nevertheless, by 1826, the year he undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca, he was an established scholar. On the way to Mecca, he spent about seven months in Sokoto, the seat of the Fula Islamic empire created by ‘Uthman dan Fodio. Arriving at Mecca and Medina, he was made a high official in the Tijaniyya. There he was exposed to the recently suppressed Wahhabi movement in central Arabia. This was a militant, anti-Turkish revivalist movement which stressed a return to fundamental Islam. ‘Umar also observed Muhammad Ali’s attempts to industrialize Egypt.
On his return, ‘Umar stopped in Bornu, and again in Sokoto (in 1832), where he remained for nearly seven years as a guest of Muhammad Bello, the son and successor of ‘Uthman dan Fodio. There he gained a large following and considerable wealth. Shortly after Muhammad Bello died (in 1837), ‘Umar travelled to Macina, then to the rival state of Segu, both of which were later to fall to the Tukolor armies. He returned to Futa Toro briefly in 1840, and then moved with his followers to Futa Jalon in present Guinea. Here the ruler, Bubakar, permitted him to establish a religious community near Timbo, the Futa capital. In 1846, he resumed his travels, touring the Senegambia. He met with French officials, who were receptive to his ideas of uniting and pacifying the Senegal River valley.
‘Umar returned to Futa Jalon but the political authorities there, fearing his power and his ideas on Islamic revivalism, forced him to emigrate to Dinguiray (in 1848), which he made his new base. Shortly afterwards, he attacked a number of nearby non-Muslim states. In 1852, he declared a jihad (holy war). In the next ten years, he conquered Dinguiray, Bure, Segu, Kaarta, and Macina.
‘Umar’s career had a number of parallels with that of ‘Uthman dan Fodio, founder of the Sokoto Empire. Both were strong advocates of revivalist Islam. ‘Umar saw his escape from Futa Jalon in the same way that ‘Uthman viewed his flight from Gobir -- similar to the escape of the Prophet from Mecca. Both were charismatic figures. And like ‘Uthman’s followers, those of ‘Umar joined the jihad for a variety of reasons, not all religious. Many were attempting to bring political revolution to their own lands, using Islamic reform as a vehicle. Unlike ‘Uthman, however, ‘Umar was a capable military strategist, who led his own armies into battle.
The greatest challenge to ‘Umar’s empire came from the French, who under Louis Faidherbe were advancing into the Western Sudan. ‘Umar depended upon French sources for weapons. When these were cut off, he raided French trading posts on the Senegal River (in 1835). At the same time, he urged the Muslim community residing in the French colony of Saint Louis to revolt. Faidherbe advanced French outposts up the Senegal River and gave active support to anti-Tukolor rulers. After ‘Umar completed the conquest of Kaarta he attacked the French fort at Medine (1857). Although he was beaten back, he continued harassing the French until they captured his stronghold at Guemou in 1859.
Since ‘Umar was more interested in fighting the Bambara of Segu, while Faidherbe preferred to consolidate his gains, the two sides signed a treaty in 1860. They continued to clash sporadically. In 1863, however, ‘Umar was distracted by a major rebellion within the empire. Fighting spread throughout Segu and Macina, led by Ba Lobbo and Abdul Salam. In Timbuktu, Shaikh Sidi Ahmad al-Bakka’i amassed an anti-Tukolor army. ‘Umar was trapped in Macina near the town of Hamdallahi in February 1864, and burned to death when the enemy set fire to the area to prevent his escape. Macina, however, was quickly reconquered by ‘Umar’s nephew, Ahmadu Tijani. Leadership of the empire fell to ‘Umar son, Ahmadu ibn ‘Umar.
ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd Tal was a West African Tukulor leader who, after launching a jihad (holy war) in 1854, established a Muslim realm, the Tukulor empire, between the upper Senegal and Niger rivers (in what is now upper Guinea, eastern Senegal, and western and central Mali). The empire survived until the 1890s under his son, Aḥmadu Seku.
ʿUmar Tal was born in the upper valley of the Sénégal River, in the land of the Tukulor people. His father was an educated Muslim who instructed students in the Qurʾān, and ʿUmar, a mystic, perfected his studies in Arabic and the Qurʾān with Moorish scholars who initiated him into the Tijānī brotherhood.
At the age of 23, ʿUmar set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca. He was already well known for his piety and erudition and was received with honor in the countries through which he traveled. Muhammad Bello, emir of Sokoto in Nigeria, offered him his daughter Maryam in marriage. Enriched by this princely alliance, ʿUmar had become an important personage when he reached Mecca about 1827. He visited the tomb of the Prophet in Medina, returned to Mecca, and then settled for a while in Cairo. On a visit to Jerusalem he succeeded in curing a son of Ibrahim Pasha, the viceroy of Egypt. In Mecca, finally, he was designated caliph for black Africa by the head of the Tijānī brotherhood.
Armed with his prestige as a scholar, mystic, and miracle worker, ʿUmar returned to the interior of Africa in 1833. Trained for political leadership by his father-in-law, Muhammad Bello, the emir of Sokoto, with whom he again spent several years, and his position strengthened by the title of caliph, ʿUmar decided to obey the voice of God and to convert the pagan Africans to Islām. By now he not only was looked upon as a miracle worker but also had acquired a bodyguard of followers and of devoted Hausa slaves.
Upon the death of Bello, he departed for his native country, hoping to conquer the Fouta region with the assistance of the French, in exchange for a trade treaty, an agreement the French declined because of ʿUmar’s growing strength. ʿUmar realized that faith without force would be ineffective and made careful preparations for his task. In northeastern Guinea, where he first established himself, he wrote down his teachings in a book called Kitāb rimāḥ ḥizb ar-raḥīm (“Book of the Spears of the Party of God”). Deriving his inspiration from Ṣūfism—a mystic Islāmic doctrine—he defined the Tijānī “way” as the best one for saving one’s soul and for approaching God. He recommended meditation, self-denial, and blind obedience to the sheikh. He gained many followers in Guinea, but, when in 1845 he went to preach in his own country, he met with little success.
El Hadj Umar Tall remains a legendary figure in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, though his legacy varies by country. Where the Senegalese tend to remember him as a hero of anti-French resistance, Malian sources tend to describe him as an invader who prepared the way for the French by weakening West Africa. Umar Tall also figures prominently in Maryse Condé's historical novel Segu.
El Hadj Umar Tall see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd Tal see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
Hadj Omar ibn Saʿīd Tal, el- see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
Hajj ‘Umar, al- see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall (al-Hajj ‘Umar) (El Hadj Umar Tall) (El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall) (ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd Tal) (el-Hadj Omar ibn Saʿīd Tal) (b. c. 1794/1797, Halvar, Fouta-Toro [now in Senegal] - d. February 12, 1864, near Hamdalahi, Tukulor empire [now in Mali]). Founder of the Tukolor Empire. A theologian, political reformer, and military strategist, he led one of the major West African Islamic revolutionary movements. He was born in Futa Toro in present Senegal, a region known historically for the export of Islamic reform throughout West Africa. His family belonged to the ruling Tukolor clerical class. Although his father was a member of the ancient Qadiriyya Islamic brotherhood, he himself elected to join the newer Tijaniyya sect. The latter appealed more to the masses, emphasizing salvation through deeds rather than through study. Nevertheless, by 1826, the year he undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca, he was an established scholar. On the way to Mecca, he spent about seven months in Sokoto, the seat of the Fula Islamic empire created by ‘Uthman dan Fodio. Arriving at Mecca and Medina, he was made a high official in the Tijaniyya. There he was exposed to the recently suppressed Wahhabi movement in central Arabia. This was a militant, anti-Turkish revivalist movement which stressed a return to fundamental Islam. ‘Umar also observed Muhammad Ali’s attempts to industrialize Egypt.
