Transcript Ashuraa and Men of Valor

Omar (r)
Military Expansion
A.S. Hashim, MD
From wikipedia.com
Sources of Reference
Al Farooq, Omar, Muhammad Husayn Haykal
al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings
Tabqat ibn Sa'ad.
al-Suyuti, The History of Khalifahs
Madelung, Wilferd. The Succession to Muhammad.
K. Y. Blankinship, The History of al-Tabari
Early Khilaafah, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ya’qub
Khan
Modern Islamic political thought, Hahmid Enayat,
Encyclopedia Britannica
al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah by ibn Kathir
Armstrong,
In this Slide Show
The Islamic Empire Grows
Countries Annexed
The Exacting Taskmaster
Omar and Mu’awiya
The Secret of their Success
The Great Famine
The Plague
Jerusalem
Mosque of Omar
Assassination
Abu Lu’ lu’ah
Islam Gives
The Islamic Empire Grows
It is widely believed that Omar stressed more on:
consolidating his power and
political influence in the conquered land,
rather than pursuing conquests.
Nevertheless under Omar:
The Islamic empire grew at an unprecedented rate.
In 638, after the conquest of Syria, Omar dismissed Khalid, his
most successful general due to his ever-growing fame and
influence.
Later however Omar regretted over his decision.
The military conquests were halted between 638-639 during the
years of great famine and plague in Arabia and Levant
respectively.
Countries Annexed
During Omar’s reign the following countries were
annexed to Islamic Empire:
Iraq and Syria
Egypt, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Fezzan,
Eastern Anatolia,
almost the whole of Sassani Persian Empire including
Bactria, Persia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Caucasus and
Makran
According to one estimate more than 4,050 cities
were captured during these military conquest.
The Zeal and the Rush to Annex
Anatolia
Caucuses
Syria
Tripoli
Iraq
Persia
Egypt
Omar: Consolidating his Rule
Prior to his death in 644, Omar had ceased
all military expeditions
apparently to consolidate his rule in Egypt and
the newly conquered Persian Empire (642644).
At his death in November 644, domain of his
rule extended from present day Libya in west to
Indus river in east and Oxus river in north.
See map in next slide
Omar's Empire, 644
Omar's empire at its peak, 644.
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Omar and his Generals
Exacting
Demanding of his Generals
Taskmaster
Strategy
Lending his ears to complaints
Quick to dismiss
The Exacting Taskmaster
Omar was a most exacting taskmaster for all his generals and
governors.
He was quick to lend his ears to any complaint against them,
and he was even quicker to dismiss them
–with one exception – Mu'awiya!
Omar was forever indulgent to the sons of Abu Sufyan and the clan of
Banu Umayya.
Mu'awiya, (the son of Abu Sufyan and Hind), as the governor of Syria,
lived in Damascus in imperial splendor,
surrounded by a glittering retinue.
It was a lifestyle that Omar did not tolerate in any other governor.
But Mu'awiya, for him, was a "special," and the rules which applied to
others, did not apply to him.
Omar and Mu’awiya
Tabari has recorded the following incident:
Omar was in Damascus and Mu'awiya came to see him every day –
mornings and evenings –
Mu'awiya arrives bedecked in regal outfit, with splendidly caparisoned
mounts and escorts.
When Omar commented, rather acidly, upon his pageantry, Mu'awiya said
that:
Syria was swarming with Roman spies, and it was necessary to impress
them with the "glory" of Islam.
His pageantry, he said, was only the outward emblem of that glory - the
glory of Islam.
But Omar was not convinced, and remarked: "This is a trap laid by
the slick and guileful man."
Omar and Mu’awiya
Mu'awiya answered: "Then I will do whatever you say, O Commander
of the Faithful."
Omar answered back: “Even if I raise an objection, you baffle and
bewilder me with words. I am at a loss to know what to do."
Here Omar condones Mu'awiya in anything and everything.
Omar, in fact, appears to be ostentatiously courting Abu Sufyan and
his sons.
Once Omar placed them at the helm of affairs, they consolidated
their position, and it became impossible to dislodge them.
It was in this manner that the secular, predatory, imperialist and
economically exploitative Benu Umayya were foisted upon the
Muslims.
