Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (r.a) used to say: “There will be among my off-springs a man with a scar in his face who will fill the earth with justice same as it was filled with injustice and oppression.”
Once an animal hit a boy leaving a scar in his face, his father said while wiping the blood off his face: “If you were to be the one with a scar, then you would be the happiest among the Umayyads". That boy was Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz. The caliph who changed the oppression and injustice into justice, and who lived a life full of virtues and wisdom.
When he was assigned as a caliph, Omar Ibn Abdul Aziz discarded and left the pompous accessories of a princely life–servants, slaves, maids, horses, palaces, golden robes and landed estates–and returned them to the public treasury. His family and relatives were given the same orders. He became known as the Fifth Rightly Guided Caliph of the Islamic nation because of his similarity to the Rightly Guided Caliphs.
He ruled just for two and a half year but this period was enough to change the life of the whole empire. His reforms made the empire with no poor. It has been narrated by Yahya bin Said, who was governor at the time :
“I was sent by Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz to collect zakat from Africa. After collecting it, I intended to give it to the poor people. However, I did not find one. Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz has made all the people rich during that time. Finally, I decided to use the zakat fund to buy and emancipate slaves"
Amongst many firsts, Omar Ibn Abdul Aziz was the first Muslim ruler to turn his attention away from external conquest. He recalled the Muslim armies from the borders of France, India and the outskirts of Constantinople. It was during his Caliphate that internal uprisings and disturbances ceased.
He was the first ruler to stop people from cursing Imam ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib (r.a) from the minarets, an orders that Umaiyyads used to give.
He was the first revivalist Emir (prince), a real ascetic that left the lavish and extravagant life of places to the life of worship and piety.
He treated Bani Hashim and the Shi’as with fairness and dignity. He even extended his hand to the Kharijites. According to Ibn Kathir, he wrote to the Kharijite leader Bostam, inviting him to an open discussion about the Caliphate of Uthman (r.a) and Ali (r.a).
However, these beautiful and twinkling days soon ended when a slave who was bribed by Umayyads to administered a deadly poison. When the Caliph felt the effects of the poison and had come to understand the plot he sent for the slave and asked him why? The slave replied that he was given one thousand dinars so Omar then deposited that exact amount into the Public Treasury and freed the slave. He advised him to leave immediately in case Omar’s enemies killed him. Omar Ibn Abdul Aziz died after a rule that lasted only two and a half years. He was thirty-nine years old at the time of his death.
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