On his return, ‘Umar stopped in Bornu, and again in Sokoto (in 1832), where he remained for nearly seven years as a guest of Muhammad Bello, the son and successor of ‘Uthman dan Fodio. There he gained a large following and considerable wealth. Shortly after Muhammad Bello died (in 1837), ‘Umar travelled to Macina, then to the rival state of Segu, both of which were later to fall to the Tukolor armies. He returned to Futa Toro briefly in 1840, and then moved with his followers to Futa Jalon in present Guinea. Here the ruler, Bubakar, permitted him to establish a religious community near Timbo, the Futa capital. In 1846, he resumed his travels, touring the Senegambia. He met with French officials, who were receptive to his ideas of uniting and pacifying the Senegal River valley.
‘Umar returned to Futa Jalon but the political authorities there, fearing his power and his ideas on Islamic revivalism, forced him to emigrate to Dinguiray (in 1848), which he made his new base. Shortly afterwards, he attacked a number of nearby non-Muslim states. In 1852, he declared a jihad (holy war). In the next ten years, he conquered Dinguiray, Bure, Segu, Kaarta, and Macina.
‘Umar’s career had a number of parallels with that of ‘Uthman dan Fodio, founder of the Sokoto Empire. Both were strong advocates of revivalist Islam. ‘Umar saw his escape from Futa Jalon in the same way that ‘Uthman viewed his flight from Gobir -- similar to the escape of the Prophet from Mecca. Both were charismatic figures. And like ‘Uthman’s followers, those of ‘Umar joined the jihad for a variety of reasons, not all religious. Many were attempting to bring political revolution to their own lands, using Islamic reform as a vehicle. Unlike ‘Uthman, however, ‘Umar was a capable military strategist, who led his own armies into battle.
The greatest challenge to ‘Umar’s empire came from the French, who under Louis Faidherbe were advancing into the Western Sudan. ‘Umar depended upon French sources for weapons. When these were cut off, he raided French trading posts on the Senegal River (in 1835). At the same time, he urged the Muslim community residing in the French colony of Saint Louis to revolt. Faidherbe advanced French outposts up the Senegal River and gave active support to anti-Tukolor rulers. After ‘Umar completed the conquest of Kaarta he attacked the French fort at Medine (1857). Although he was beaten back, he continued harassing the French until they captured his stronghold at Guemou in 1859.
Since ‘Umar was more interested in fighting the Bambara of Segu, while Faidherbe preferred to consolidate his gains, the two sides signed a treaty in 1860. They continued to clash sporadically. In 1863, however, ‘Umar was distracted by a major rebellion within the empire. Fighting spread throughout Segu and Macina, led by Ba Lobbo and Abdul Salam. In Timbuktu, Shaikh Sidi Ahmad al-Bakka’i amassed an anti-Tukolor army. ‘Umar was trapped in Macina near the town of Hamdallahi in February 1864, and burned to death when the enemy set fire to the area to prevent his escape. Macina, however, was quickly reconquered by ‘Umar’s nephew, Ahmadu Tijani. Leadership of the empire fell to ‘Umar son, Ahmadu ibn ‘Umar.
ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd Tal was a West African Tukulor leader who, after launching a jihad (holy war) in 1854, established a Muslim realm, the Tukulor empire, between the upper Senegal and Niger rivers (in what is now upper Guinea, eastern Senegal, and western and central Mali). The empire survived until the 1890s under his son, Aḥmadu Seku.
ʿUmar Tal was born in the upper valley of the Sénégal River, in the land of the Tukulor people. His father was an educated Muslim who instructed students in the Qurʾān, and ʿUmar, a mystic, perfected his studies in Arabic and the Qurʾān with Moorish scholars who initiated him into the Tijānī brotherhood.
At the age of 23, ʿUmar set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca. He was already well known for his piety and erudition and was received with honor in the countries through which he traveled. Muhammad Bello, emir of Sokoto in Nigeria, offered him his daughter Maryam in marriage. Enriched by this princely alliance, ʿUmar had become an important personage when he reached Mecca about 1827. He visited the tomb of the Prophet in Medina, returned to Mecca, and then settled for a while in Cairo. On a visit to Jerusalem he succeeded in curing a son of Ibrahim Pasha, the viceroy of Egypt. In Mecca, finally, he was designated caliph for black Africa by the head of the Tijānī brotherhood.
Armed with his prestige as a scholar, mystic, and miracle worker, ʿUmar returned to the interior of Africa in 1833. Trained for political leadership by his father-in-law, Muhammad Bello, the emir of Sokoto, with whom he again spent several years, and his position strengthened by the title of caliph, ʿUmar decided to obey the voice of God and to convert the pagan Africans to Islām. By now he not only was looked upon as a miracle worker but also had acquired a bodyguard of followers and of devoted Hausa slaves.
Upon the death of Bello, he departed for his native country, hoping to conquer the Fouta region with the assistance of the French, in exchange for a trade treaty, an agreement the French declined because of ʿUmar’s growing strength. ʿUmar realized that faith without force would be ineffective and made careful preparations for his task. In northeastern Guinea, where he first established himself, he wrote down his teachings in a book called Kitāb rimāḥ ḥizb ar-raḥīm (“Book of the Spears of the Party of God”). Deriving his inspiration from Ṣūfism—a mystic Islāmic doctrine—he defined the Tijānī “way” as the best one for saving one’s soul and for approaching God. He recommended meditation, self-denial, and blind obedience to the sheikh. He gained many followers in Guinea, but, when in 1845 he went to preach in his own country, he met with little success.
El Hadj Umar Tall remains a legendary figure in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, though his legacy varies by country. Where the Senegalese tend to remember him as a hero of anti-French resistance, Malian sources tend to describe him as an invader who prepared the way for the French by weakening West Africa. Umar Tall also figures prominently in Maryse Condé's historical novel Segu.
El Hadj Umar Tall see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd Tal see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
Hadj Omar ibn Saʿīd Tal, el- see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
Hajj ‘Umar, al- see ‘Umar ibn Sa‘id Tall
‘Umari ibn Fadl ‘Allah, al-
‘Umari ibn Fadl ‘Allah, al- (1301-1349). Arab author who recorded the history of the Mali Empire. He was an administrator and scholar living in Cairo and Damascus. He gathered information on Mali shortly after the pilgrimage of its famous king, Mansa Musa (1324-1325). Al-‘Umari’s account helped achieve international recognition for Musa and Mali. It remains among the most valuable sources for the empire’s history.
‘Umari ibn Fadl ‘Allah, al- (1301-1349). Arab author who recorded the history of the Mali Empire. He was an administrator and scholar living in Cairo and Damascus. He gathered information on Mali shortly after the pilgrimage of its famous king, Mansa Musa (1324-1325). Al-‘Umari’s account helped achieve international recognition for Musa and Mali. It remains among the most valuable sources for the empire’s history.
