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Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz
Umar bin Abdul Aziz, the celebrated Umayyad caliph whose empire stretched from the shores of the Atlantic to the highlands of Pamir, was sitting In his private chamber examining a pile of State documents. The dim light of the room was adding to the serenity and somberness of the place and the Caliph could scarcely feel the arrival of his wife, Fatima, till she addressed him:
“Sire! Will you spare a few moments for me? I want to discuss some private matter with you.”
“Of course”, replied the pious caliph, raising his head from the papers, “But, please put off this state lamp and light your own, as I do not want to burn the State oil for our private talk.”
The obedient wife, who was the daughter of Abdul Malik, the mighty Umayyad Caliph and the sister of two successive Umayyad Caliphs, Waleed and Sulaiman, complied accordingly.
The short rule of Hazrat Umar bin Abdul Aziz was like an oasis in a vast desert-a benevolent rain which had fallen on an arid soil. It was the brightest period in the 91-year caliphate of the Umayyads, which, though short lived, had transformed the outlook of the State and had released such powerful democratic forces that after his death the attempts for the restoration of autocracy under Hisham failed miserably and ultimately culminated in the fall of the Umayyads at the hands of the Abbasides.
Umar bin Abdul Aziz, surnamed ‘al Khaliphat as Saleh’ (the pious Caliph) was the sun of Abdul Aziz, the governor of Egypt, and his mother, Umme-Aasim was the grand daughter of Caliph Umar. He was born in 63 A.H.i.e. 682 A.C. in Halwan, a village of Egypt, but he received his education in Medina from his mother’s uncle, the celebrated Abdulla ibn Umar. Medina, which in those days was the highest seat of learning in the world of Islam, was greatly instrumental in molding his life to a pattern quite distinct from those of other Umayyad Caliphs. He remained there till his father’s death in 704 A.C., when he was summoned by his uncle Caliph Abdul Malik and was married to his daughter Fatima. He was appointed governor of Medina in 706 A.C. by Caliph Waleed. Unlike other autocratic governors, immediately on arrival in Medina, he formed an advisory council of ten eminent jurists and notables of the holy city and carried on the administration with their consultation. He empowered them to keep a watchful eye over his subordinates. This step had a salutary effect on the residents of Medina, who hailed his beneficent Administration. He successfully strove to erase the signs of ravages, committed in the holy cities of Islam under Yazid and Abdul Malik. During his two-year stay as the governor of Medina, he repaired and enlarged the Mosque of the Prophet as well as beautified the holy cities with public structures; constructed hundreds of new aqueducts and improved the suburban roads leading to Medina. “Moderate, yet firm”, says Ameer Ali, “anxious to promote the welfare of the people whom he governed, Umar’s rule proved beneficent to all classes.” His patriotic rule was for the good of his subjects.
His administration of impartial justice went against the interests of the Umayyads who were accustomed to all sorts of licences and could hardly tolerate any check on their unbounded freedom. They plotted against the life of this virtuous member of their clan. A slave of the caliph was bribed to administer the deadly poison. The Caliph having felt the effect of the poison sent for the slave and asked him why he had posined him. The slave replied that he was given one thousand dinars for the purpose. The caliph depositied the amount in the public treasury and freeing the slave asked to leave the place immediately, lest anyone might kill him. Thus died in 719 A.C. at the young age of 36 at a place called Dair Siman (the convent of Siman) near hems, one of the nobelest souls ever lived in this world. His martyrdom plunged islamic world in glom. It was a day of national mourning; the populace of the small town came out to pay their last homage to the departed leader. He was burred in Dair Siman on a piece of land he purchased from a Christian.
Muhammad ibn Mobad who happened to be in the Durbar of the Roman Emperor at the time reports that he found Emperor in drooping spirits. On enquiry he replied, “A virtuous person has passed away. This is Umar bin Abdul Aziz. After Christ if anyone could put a dead person to life it was he. I am hardly surprised to see an ascetic who renounced the world and gave himself to the prayers of God. But I am certainly surprised at a person who had all the pleasures of the world at his feet and yet he shut his eyes against them and passed a life of piety and renunciation”
He reportedly left behind only 17 dinars with a will that out of the amount the rent of the house in which he died and the price of the land in which he was buried would be paid.
Source: Hundred Great Muslims by K.J. Ahmad
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