The caliphate of 'Umar -III

Conquest of Jerusalem , 15 AH/ 636 AD
In course of time, when Muslim troops were winning victories in
Antakiyah and its suburbs, Yazeed bin Abu Sufyaan the governor of
Damascus sent his brother, Mu'aawiyah bin Abu Sufyaan towards
Qaisariyah (Caesarea or Kayseri) as per the Caliph's order. After a
heavy toll of 80,000 Christians, the city fell to the Muslims.
Heraclius now ordered Artabun, anoted general, to gather troops in
Ajnadain. Artabun kept a huge army under his direct command and two
other detachments in Ramlah and Jerusalem . The opponents of Islam
were well-equipped and huge in number, awaiting the arrival of the
Muslim force. 'Amr bin Al-'Aas marched to Ajnadain to face Artabun
while he dispatched Alqamah bin Hakeem Firaasi and Masroor bin Al-Akki
to Jerusalem and Abu 'Ayyoob Al-Maaliki to Ramlah with the permission
of Abu 'Ubaydah . A fierce battle was fought in Ajnadain. It was a
conflict similar to Yarmook. Artabun could not muster courage to face
'Amr bin Al-'Aas and fled to Jerusalem and the cityfell to the Muslim
forces.
After the getaway of Artabun to Jerusalem, 'Amr bin Al-'Aas conquered
Ghazzah (Gaza), Sabastiyah, Nabulus (Nablus), Ludd, Amawas, Bayt
Jibreen, and Yafa (Yafo). He then proceeded to Jerusalem and tightened
the siege. About the same time, Abu 'Ubaydah had proceeded to
Palestine . The news of his arrival disheartened the besieged
Christians who until then, had been defending themselves. They were
left with no alternative but to accept peace negotiations. All of them
knew about the readiness of the Muslims to accept a peace proposal and
theireasy terms. However, the Christians of Jerusalem put an unusual
condition on finalizing the peace agreement. They wanted the Caliph of
Islam to reach Jerusalem to write down the peace document. Even though
the fall of the city was only a matter of time, Abu 'Ubaydah was in
favor of avoiding further death and destruction, so he preferred peace
to war. He wrote a letter tothe Caliph describing the whole account of
events with the request that his arrival in Jerusalem could win for
them thecity without shedding a drop of blood.
'Umar convened a meeting ofall the distinguished Companions and
consulted them. 'Uthmaan declared that the Christians had been struck
with terror and had lost heart and that if the Caliph were to reject
their request, they would be still more humiliated, and consider that
theMuslims regarded them with utter contempt, they would lay down
their arms unconditionally.'Ali however, dissented from this view and
gave the contrary opinion; and 'Umar shared the same opinion.
'Umar's journey to Palestine
On this historic mission to Jerusalem , a bag full of parched barley
meal, a camel, a slave, and a wooden cup were all the belongings of
'Umar the Chiefof the Muslims, when he left Al-Madeenah, the
headquarters ofIslam. Leaving 'Uthmaan in charge of Al-Madeenah, he
set out on the journey noted for its strain and stress.
It was a unique scenario of Islamic equality and human dignity, that
at times, the Caliph sat on the camel and the slave walked along
holding the rein of the camel and at other times, vice versa. It was
the journey of a magnificent and powerful Islamicruler whose cavalry
had already trampled down palaces and crowns and thrones under the
hooves of its horses. It was Rajab16 AH (After Hijrah), when Madaa'in
and Antakiyah ( Antioch ) had been conquered.
The commanders of the Muslim forces at Damascus and Jerusalem had
already been informed aboutthe movement of the Caliph of Islam. Thus
Yazeed bin Abu Sufyaan, Abu 'Ubaydah bin Al-Jarraah and Khaalid bin
Al-Waleed received the Caliph of Islam with exemplary honor. However,
when 'Umar saw them arrayed in brilliant dresses and imposing
appearance, he flew into a fit of rage at the sight of them and
remarked: "Within the short span of two years have you fallen into
Persian habits?" However, when the officers explained that they had
their weapons beneath their luxurious dresses and they had not lost
their Islamic character, the Caliphgained peace of heart.
The Caliph stayed for a long whileat Jabiah, where some of the nobles
of the city proceeded to see him and the treaty was drawn up there.
The elite of the Companions like Khaalid bin Al-Waleed, 'Amr bin
Al-'Aas, 'Abdur-Rahmaan bin 'Awf and Mu'aawiyah subscribed to it.