Umaru
Umaru (‘Umar ibn ‘Ali) (c. 1824-1891). Ruler of the Fula Sokoto Empire (r.1881-1891). Umaru was a great-grandson of Uthman dan Fodio. Uthman dan Fodio was the founder of the Fula Empire in northern Nigeria. Uthman’s successors had kept alive the tradtions of the jihad (holy war) by assembling the armies of the Sokoto emirates for military campaigns each autumn. These campaigns had degenerated into raids on neighboring territories rather than attempts to extend Sokoto’s boundaries. Umaru discontinued the raids. To make up for lost revenues, Umaru extracted greater tribute within the empire. He also interfered more in the domestic affairs of the individual emirates. These policies were generally accepted, and the period was one of unprecedented security and flourishing trade. Expansion to the north and east continued on a peaceful basis. Ironically, Umaru died while on a military expedition. He was succeeded by Abdurrahman.
'Umar ibn 'Ali see Umaru
Umaru (‘Umar ibn ‘Ali) (c. 1824-1891). Ruler of the Fula Sokoto Empire (r.1881-1891). Umaru was a great-grandson of Uthman dan Fodio. Uthman dan Fodio was the founder of the Fula Empire in northern Nigeria. Uthman’s successors had kept alive the tradtions of the jihad (holy war) by assembling the armies of the Sokoto emirates for military campaigns each autumn. These campaigns had degenerated into raids on neighboring territories rather than attempts to extend Sokoto’s boundaries. Umaru discontinued the raids. To make up for lost revenues, Umaru extracted greater tribute within the empire. He also interfered more in the domestic affairs of the individual emirates. These policies were generally accepted, and the period was one of unprecedented security and flourishing trade. Expansion to the north and east continued on a peaceful basis. Ironically, Umaru died while on a military expedition. He was succeeded by Abdurrahman.
'Umar ibn 'Ali see Umaru
Umayyads
Umayyads (Banu Umayya). Dynasty of caliphs which ruled the Islamic world (r.661-750). Their main capital was Damascus. Named after its founding father, Umayya, a member of the Prophet’s tribe. Founder of the dynasty was Muawiya I ibn Abu Sufyan (r. 661-680) who, as governor of Syria, emerged in 657 as an opponent of Caliph Ali and, following his murder, seized power, which he made inheritable. There followed ongoing conflicts with various Arab tribes and religious movements in early Islam. Political successes were the rule of Abd al-Malik (r. 685-705), who reorganized the state administration (including monetary reform) and developed Jerusalem as a religious center, and also that of al-Walid (705-715), who advanced Islamic conquests (in 711 as far as Spain in the west and Industal in the east, with Bukhara and Samarkand conquered in 715). There then followed rulers whose reigns were shortlived, as well as an increase in the number of rebellions among conquered populations protesting at the privileges enjoyed by the Arabs. Under Hisham (r. 724-743) there was consolidation, but this was followed by political instability and uprisings by Kharijite and Shi‘ite groups, who helped the Abbasids rise to power. These expelled the last Umayyad caliph, Marvan II (r. 744-750) in 750 and removed the Umayyad family. One of Hisham’s grandsons who had fled established the rule of the Spanish Umayyads in Cordoba in 756.
The Banu Umayya were the principal clan of the Quraysh of Mecca, represented by two main branches, the A‘yas and the ‘Anabisa. ‘Affan, the father of the Caliph ‘Uthman, was descended from the A‘yas, as were the Caliph Marwan I ibn al-Hakam and the caliphs who came after him until the end of the dynasty. Marwan and his descendants formed the Marwanid line of the Umayyads. The amirs, later caliphs, of Muslim Spain were also descended from the A‘yas. The most illustrious family of the ‘Anabisa branch was that of Harb, whose son Abu Sufyan was the father of the first Umayyad Caliph Mu‘awiya I. His line became extinct with the death of Caliph Mu‘awiya II, the son of the Caliph Yazid I, and was followed by the Marwanid line.
If tradition, as established after their fall under the influence of the ideas dominant in pietist circles, has cursed the memory of the Umayyads, it nevertheless remains true that it was precisely under their regime and partly under their stimulus that Islam established itself as a universalist religion. The Umayyad caliphs, as descendants of the Meccan aristocracy which had fought Islam in its early stages, must have believed in good faith that the propagation of the Muslim faith and the expansion of their temporal power were one and the same thing. They must have been convinced that the enemies of their policy, whether Shi‘a or Kharijites, were also enemies of the true tradition of the Prophet.
The Umayyad party triumphed under the third caliph ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan at the expense of the first converts, of the Prophet’s son-in-law ‘Ali in the first place. The opposition between Mu‘awiya and ‘Ali raised an exceedingly delicate constitutional problem: that of the assumption of supreme power over the believers by one who was not among the earliest Companions of the Prophet. Rather than being the continuators of the sunna of the Prophet, the Umayyads became in fact, if not in official title, “kings” or rather “tyrants” in the Greek sense of the word. The Umayyad period is marked by a strong opposition between Syria and Iraq, due to Ziyad ibn Abihi’s merciless suppression in Iraq, so different from the policy practised by Mu‘awiya himself. The Iraqi population seems to have been justified in thinking that the Umayyad caliphate really represented the hegemony of Syria over the rest of Islamic territory and the memory of ‘Ali, which legend soon seized upon, was in a way bound up with the nationalism of Iraq.
The most tangible success of Mu‘awiya’s policy was that he made the caliphate hereditary after having succeeded in extracting from the tribal chiefs the oath of allegiance (in Arabic, bay‘a) for his son Yazid. This principle was continued under Marwan I ibn al-Hakam. The caliphate of the latter’s son ‘Abd al-Malik, under the driving power of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, was an attempt to establish an absolute monarchy. Al-Hajjaj reduced the Kharijite movement to temporary impotence, while Shi‘ism, defeated in the open field, took refuge in secret propaganda which was only to bear fruit much later. The vast conquests of Qutayba ibn Muslim in the east, begun in 705, brought about the conversion to Islam of the Turks, while in the west the Berbers, notwithstanding their opposition to the Arab conquerors, gradually also accepted the new religion. It was to these two races, placed at the two extremes of the Arab empire, that Islam owed the greater part of its future successes but also a profound change in its civilization.
The Caliph al-Walid I was the great builder of the dynasty, and the fiscal reforms of ‘Umar II ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz paved the way for the equal treatment of Arabs and non-Arab “clients” and contributed more than anything else to the fusion of the descendants of the conquerors and conquered.
Under the Caliph Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad caliphate experienced another period of splendor. But Hisham had exploited to the limit the fiscal reforms of ‘Umar II and exhausted his Muslim and non-Muslim subjects alike. The scandalous conduct of the Caliph al-Walid II also played an important part in the collapse of the established order. Misery brought about a revival of Kharijism, and the Shi‘a movement began again to show itself openly in Iraq. Neither Yasid III ibn al-Walid nor his brother Ibrahim ibn al-Walid succeeded in checking the anarchy which was spreading throughout the empire. Marwan II ibn Muhammad, the governor of Armenia, proclaimed himself caliph and subdued Syria, Egypt and Iraq. But in 747, the forces of Abu Muslim rapidly conquered Khurasan and Fars, and in 748 occupied Iraw where the ‘Abbasids suddenly put forward their claims and proclaimed Abu’l-‘Abbas al-Saffah caliph at Kufa. Marwan II was killed in 750.
It can be said that the intellectual and moral unification of the Muslim world, accomplished by the ‘Abbasids, had already begun under the Umayyads.