The cultivation of Benu Umayya, it appears, was one of the
constants in Saqifa's policy equation.
The Secret of their Success
According to many, the secret of the military success was in the piety
and the religious zeal of the Muslim soldiers.
The propulsive power behind the Arab conquests of the seventh
century, they say, came from Islam,
And every Arab who left the peninsula to attack the Fertile
Crescent, was a mujahid, fighting for the glory of God.
This claim, however, is only partly true.
Without a doubt there were those Muslims who wished to spread
the light of Islam in the world
but the overwhelming majority fought for the material rewards that
the conquests promised to bring to them.
They had developed a distinctly secular appetite for power and
riches.
Conquest, Plague, and Famine
Omar's Khilaafah is notable for its many conquests. His generals
conquered:
Iraq, Iran, Atherbaijan, Kirman, Seistan, Khurasan, Syria, Jordan,
Palestine and Egypt, and incorporated them into the empire of the
Muslims.
All of these were permanent conquests.
The Romans lost Syria, Palestine and Egypt forever; and in
Persia, the Sassani Empire ceased to exist.
Among other events of the Khilaafah of Omar, were:
the first outbreak of plague in Syria in 18 A.H.,
and a famine in Hijaz in the same year.
Between them, the plague and the famine killed more than 25,000
people.
Omar and his Generals
After dismissing Khalid bin al-Walid as supreme commander of the
forces in Syria,
Omar appointed him, for a time, as governor of the district of
Qinnisirin ‫قنصرين‬
but Omar dismissed him again for his alleged "pomposity."
It is said Khalid died in poverty.
Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas, the victor of the battle of Qadisiya fought
against the Persians,
Sa’ad was Omar's governor of Iraq.
He too was dismissed in 21 A.H.
Many were appointed then removed from office, except one:
That exception was Mu’awiya, whom Omar coveted and was too
timid to replace him.
The Great Famine
In the year 638, Arabia fell into severe drought followed
by a famine.
Bedouin people began to die because of hunger and
epidemic diseases,
as a result of drought and famine hundreds of
thousands of people from all over Arabia gathered at
Medina
where due to city life and civic sense, food was
rationed.
Soon the reserves of food at Medina began to decline,
Omar wrote to the provincial governors of Syria,
Palestine and Iraq for the aid.
State of emergency was declared in Medina and Arabia.
The Great Famine
The timely aid of Omar's governors saved life of thousands of people
throughout Arabia.
First governor to respond was Abu Obadiah ibn al-Jarrah, the
governor of Syria and supreme commander of Rashidun army. He
sent a historic letter to Omar saying:
I am sending you caravans whose one end will be here at Syria and
the other will be at Medina.
Later Abu Obadiah paid a personal visit to Medina
and acted as an officer of Disaster Management cell,
which was headed personally by Omar.
Hundreds of thousands of people from desert towns had already
gathered in Medina
People from the desert towns swarmed Medina, once adequate
supply of ration had reached there.
The Great Famine
Omar dispatched his men to the routes of Iraq, Palestine and Syria
to take the supply caravans to the desert settlements deeper into
Arabia, which in turn saved millions from annihilation.
For the internally displaced people, Omar hosted a dinner every night at
Medina.
By early 639 conditions began to improve,
Arabia received rain, goodly precipitation, and soon the famine
ended,
Omar personally supervised the rehabilitation of the displaced
people.
These people were
given adequate ration and
were exempted from payment of Zakat for that year and the next
year.
The Plague
While famine was ending in Arabia, many districts in Syria and Palestine
were devastated by an epidemic of plague.
While Omar was on his way to visit Syria:
at Elat, he was received by Abu Ubaida, the governor of Syria,
who informed him about the plague and its intensity
and he advised Omar to go back to Medina, rather than expose himself to
it.
Omar tried then to persuade Abu Ubaida to go with him to Medina
but Abu Ubaida refused to abandon his troops in such critical situation.
Soon, Abu Ubaida himself contracted the plague and died in 639.
It is said that the plague cost the life of 25,000 Muslims in Syria.
In late 639 Omar visited Syria for its administrative re-organization, as
most of the veteran commanders and governors had died.
