Umar
2nd Rashidun Caliph from 634 to 644 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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.[3] After Muhammad's death in June 632, Umar pledged allegiance to hazrat Abu Bakr rz. (r. 632–634 ) 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.[4] 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.[5] Umar was assassinated by the Persian slave Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz in November 644.[a]
Umar is said to be one of the most powerful Muslim caliphs.[7] He is revered in the Sunni Islamic tradition.[8] More than 50 hadiths speak of how he was the second greatest Sahabah after Abu Bakr.[9][10] 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. [11]
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Notes
- The date of Umar's death in the Islamic calendar is disputed. Although the sources are unanimous that Umar was stabbed in the last week of Dhu al-Hijjah, he reportedly died a few days later. According to an account of the 8th-century Medinian historian Ibn Ishaq (d. 767), Umar was stabbed on the 27th of Dhu al-Hijjah and died on the 1st of Muharram. In the work of al-Tabari (d. 923), Umar is variously reported to have died on 26th of Dhu al-Hijjah, 27th of Dhu al-Hijjah or the 1st of Muharram.[6]
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