The Umayyads were the self-described heirs to the orthodox or patriarchal caliphate which existed from 632 to 661. From their capital in Damascus, the Umayyads extended the borders of the Islamic empire to India in the east and to Spain in the west. The early Umayyad caliphs were adept military tacticians and effective bureaucrats; they also left a rich legacy in poetry, Greek to Arabic translations, and architectural monuments.
The Umayyads never solved the problem of how to deal with non-Arab converts to Islam (the mawali). The mawali, together with Arab discontents looking for a return to pristine Islam, supported the ‘Abbasid forces, who defeated the Umayyads in 750. A lone Umayyad dynast escaped to Spain and established in Spain a regional dynasty that lasted until 1031.
The Umayyad caliphs (661-750) played only a brief and rather indirect, yet nonetheless critical, role in the history of Iran and Central Asia. Generally, the Umayyad central government was more interested in affairs affecting the western portions of the empire (wars with Byzantium and expansion around the Mediterranean basin) than with the east. After consolidting the eastern areas conquered earlier by the Arabs, the Umayyads tended to entrust matters in Iraq, and its Iranian dependencies to governors and sub-governors, often chosen from prominent Arab families settled in the respective provinces, who then followed whatever policy they felt best.
One of the most effective and important of these Umayyad officials in Iran was the governor of Khurasan, Qutaiba ibn Muslim al-Bahili (705-715), a protégé of the powerful Umayyad governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. Qutaiba effectively suppressed a revolt, led by Nizak (or Tirek) of Badghis, of the semi-autonomous princes of Tocharistan (on the eastern borders of Khurasan); conquered the city of Bukhara and its environs; invaded and subdued Sogdiana, taking its most important city, Samarkand; conquered Khwarazm and settled a colony of Arabs there; and mounted expeditions against several remote principalities along the Syr Darya as far as what is now Tashkent. All this military activity served a number of useful functions. It diverted the energies of the Arab tribesmen from factional struggles against each other into the new campaigns, thus encouraging cooperation between the Arab and Iranian military elites; it brought in much-needed booty to bolster the local economy; it provided a vehicle for re-organizing and stabilizing the provincial government; and it checked, at least temporarily, the growing power of the Turkic tribes on the far eastern borders of the Islamic empire. Unfortunately, this energetic governor fell from favor with the central government after the death of al-Hajjaj and was killed by his own former soldiers when he attempted to revolt. (Interestingly, the Sogdians he had conquered remained loyal to him to the very end.)
After Qutaiba’s death, the authority of the Umayyads in the east deteriorated steadily. The reasons for this are complex but can be reduced to three main points. First, the Umayyads failed to find a permanent means of containing the rivalries, antagonisms, and competition for political and material rewards among their Arab tribal supporters in the provinces. They were thus ultimately confronted with a bitter intra-Arab civil war in Khurasan. Second, they based their power more and more on a narrow elite of Arab tribal warriors, many of them newcomers to the east, and the indigenous Iranian military aristocracy. This alienated the non-Arab peasantry, their village leaders, and the semi-assimilated Arab colonists who had become landowners and resided permanently in the region. Third, as both Arabs and Iranians came to think more of their common Islamic, rather than their separate ethnic, identity, the Umayyads were unable to find any convincing justification for the legitimacy of their rule that could appeal to the religious sentiments of the pious-minded Muslim masses in the cities and countryside. These sources of discontent in Khurasan were shrewdly manipulated by various opponents of Umayyad rule, especially by partisans of the Abbasid family who engineered a revolutionary conspiracy in Khurasan that toppled the authority of their governor in that province and subsequently brought down the dynasty itself.
The Umayyad Caliphs at Damascus were:
* Muawiyah I ibn Abi Sufyan, 661–680
* Yazid I ibn Muawiyah, 680–683
* Muawiyah II ibn Yazid, 683–684
* Marwan I ibn al-Ḥakam, 684–685
* Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 685–705
* al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik, 705–715
* Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik, 715–717
* Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, 717–720
* Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik, 720–724
* Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, 724–743
* al-Walid II ibn Yazid II, 743–744
* Yazid III ibn al-Walid, 744
* Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, 744
* Marwan II ibn Muhammad (ruled from Harran in the Jazira) 744–750
The Umayyad Emirs of Córdoba were:
* Abd ar-Rahman I, 756–788
* Hisham I, 788–796
* al-Hakam I, 796–822
* Abd ar-Rahman II, 822–852
* Muhammad I of Córdoba, 852-886
* Al-Mundhir, 886 - 888
* Abdallah ibn Muhammad, 888–912
* Abd ar-Rahman III, 912–929
The Umayyad Caliphs at Córdoba were:
* Abd ar-Rahman III, as caliph, 929–961
* Al-Hakam II, 961–976
* Hisham II, 976–1008
* Mohammed II, 1008–1009
* Suleiman, 1009–1010
* Hisham II, restored, 1010–1012
* Suleiman, restored, 1012–1017
* Abd ar-Rahman IV, 1021–1022
* Abd ar-Rahman V, 1022–1023
* Muhammad III, 1023–1024
* Hisham III, 1027–1031
Banu Umayya see Umayyads
Umayyads (Banu Umayya). Dynasty of caliphs which ruled the Islamic world (r.661-750). Their main capital was Damascus. Named after its founding father, Umayya, a member of the Prophet’s tribe. Founder of the dynasty was Muawiya I ibn Abu Sufyan (r. 661-680) who, as governor of Syria, emerged in 657 as an opponent of Caliph Ali and, following his murder, seized power, which he made inheritable. There followed ongoing conflicts with various Arab tribes and religious movements in early Islam. Political successes were the rule of Abd al-Malik (r. 685-705), who reorganized the state administration (including monetary reform) and developed Jerusalem as a religious center, and also that of al-Walid (705-715), who advanced Islamic conquests (in 711 as far as Spain in the west and Industal in the east, with Bukhara and Samarkand conquered in 715). There then followed rulers whose reigns were shortlived, as well as an increase in the number of rebellions among conquered populations protesting at the privileges enjoyed by the Arabs. Under Hisham (r. 724-743) there was consolidation, but this was followed by political instability and uprisings by Kharijite and Shi‘ite groups, who helped the Abbasids rise to power. These expelled the last Umayyad caliph, Marvan II (r. 744-750) in 750 and removed the Umayyad family. One of Hisham’s grandsons who had fled established the rule of the Spanish Umayyads in Cordoba in 756.
The Banu Umayya were the principal clan of the Quraysh of Mecca, represented by two main branches, the A‘yas and the ‘Anabisa. ‘Affan, the father of the Caliph ‘Uthman, was descended from the A‘yas, as were the Caliph Marwan I ibn al-Hakam and the caliphs who came after him until the end of the dynasty. Marwan and his descendants formed the Marwanid line of the Umayyads. The amirs, later caliphs, of Muslim Spain were also descended from the A‘yas. The most illustrious family of the ‘Anabisa branch was that of Harb, whose son Abu Sufyan was the father of the first Umayyad Caliph Mu‘awiya I. His line became extinct with the death of Caliph Mu‘awiya II, the son of the Caliph Yazid I, and was followed by the Marwanid line.
If tradition, as established after their fall under the influence of the ideas dominant in pietist circles, has cursed the memory of the Umayyads, it nevertheless remains true that it was precisely under their regime and partly under their stimulus that Islam established itself as a universalist religion. The Umayyad caliphs, as descendants of the Meccan aristocracy which had fought Islam in its early stages, must have believed in good faith that the propagation of the Muslim faith and the expansion of their temporal power were one and the same thing. They must have been convinced that the enemies of their policy, whether Shi‘a or Kharijites, were also enemies of the true tradition of the Prophet.