20
Conquests, Famine, and Plague
1. Countries Annexed
2. The Exacting
Taskmaster
3. The Great Famine
4. The Plague
5. In Jerusalem
6. Assassination
21
Jerusalem
The siege of Jerusalem was bloodless.
The Byzantine garrison could not expect any help from
the humbled regime of Heracleus.
After a siege of four months, Sophronius offered:
to surrender the city and pay a Jizya (tribute),
on condition that the Khalifa comes to Jerusalem to sign the pact
and accept the surrender.
It is said that when Sophronius' terms became known to
the Muslims,
Abu Obadiah wrote to Khalifa Omar about the situation, and
invited him to come to Jerusalem to accept the surrender of the
city.
Omar with Sophronius
After the Siege of Jerusalem, Patriarch Sophronius refused to
surrender except to the Khalifa Omar himself.
Omar traveled to Jerusalem and accepted the surrender.
He then visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Sophronius invited him to pray inside the Church, but Omar
declined so as not to set a precedent and thereby endanger the
Church's status as a Christian site.
Instead Omar prayed outside in the courtyard.
Hence the Mosque of Omar was built in its current shape by the
Ayyubi Sultan al-Afdhal bin Saladin in 1193 in memory of this event.
It has a 15-meter high minaret that was built before 1465 CE
The Pact
Upon Omar's arrival in Jerusalem, a pact known as The
Omari Covenant was drawn up.
It surrendered the city and gave guarantees of civil and
religious liberty to Christians in exchange for jizya.
It was signed by Khalifa Omar on behalf of the Muslims,
and witnessed by Khalid, Amr, Abdul Rahman and
Mu'awiya.
In late April 637, Jerusalem was officially surrendered
Omar allowed Jews to live in Jerusalem. It was the first
time, after almost 500 years of oppressive rule of the
Romans, that Jews were allowed to enter and worship
freely in their holy city
After staying for ten days at Jerusalem, the Khalifa
returned to Medina.
Mosque of Omar ‫مسجد عمر بن الخطاب‬
During his stay in Jerusalem, Omar was led to the Foundation
Stone on the Temple Mount.
This is the Rock from where, (less than 20 years earlier) Prophet
Muhammad ascended with the Angel Gabriel in his night journey
to heaven; known as "Israa and Mi'raaj ‫"االسراء والمعراج‬.
As Omar cleared the refuse and debris from the site of the Holy of
Holies, a large rock was revealed.
Even more of the rock was exposed through further cleaning.
Omar built a fence around it and ordered the building of a mosque
nearby.
According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem
from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Omar was a rectangular wooden
structure built over ruins, which could accommodate 3,000
worshipers
Masjid Omar in Jerusalem
26
Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa
27
Assassination
In 644, at the zenith of his power, Omar was
assassinated.
His assassination was carried out by Persians, in
response to the Muslim conquest of Persia.
The assassination was planned several months earlier.
In October 644 Omar went for Hajj in Mecca,
the assassins started the hoopla of Omar's possible
death that year,
and the massive crowd of the congregation was used
by the conspirators as a veil to hide themselves.
Conspiracy to Kill Omar
Amongst the conspirators was:
Hormuzan, the alleged mastermind of the plot. He was
Commander in many battles, was captured and brought to
Medina. He embraced Islam, used to give advice to Omar, and
was given a pension.
Ka'ab al-Ahbar ‫ كعب األحبار‬, One of Omar's advisors, a former
Jewish Rabbi, who apparently had converted to Islam, a good
friend of Omar.
Jafinah ‫ جفينة‬, the Christian Arab from Iraq, who was also a foster
brother of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas, former governor of Basra.
Pirouz ‫ فيروز‬, popularly known as Abu Lulu ‫ أبو لؤلؤة‬, he was slave
of Mughira ibn Shu'ba the then governor of Basra.
Abu Lu’ lu’ah ‫أبو لؤلؤة‬
In addition to his superb military skills, Pirouz was a
skilled workman,
a carpenter, blacksmith, and a skillful artisan,
his owner Mughira ibn Shu'ba allowed him to live in his
own household
Omar had given Mughira special permission to send
Abu Lu‘ lu'ah to Medina—since captives were not
permitted to live in Medina.
