http://www.renaissance.com.pk/novletfor95.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_ibn_Abd_al-Aziz
What is truely remarkable that he did this even when his Ummayyad predecessors had totally forgotten the ways of the pious caliphs(RA).
Re: Truly a Pious caliph
that is why he is sometimes called the 5th khalifa-e-rashid....
Re: Truly a Pious caliph
Mashallah. If only we could have rulers like him today!
*During one of his frequent disguised journeys to check on the condition of his people, Umar overheard a milkmaid refusing to obey her mother's orders to sell adultered 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 unadultered. 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.
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 caliphal 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 pressured his own wife--who had been daughter, sister and wife to three caliphs in their turn--to donate her jewelry to the public treasury*
His 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.
Re: Truly a Pious caliph
:k:
Re: Truly a Pious caliph
Yes I think he has every right to be called a 5th pious caliph.Tragedy is 4 out of the 5 pious caliphs were assasinated atleast 3 of them by muslims.
His foreign policy is also noteworthy no offensive wars but a strong defence.
Re: Truly a Pious caliph
Skimmed through some of the first link. Truly great stuff, masha'Allah.
Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
Re: Truly a Pious caliph
Umer Bin Abdul Aziz :rehm: is also therefore called Umer-e-Thaani …
Re: Truly a Pious caliph
Agreed.