The Umayyad party triumphed under the third caliph ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan at the expense of the first converts, of the Prophet’s son-in-law ‘Ali in the first place. The opposition between Mu‘awiya and ‘Ali raised an exceedingly delicate constitutional problem: that of the assumption of supreme power over the believers by one who was not among the earliest Companions of the Prophet. Rather than being the continuators of the sunna of the Prophet, the Umayyads became in fact, if not in official title, “kings” or rather “tyrants” in the Greek sense of the word. The Umayyad period is marked by a strong opposition between Syria and Iraq, due to Ziyad ibn Abihi’s merciless suppression in Iraq, so different from the policy practised by Mu‘awiya himself. The Iraqi population seems to have been justified in thinking that the Umayyad caliphate really represented the hegemony of Syria over the rest of Islamic territory and the memory of ‘Ali, which legend soon seized upon, was in a way bound up with the nationalism of Iraq.
The most tangible success of Mu‘awiya’s policy was that he made the caliphate hereditary after having succeeded in extracting from the tribal chiefs the oath of allegiance (in Arabic, bay‘a) for his son Yazid. This principle was continued under Marwan I ibn al-Hakam. The caliphate of the latter’s son ‘Abd al-Malik, under the driving power of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, was an attempt to establish an absolute monarchy. Al-Hajjaj reduced the Kharijite movement to temporary impotence, while Shi‘ism, defeated in the open field, took refuge in secret propaganda which was only to bear fruit much later. The vast conquests of Qutayba ibn Muslim in the east, begun in 705, brought about the conversion to Islam of the Turks, while in the west the Berbers, notwithstanding their opposition to the Arab conquerors, gradually also accepted the new religion. It was to these two races, placed at the two extremes of the Arab empire, that Islam owed the greater part of its future successes but also a profound change in its civilization.
The Caliph al-Walid I was the great builder of the dynasty, and the fiscal reforms of ‘Umar II ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz paved the way for the equal treatment of Arabs and non-Arab “clients” and contributed more than anything else to the fusion of the descendants of the conquerors and conquered.
Under the Caliph Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad caliphate experienced another period of splendor. But Hisham had exploited to the limit the fiscal reforms of ‘Umar II and exhausted his Muslim and non-Muslim subjects alike. The scandalous conduct of the Caliph al-Walid II also played an important part in the collapse of the established order. Misery brought about a revival of Kharijism, and the Shi‘a movement began again to show itself openly in Iraq. Neither Yasid III ibn al-Walid nor his brother Ibrahim ibn al-Walid succeeded in checking the anarchy which was spreading throughout the empire. Marwan II ibn Muhammad, the governor of Armenia, proclaimed himself caliph and subdued Syria, Egypt and Iraq. But in 747, the forces of Abu Muslim rapidly conquered Khurasan and Fars, and in 748 occupied Iraw where the ‘Abbasids suddenly put forward their claims and proclaimed Abu’l-‘Abbas al-Saffah caliph at Kufa. Marwan II was killed in 750.
It can be said that the intellectual and moral unification of the Muslim world, accomplished by the ‘Abbasids, had already begun under the Umayyads.
The Umayyads were the self-described heirs to the orthodox or patriarchal caliphate which existed from 632 to 661. From their capital in Damascus, the Umayyads extended the borders of the Islamic empire to India in the east and to Spain in the west. The early Umayyad caliphs were adept military tacticians and effective bureaucrats; they also left a rich legacy in poetry, Greek to Arabic translations, and architectural monuments.
The Umayyads never solved the problem of how to deal with non-Arab converts to Islam (the mawali). The mawali, together with Arab discontents looking for a return to pristine Islam, supported the ‘Abbasid forces, who defeated the Umayyads in 750. A lone Umayyad dynast escaped to Spain and established in Spain a regional dynasty that lasted until 1031.
The Umayyad caliphs (661-750) played only a brief and rather indirect, yet nonetheless critical, role in the history of Iran and Central Asia. Generally, the Umayyad central government was more interested in affairs affecting the western portions of the empire (wars with Byzantium and expansion around the Mediterranean basin) than with the east. After consolidting the eastern areas conquered earlier by the Arabs, the Umayyads tended to entrust matters in Iraq, and its Iranian dependencies to governors and sub-governors, often chosen from prominent Arab families settled in the respective provinces, who then followed whatever policy they felt best.
One of the most effective and important of these Umayyad officials in Iran was the governor of Khurasan, Qutaiba ibn Muslim al-Bahili (705-715), a protégé of the powerful Umayyad governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. Qutaiba effectively suppressed a revolt, led by Nizak (or Tirek) of Badghis, of the semi-autonomous princes of Tocharistan (on the eastern borders of Khurasan); conquered the city of Bukhara and its environs; invaded and subdued Sogdiana, taking its most important city, Samarkand; conquered Khwarazm and settled a colony of Arabs there; and mounted expeditions against several remote principalities along the Syr Darya as far as what is now Tashkent. All this military activity served a number of useful functions. It diverted the energies of the Arab tribesmen from factional struggles against each other into the new campaigns, thus encouraging cooperation between the Arab and Iranian military elites; it brought in much-needed booty to bolster the local economy; it provided a vehicle for re-organizing and stabilizing the provincial government; and it checked, at least temporarily, the growing power of the Turkic tribes on the far eastern borders of the Islamic empire. Unfortunately, this energetic governor fell from favor with the central government after the death of al-Hajjaj and was killed by his own former soldiers when he attempted to revolt. (Interestingly, the Sogdians he had conquered remained loyal to him to the very end.)
After Qutaiba’s death, the authority of the Umayyads in the east deteriorated steadily. The reasons for this are complex but can be reduced to three main points. First, the Umayyads failed to find a permanent means of containing the rivalries, antagonisms, and competition for political and material rewards among their Arab tribal supporters in the provinces. They were thus ultimately confronted with a bitter intra-Arab civil war in Khurasan. Second, they based their power more and more on a narrow elite of Arab tribal warriors, many of them newcomers to the east, and the indigenous Iranian military aristocracy. This alienated the non-Arab peasantry, their village leaders, and the semi-assimilated Arab colonists who had become landowners and resided permanently in the region. Third, as both Arabs and Iranians came to think more of their common Islamic, rather than their separate ethnic, identity, the Umayyads were unable to find any convincing justification for the legitimacy of their rule that could appeal to the religious sentiments of the pious-minded Muslim masses in the cities and countryside. These sources of discontent in Khurasan were shrewdly manipulated by various opponents of Umayyad rule, especially by partisans of the Abbasid family who engineered a revolutionary conspiracy in Khurasan that toppled the authority of their governor in that province and subsequently brought down the dynasty itself.