The Conquest of Egypt
During 'Umar's stay in Jerusalem , 'Amr bin Al-'Aas had obtained his
consent for launching an attack on Egypt . 'Amr marched to Egypt at
the head of 4000 troops. In his dispatch from Al-Madeenah, the Caliph
of Islam put before Muqawqis, the king of Egypt , three conditions:
accept Islam or pay Jizyah (poll protection tax as a sign of their
surrender to Muslims) or prepare for battle. The Roman general Artabun
along with his entire army was in Egypt at that time. First Artabun
moved forward andthen fled the battlefield after experiencing a
decisive defeat.
Afterwards the Muslim army advanced further and laid siege around 'Ayn
ash-Shams and from there dispatched two squadrons to besiege Farama
and Alexandria . Both the cities fell to the Muslim troops. 'Amr bin
Al-'Aas then sent Az-Zubayr bin Al-Awwaam to Fustaat as a commander;
he conquered the fortified citadel after a heavy encounter. 'Amr bin
Al-'Aas attacked Alexandria , which fell after a siege of three
months.
The Summary of Conquests
The area of conquests during the Caliphate of 'Umar is said to have
spread over 2,2,500,000 square miles. This was the result of victories
won by people who were once considered "small and wretched" against
the mighty empires of Persia and Rome . The conquests of the Caliph
'Umar include Persia , Iraq , Jazeerah, Khurasaan, Baluchistan , Syria
, Palestine , Egypt , and Armenia . The provinces carved out by 'Umar
himself in 22 AH, were Makkah, Al-Madeenah, Syria, Jazirah, Basrah,
Kufah, Egypt, Palestine, Khurasaan, Azerbaijan and Persia. Some of
them were equal to two provinces in area, with two centers of power
and separate governors and their administrations.
Firsts accomplished by 'Umar
'Umar invented and enforced many things in the sphere of financial,
political, administrative and social spheres, which are
accomplishments first instituted by him. Some of them are mentioned
below:
· He set up a formal Bayt-ul-Maal or public treasury and
introduced the Hijri calendar
· He adopted the appellation of Ameer Al-Mu'mineen (Commander of
the Faithful)
· He established a regular department for the military; a
separate department for financialaffairs, and fixed the salaries for
men in voluntary services.
· He also introduced the practice of measuring the land and
keeping its record, adopted acensus system, he had canals dugand
populated cities like Koofah, Basrah, Jeezah, Fustaat ( Cairo ) and
delineated provinces out of the occupied territories.
· He was first to allow traders of rival countries to enter
Muslim territories for the purpose of business.
· He was also the first to makeuse of the whip for corporal
punishment and set up a prison and police department.
· He introduced a system of collecting direct information
concerning states and conditions of the masses, he established a
secret intelligence service.
· He had wells bored, built houses and fixed a daily payment for
the destitute among the Christians and the Jews.
Martyrdom of 'Umar Al-Faarooq
'Umar was one day walking in Al-Madeenah when a Persian youth, named
Fayrouz who was known by the patronymic `Abu-Lu'lu'ah, met him. That
youth was a slave under Al-Mugheerah bin Shu'bah and had been taken
captive after the conquest of Nahawand. He complained to the Commander
ofthe Faithful about his master, saying that he had imposed uponhim a
very heavy tax. 'Umar askedhim about his job, and he answered that he
worked as a carpenter, a blacksmith and a house painter. Then 'Umar
remarked that the tax his master had imposed upon him was quitefair,
but the youth was not happywith that remark, and went awayfull of
indignation.
The next day when the people assembled in the mosque to perform the
morning prayer, Fayrouz came into the mosque armed with a poisonous
dagger. As the ranks of the congregation were put straight and in
order, and 'Umar came up and took his position at the head of the
ranks to lead the prayer, Fayrouz suddenly rushed from the first rank
and struck 'Umar six consecutive blows, one of which fell below his
navel.
He was wounded on Wednesday, Thul-Hijjah 27, 23 AH, died, and was
buried on Muharram 1, 24 AH. His term as Caliph was ten and a half
years. Suhayb led his funeral prayer. ' Ali , Az -Zubayr, 'Uthmaan,
'Abdur-Rahmaan bin 'Awf and 'Abdullaahbin 'Umar lowered his body into
the grave and performed theburial service.