Umar

Umar ibn al-Khattab (Arabic: عُمَر بْن ٱلْخَطَّاب, romanized: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb; c. 582/583 – 644), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634, when he succeeded Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) as the second caliph, until his assassination in 644. Umar was a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

At first, Umar opposed Muhammad and was enemy of Islam. After his conversion to Islam in 616, Umar became the first Muslim to openly pray at the Kaaba. After Muhammad's death in June 632, Umar pledged allegiance to hazrat Abu Bakr rz. () as the first disputed caliph. Umar served as the closest adviser to the Bakr until August 634. It was then that the dying Abu Bakr made Umar his successor.

Under Umar, the caliphate expanded. It ruled the Sasanian Empire and more than two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire. His attacks on the Sasanian Empire resulted in the conquest of Persia in less than two years. Jewish tradition says that Umar set aside the Christian ban on Jews and let them into Jerusalem and to worship. Umar was assassinated by the Persian slave Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz in November 644.

Umar is said to be one of the most powerful Muslim caliphs. He is revered in the Sunni Islamic tradition. More than 50 hadiths speak of how he was the second greatest  Sahabah after Abu Bakr. He is viewed negatively in the Twelver Shia tradition, although Shi'ite figures often married into his family and named their children after him. They view his killer as a martyr although he was not a Muslim. 

 Notes 

Related pages
 Sahaba

References

Bibliography


 Guillaume, A., The Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press, 1955.
 Previte-Orton, C. W. (1971). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Donner, Fred, The Early Islamic Conquests'', Princeton University Press, 1981.











Other websites

 Excerpt from The History of the Khalifahs by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti
 Sirah of Amirul Muminin Umar Bin Khattab by Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya al-Husayni al-Ninowy.


Category:586 births
Category:644 deaths
Category:Caliphs
Category:Assassinated people