The Umayyad Caliphs at Damascus were:
* Muawiyah I ibn Abi Sufyan, 661–680
* Yazid I ibn Muawiyah, 680–683
* Muawiyah II ibn Yazid, 683–684
* Marwan I ibn al-Ḥakam, 684–685
* Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 685–705
* al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik, 705–715
* Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik, 715–717
* Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, 717–720
* Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik, 720–724
* Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, 724–743
* al-Walid II ibn Yazid II, 743–744
* Yazid III ibn al-Walid, 744
* Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, 744
* Marwan II ibn Muhammad (ruled from Harran in the Jazira) 744–750
The Umayyad Emirs of Córdoba were:
* Abd ar-Rahman I, 756–788
* Hisham I, 788–796
* al-Hakam I, 796–822
* Abd ar-Rahman II, 822–852
* Muhammad I of Córdoba, 852-886
* Al-Mundhir, 886 - 888
* Abdallah ibn Muhammad, 888–912
* Abd ar-Rahman III, 912–929
The Umayyad Caliphs at Córdoba were:
* Abd ar-Rahman III, as caliph, 929–961
* Al-Hakam II, 961–976
* Hisham II, 976–1008
* Mohammed II, 1008–1009
* Suleiman, 1009–1010
* Hisham II, restored, 1010–1012
* Suleiman, restored, 1012–1017
* Abd ar-Rahman IV, 1021–1022
* Abd ar-Rahman V, 1022–1023
* Muhammad III, 1023–1024
* Hisham III, 1027–1031
Banu Umayya see Umayyads
Umayyads of Spain
Umayyads of Spain. Dynasty (r. 756-1031) on the Iberian peninsula with Cordoba as their capital. ‘Abd al-Rahman I al-Dakhil, “the Immigrant,” was recognized as amir in 756 in Cordoba, the traditional residence of the Arab governors. The main task of all his successors was to be the pacification of the new amirate. The Maliki law school was introduced at the end of the eighth century. Amir ‘Abd Allah gradually consolidated Umayyad authority. The most glorious period in the history of Muslim Spain was the reign of ‘Abd al-Rahman III.
The Spanish Umayyads were founded by Abd al-Rahman I (756-788), a grandson of the Umayyad caliph Hisham, the only survivor of the Abbasid massacre of the Umayyads (in 750), who fled to Spain and seized power there. He and his successors, Hisham I (788-796) and al-Hakam I (796-822), created a stable state structure, brought political conciliation to the country and conducted successful border battles against the Christians in the north. The first cultural flowering came under Abd al-Rahman II (r. 822-852) through the patronage of literature and science and the refinement of customs and traditions. Al-Andalus became the center of western Islam. Next, central power was relinquished in favor of regional government, which led to the successes of the Christian Reconquista. After government was re-centralized and the political zenith achieved under the rule of Abd al-Rahman III (r. 912-961), who assumed the title of caliph in 929 and restored sovereignty in Spain. He was able to expand the Umayyad territory towards the Fatimids in North Africa (becoming overlord of Fez and Mauritania in 932) and ruled over the Idrisid state. Al-Andalus experienced another period of cultural creativity under his learned son, al-Hakam II (r. 961-976), who was able to continue his father’s policy. During the subsequent decline of the caliph’s office under his young son Hisham II (r. 976-1013), power was transferred to the victorious Amirids under the regent at al-Mansur (r. 978-1002). The period after 1009 saw civil war and anarchy in the warring between different pretenders and also against the Hammudids of Malaga. In 1031, the last caliph, Hisham III (r. 1027-1031), resigned his position and al-Andalus split into taifa kingdoms.
The decline and fall of the Spanish Umayyads became evident under the successors of Hisham II. Between 1009 and 1031 no less than nine caliphs are listed, their reigns being continuously interrupted by the Hammudids of Malaga. From this time onwards civil war reigned in Cordoba and the caliphate, the Berber element playing a more and more disastrous part in the troubles. All the provinces of Muslim Spain proclaimed their independence under a Spanish, Slav or Berber chief. These rulers, known as Party Kings (in Arabic, muluk al-tawa’if), lasted until the end of the eleventh century, when the Almoravids conquered Muslim Spain.
The following is a list of the Spanish Umayyads:
756 ‘Abd al-Rahman I al-Dakhil
788 Hisham I
796 Hisham II
822 ‘Abd al-Rahman II
852 Muhammad I
886 al-Mundhir
888 ‘Abd Allah
912 ‘Abd al-Rahman III
961 al-Hakam II
976 Hisham II al-Mu’ayyad (first reign)
1009 Muhammad II al-Mahdi (first reign)
1009 Sulayman al-Musta‘in (first reign)
1010 Muhammad II al-Mahdi (second reign)
1010 Hisham II al-Mu’ayyad (second reign)
1013 Sulayman al-Musta‘in (second reign)
1016 Hammudid ‘Ali al-Nasir
1018 ‘Abd al-Rahman IV
1018 Hammudid al-Qasim al-Ma’mun (first time)
1021 Hammudid Yahya al-Mu‘tali (first time)
1022 Hammudid al-Qasim al-Ma’mun (second time)
1023 ‘Abd al-Rahman V
1024 Muhammad III
1025 Hammudid Yahya al-Mu‘tali (second time)
1027-1031 Hisham III
Muluk al-Tawa’if
Umayyads of Spain. Dynasty (r. 756-1031) on the Iberian peninsula with Cordoba as their capital. ‘Abd al-Rahman I al-Dakhil, “the Immigrant,” was recognized as amir in 756 in Cordoba, the traditional residence of the Arab governors. The main task of all his successors was to be the pacification of the new amirate. The Maliki law school was introduced at the end of the eighth century. Amir ‘Abd Allah gradually consolidated Umayyad authority. The most glorious period in the history of Muslim Spain was the reign of ‘Abd al-Rahman III.
The Spanish Umayyads were founded by Abd al-Rahman I (756-788), a grandson of the Umayyad caliph Hisham, the only survivor of the Abbasid massacre of the Umayyads (in 750), who fled to Spain and seized power there. He and his successors, Hisham I (788-796) and al-Hakam I (796-822), created a stable state structure, brought political conciliation to the country and conducted successful border battles against the Christians in the north. The first cultural flowering came under Abd al-Rahman II (r. 822-852) through the patronage of literature and science and the refinement of customs and traditions. Al-Andalus became the center of western Islam. Next, central power was relinquished in favor of regional government, which led to the successes of the Christian Reconquista. After government was re-centralized and the political zenith achieved under the rule of Abd al-Rahman III (r. 912-961), who assumed the title of caliph in 929 and restored sovereignty in Spain. He was able to expand the Umayyad territory towards the Fatimids in North Africa (becoming overlord of Fez and Mauritania in 932) and ruled over the Idrisid state. Al-Andalus experienced another period of cultural creativity under his learned son, al-Hakam II (r. 961-976), who was able to continue his father’s policy. During the subsequent decline of the caliph’s office under his young son Hisham II (r. 976-1013), power was transferred to the victorious Amirids under the regent at al-Mansur (r. 978-1002). The period after 1009 saw civil war and anarchy in the warring between different pretenders and also against the Hammudids of Malaga. In 1031, the last caliph, Hisham III (r. 1027-1031), resigned his position and al-Andalus split into taifa kingdoms.
The decline and fall of the Spanish Umayyads became evident under the successors of Hisham II. Between 1009 and 1031 no less than nine caliphs are listed, their reigns being continuously interrupted by the Hammudids of Malaga. From this time onwards civil war reigned in Cordoba and the caliphate, the Berber element playing a more and more disastrous part in the troubles. All the provinces of Muslim Spain proclaimed their independence under a Spanish, Slav or Berber chief. These rulers, known as Party Kings (in Arabic, muluk al-tawa’if), lasted until the end of the eleventh century, when the Almoravids conquered Muslim Spain.