There are many controversial stories about Abu Lu‘ lu'ah
It is said that he intended to commit his acts due to:
What the Arab-Muslim invaders in Iran had committed,
which resulted in massacre, rape, and looting of their
country
Abu Lu’ lu’ah ‫أبو لؤلؤة‬
Abu Lulu brought a conjectural complaint to Omar about
the high tax he was charged by his master Mughirah.
Mughirah was the governor of Basrah
Omar wrote to Mughirah inquiring about the tax,
Mughirah's reply was satisfactory, and Omar held that the
tax charged to Abu Lulu was reasonable,
Omar then is reported to have asked Abu Lulu:
I heard that you make windmills; make one for me as
well.
In a condescending way, Pirouz said, "Verily I will make
such a mill for you, that whole world would ever
remember".
Abu Lu’ lu’ah ‫أبو لؤلؤة‬
On 3 November 644, Omar was attacked by Abu Lulu
Abu Lulu stabbed him six times in the belly and the last
on the navel, that proved fatal.
Omar was left profusely bleeding while Abu Lulu tried to
flee
but people from all sides rushed to capture him, he in his efforts to
escape is reported to have wounded twelve other people, six or
nine of them later died.
At last he was captured but committed suicide from the same
dagger.
Others claim he escaped then found later and was killed.
Omar died of the wounds three days later on Sunday, 7
November 644.
Ubaidullah ibn Omar Avenges
Ubaidullah ibn Omar, furious, sought to kill all Persians in Medina.
He killed:
Hormuzan,
Jafinah ‫جفينة‬, and
the daughter of Abu Lulu, who is believed to be a Muslim.
Ubaidullah was then intercepted, withholding him from the further
massacre.
It is also believed that Omar’s daughter Hafsa provoked Ubaidullah to
take the punitive action.
The murder of Jafinah, enraged Sa’ad ibn Abi Waqqas, (his foster
brother), and he assaulted Ubaidullah and again the companions
intervened.
Release of Ubaidullah
When Omar was informed about the incident, he ordered
that:
Ubaidullah should be detained and
The next Khalifa to decide his fate.
Uthman succeeded Omar as the Khalifa.
After prolonged negotiations the tribunal decided to give
blood money to the victims
Thus they released Omar's son Ubaidullah,
on the ground that after the tragic incident of Omar's
assassination
people will be further infuriated by execution of his son
the very next day.
Committee of Six
Omar finally appointed a committee of six persons
comprising,
Abdul Rahman ibn Awf
Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas
Talha ibn Obaidullah
Uthman ibn Affan
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Zubair ibn al-Awwam
Their task was to chose a Khalifa from amongst them.
Omar appointed a band of fifty armed soldiers to protect
the house where the meeting was proceeding.
Islam Gives
The hundred years from 632 to 732 were the century of the Arabs.
They were supreme, they were triumphant, they were irresistible and
they were invincible – in that century.
Islam united the Muslims and gave them
a sense of direction,
purpose and
propulsive power.
Without Islam, their future would have been just as irrelevant and
barren as their past had been.
But there is no correlation between their conquests on the one hand,
and piety and religious enthusiasm on the other.
In Conclusion
Omar and military expansion
Discussed in this slide show are:
The Islamic Empire Grows
Countries Annexed
The Exacting Taskmaster
Omar and Mu’awiya
The Great Famine
The Plague
Jerusalem
Mosque of Omar
Assassination
Abu Lu’ lu’ah
Finally we quote the Quran:
By the Token of Time
Verily Man is in loss,
Except those who
believe and do good
works, and exhort one
another to Truth and
exhort one another to
patience.
‫من الرَّ ِح ِيم‬
ِ ‫ِبسْ ِم‬
ِ ْ‫هللا الرَّ ح‬
‫َو ْال َعصْ ِر‬
‫ان َل ِفي ُخسْ ٍر‬
َ ‫إِنَّ ِاالن َس‬
‫ين آ َم ُنوا َو َع ِملُوا‬
َ ‫إِال الَّ ِذ‬
‫ص ْوا ِب ْال َح ِّق‬
ِ ‫الصَّالِ َحا‬
َ ‫ت َو َت َوا‬
‫صب ِْر‬
َّ ‫ص ْوا ِبال‬
َ ‫َو َت َوا‬
THANK YOU
Be in Allah’s Care
Dr. A.S. Hashim