The following is a list of the Spanish Umayyads:
756 ‘Abd al-Rahman I al-Dakhil
788 Hisham I
796 Hisham II
822 ‘Abd al-Rahman II
852 Muhammad I
886 al-Mundhir
888 ‘Abd Allah
912 ‘Abd al-Rahman III
961 al-Hakam II
976 Hisham II al-Mu’ayyad (first reign)
1009 Muhammad II al-Mahdi (first reign)
1009 Sulayman al-Musta‘in (first reign)
1010 Muhammad II al-Mahdi (second reign)
1010 Hisham II al-Mu’ayyad (second reign)
1013 Sulayman al-Musta‘in (second reign)
1016 Hammudid ‘Ali al-Nasir
1018 ‘Abd al-Rahman IV
1018 Hammudid al-Qasim al-Ma’mun (first time)
1021 Hammudid Yahya al-Mu‘tali (first time)
1022 Hammudid al-Qasim al-Ma’mun (second time)
1023 ‘Abd al-Rahman V
1024 Muhammad III
1025 Hammudid Yahya al-Mu‘tali (second time)
1027-1031 Hisham III
Muluk al-Tawa’if
Umayya ibn ‘Abd Shams
Umayya ibn ‘Abd Shams. Ancestor of the Umayyads, who were the principal clan of the Quraysh in Mecca. Like his father, Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf, he commanded the Meccan army in time of war.
Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf was a prominent member of the Quraysh (Quraish) tribe of Mecca in modern-day Saudi Arabia. The Banu Abd Shams sub-clan of the Quraish tribe and their descendants take its name from him.
Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf was, presumably, the oldest son of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. His younger brothers were Muttalib, Nawfal and Hashim, after whom the Banu Hashim tribe was named.
The Banu Umayyad clan was named after his son Umayya ibn Abd Shams. Abd Shams was the great-great-grandfather of the sahabi Uthman ibn Affan (d.656), the third Caliph of the Muslim Ummah (community).
Umayya ibn ‘Abd Shams. Ancestor of the Umayyads, who were the principal clan of the Quraysh in Mecca. Like his father, Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf, he commanded the Meccan army in time of war.
Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf was a prominent member of the Quraysh (Quraish) tribe of Mecca in modern-day Saudi Arabia. The Banu Abd Shams sub-clan of the Quraish tribe and their descendants take its name from him.
Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf was, presumably, the oldest son of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. His younger brothers were Muttalib, Nawfal and Hashim, after whom the Banu Hashim tribe was named.
The Banu Umayyad clan was named after his son Umayya ibn Abd Shams. Abd Shams was the great-great-grandfather of the sahabi Uthman ibn Affan (d.656), the third Caliph of the Muslim Ummah (community).
Umayya ibn Abi’l-Salt
Umayya ibn Abi’l-Salt (d. 629). Arab poet, contemporary of the Prophet. He is said to have refused to recognize the Prophet’s claim to be God’s Messenger. There are similarities, and divergences, between the Qur’an on the one hand and the recognition of one personal God, the eschatological conceptions of the Last Judgment, Hell and Paradise, and the appeals for a moral life found in Umayya’s poems on the other. The agreement between the Qur’an and Umayya’s poems may be explained from the fact that before and at the Prophet’s time currents of thought related to the concept of monotheism had attracted wide circles, especially in Mecca and Ta’if.
Umayya ibn Abi’l-Salt (d. 629). Arab poet, contemporary of the Prophet. He is said to have refused to recognize the Prophet’s claim to be God’s Messenger. There are similarities, and divergences, between the Qur’an on the one hand and the recognition of one personal God, the eschatological conceptions of the Last Judgment, Hell and Paradise, and the appeals for a moral life found in Umayya’s poems on the other. The agreement between the Qur’an and Umayya’s poems may be explained from the fact that before and at the Prophet’s time currents of thought related to the concept of monotheism had attracted wide circles, especially in Mecca and Ta’if.
Umma
Umma (Ummah). Arabic term for the political, social, and spiritual community of Muslims. The term umma refers to the whole of the brotherhood of Muslims.
The Arabic word umma means “people” or “community.” The term umma refers to the worldwid community of Muslims. Although the Arabic word jama’a is nearly synonymous with umma, the word jama’a is now associated almost exclusively with the Sunni branch of Islam, as in the expression ahl al-sunna wa-l-jama’a, “people of the custom and the community [of Muhammad],” while the word umma, both in meaning and in usage, encompasses the entire Muslim community, Shi‘ite as well as Sunni.
Umma is both a scriptural and theological concept and a descriptive historical reality. In both senses, the term has far-reaching importance.
The earliest Islamic usage of umma occurs in the Qur’an, where it is integral to Muhammad’s revelatory dicta on prophecy. Each community is defined by the presence in its midst of a prophetic or apostolic figure, whose function is to declare the divine intent for the community to which he has been sent {see Sura 6:42, 10:48, etc.}. While many of the prophets, including Muhammad, were not accepted without resistance, hostility, and often violent opposition to their teaching, it is they alone who provide the standard by which their respective communities will ultimately be judged on the Day of Reckoning.
The Qur’an extolls Muhammad as God’s chosen apostle to the Arabs; at the same time, it alludes to the intrinsic unity of all humanity as a single community {see Sura 10:19, 11:118}. The potential recovery of unitary identity is possible through common adherence to a revealed book (kitab). All People of the Book (ahl al-kitab), therefore, are esteemed because of their book, however much they may have reviled their respective prophets or distorted the true content of prophetic discourse. Muhammad is viewed as the final prophet, to whom was revealed a book without error or contradiction, the Qur’an. From a
Muslim perspective, the Qur’an surpassed all other books and Muhammad’s prophecy was the culmination of all prophecy. Nevertheless, the subsequent evolution of protected peoples in the expanding Muslim world partially derives from the Qur’anic appeal to the original social unity of mankind.
The notion of umma or community was variously interpreted by the Muslim rulers who succeeded Muhammad and tried to apply his revelatory utterances to changing circumstances. The decisive norm was established under the second Caliph, ‘Umar. At ‘Umar’s direction, a divan or register was compiled. Excluding Jews and Christians, the divan ranked members of Muhammad’s community by a strict chronological standard: the date of their profession of loyalty (bai’at) to the Prophet. Highest on the list were the Meccans who had been senior companions of Muhammad. Next were the loyal helper families of Medina, followed by later Meccan converts to Islam, and then Arab tribes, according to the date of their leaders’ profession of Islam. The Prophet’s wives and family were alos accorded a special albeit imprecise place of respect.
‘Umar’s divan was never abrogated, but it was challenged by some and ignored by others. Shi’ite Muslims, who recognize no legitimate successor to Muhammad before Ali, the fourth caliph, claim for themselves a relationship of supreme intimacy to Muhammad through Ali, the Prophet’s closest male relative among the sahaba -- the companions to the Prophet. Shi‘ites reject ‘Umar’s divan, along with ‘Umar. By contrast, the mawali, or clients to the Arabs in lands conquered beyond the peninsula, at first paired their own social ranking to an Arab tribe under the Umayyads, but then gradually came to seek an independent, regional identity under the ‘Abbasids and subsequent dynasties.
The proliferation of regional ruling groups under the later ‘Abbasids, the emergence of three major, often competing medieval Islamic empires, and finally the development of a series of Muslim nation-states in the present century -- all seem to undermine the validity of umma as a workable concern vital to the world view of Muslim peoples. Yet the ideal persists; its tenacity should not be minimized or disregarded because of historical circumstances, many of them beyond the control of Muslim leaders. The pan-Islamic movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the current widespread revival of Islamic loyalties indicate that umma as a vision of religious solidarity continues to inspire Muslims when they react to threats -- whether perceived as Western, colonialist, secular, modernist, or communist -- against the traditional norms and values of Islam.
At the present time, the demographic profile of Islam is more non-Arab than Arab, more Asian and African than Middle Eastern. The total number of Muslims worldwide is not less than 650 million and perhaps as high as one billion. There are few authoritative sources on demographic statistics, in large part because few Muslim countries conduct a periodic census with the persistent attention to detail that characterizes the census process in Western Europe and the United States.
Today it is necessary to discard the common assumption that Islam is an ethnically Arab, regionally Middle Eastern religion. Muslims do face an Arabian city, Mecca, when they pray daily; they do believe in an Arabian prophet of the Quraysh tribe, Muhammad; and they do accord a unique role to Arabic as the language of the Qur’an and ritual prayer. However, Islam itself is a transregional, multilinguistic, polyethnic, culturally varied community. Muslims bow to Mecca from many directions of the planet Earth.
Umma is the denotation for the community of Muslims, that is, the totatlity of all Muslims. The term comes from a word that simply means “people.” In the Qur’an, the word is used in several senses, but it always indicates a group of people that are a part of a divine plan and salvation. There is even an example of the word being used for an individual, Abraham (Sura 16:120).
Umma when used for a group is often to be understood as confined by ethnicity or linguistics. However, in the Qur’an, this situation was not original:
Once the community of men was one; then they disagreed; if it was not for the word that had come from the Lord, their disagreements would have been settled {Sura 10:20}.
It appears that in the early days of Islam, umma was used for the population of Mecca, but with the development of Islam, the umma of Muhammad changed to become believers, and therefore excluded Meccans that had not converted. The umma term has without being a central theologifcal concept, been crucial to the Muslim understanding of unity.
Umma is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation". It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or (in the context of pan-Arabism) the whole Arab world. In the context of Islam, the word umma is used to mean the diaspora or "Community of the Believers" (ummat al-mu'minin), and thus the whole Muslim world.
The phrase Umma Wahida in the Qur'an (the "One Community") refers to all of the Islamic world unified. The Quran says: “You [Muslims] are the best nation brought out for Mankind, commanding what is righteous (Ma'ruf - lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong (Munkar - lit. "unrecognized [as good]")....” [3:110].
On the other hand, in Arabic Umma can also be used in the more Western sense of nation, for example: Al-Umma Al-Muttahida, the United Nations.
The Constitution of Medina, an early document said to have been negotiated by Muhammad in 622 with the leading clans of Medina, explicitly refers to Jewish and pagan citizens of Medina as members of the Umma.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the main organization representing the whole Muslim Umma.
Ummah see Umma
People see Umma
Community see Umma
The notion of umma or community was variously interpreted by the Muslim rulers who succeeded Muhammad and tried to apply his revelatory utterances to changing circumstances. The decisive norm was established under the second Caliph, ‘Umar. At ‘Umar’s direction, a divan or register was compiled. Excluding Jews and Christians, the divan ranked members of Muhammad’s community by a strict chronological standard: the date of their profession of loyalty (bai’at) to the Prophet. Highest on the list were the Meccans who had been senior companions of Muhammad. Next were the loyal helper families of Medina, followed by later Meccan converts to Islam, and then Arab tribes, according to the date of their leaders’ profession of Islam. The Prophet’s wives and family were alos accorded a special albeit imprecise place of respect.
‘Umar’s divan was never abrogated, but it was challenged by some and ignored by others. Shi’ite Muslims, who recognize no legitimate successor to Muhammad before Ali, the fourth caliph, claim for themselves a relationship of supreme intimacy to Muhammad through Ali, the Prophet’s closest male relative among the sahaba -- the companions to the Prophet. Shi‘ites reject ‘Umar’s divan, along with ‘Umar. By contrast, the mawali, or clients to the Arabs in lands conquered beyond the peninsula, at first paired their own social ranking to an Arab tribe under the Umayyads, but then gradually came to seek an independent, regional identity under the ‘Abbasids and subsequent dynasties.
The proliferation of regional ruling groups under the later ‘Abbasids, the emergence of three major, often competing medieval Islamic empires, and finally the development of a series of Muslim nation-states in the present century -- all seem to undermine the validity of umma as a workable concern vital to the world view of Muslim peoples. Yet the ideal persists; its tenacity should not be minimized or disregarded because of historical circumstances, many of them beyond the control of Muslim leaders. The pan-Islamic movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the current widespread revival of Islamic loyalties indicate that umma as a vision of religious solidarity continues to inspire Muslims when they react to threats -- whether perceived as Western, colonialist, secular, modernist, or communist -- against the traditional norms and values of Islam.
At the present time, the demographic profile of Islam is more non-Arab than Arab, more Asian and African than Middle Eastern. The total number of Muslims worldwide is not less than 650 million and perhaps as high as one billion. There are few authoritative sources on demographic statistics, in large part because few Muslim countries conduct a periodic census with the persistent attention to detail that characterizes the census process in Western Europe and the United States.
Today it is necessary to discard the common assumption that Islam is an ethnically Arab, regionally Middle Eastern religion. Muslims do face an Arabian city, Mecca, when they pray daily; they do believe in an Arabian prophet of the Quraysh tribe, Muhammad; and they do accord a unique role to Arabic as the language of the Qur’an and ritual prayer. However, Islam itself is a transregional, multilinguistic, polyethnic, culturally varied community. Muslims bow to Mecca from many directions of the planet Earth.
Umma is the denotation for the community of Muslims, that is, the totatlity of all Muslims. The term comes from a word that simply means “people.” In the Qur’an, the word is used in several senses, but it always indicates a group of people that are a part of a divine plan and salvation. There is even an example of the word being used for an individual, Abraham (Sura 16:120).
Umma when used for a group is often to be understood as confined by ethnicity or linguistics. However, in the Qur’an, this situation was not original:
Once the community of men was one; then they disagreed; if it was not for the word that had come from the Lord, their disagreements would have been settled {Sura 10:20}.
It appears that in the early days of Islam, umma was used for the population of Mecca, but with the development of Islam, the umma of Muhammad changed to become believers, and therefore excluded Meccans that had not converted. The umma term has without being a central theologifcal concept, been crucial to the Muslim understanding of unity.
Umma is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation". It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or (in the context of pan-Arabism) the whole Arab world. In the context of Islam, the word umma is used to mean the diaspora or "Community of the Believers" (ummat al-mu'minin), and thus the whole Muslim world.
The phrase Umma Wahida in the Qur'an (the "One Community") refers to all of the Islamic world unified. The Quran says: “You [Muslims] are the best nation brought out for Mankind, commanding what is righteous (Ma'ruf - lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is wrong (Munkar - lit. "unrecognized [as good]")....” [3:110].
On the other hand, in Arabic Umma can also be used in the more Western sense of nation, for example: Al-Umma Al-Muttahida, the United Nations.
The Constitution of Medina, an early document said to have been negotiated by Muhammad in 622 with the leading clans of Medina, explicitly refers to Jewish and pagan citizens of Medina as members of the Umma.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the main organization representing the whole Muslim Umma.
Ummah see Umma
People see Umma
Community see Umma
