Islamic Treasures and History

Umar bin Khattab (581 – November 644) (Arabic: عمر بن الخطاب) was one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad also became the second caliph (634-644) of the four Caliphs Al-Rasyidin.

Background

He has the full name of ibn Umar bin Abdul Nafiel Uzza, born in Mecca, the Banu Adi, one of the Quraysh tribe family. His parents named Nufail bin Al Khattab Mahzumi Al Quraisyi and Hantamah binti Hashim. Omar has a nickname that is given by Muhammad al-Faruq, meaning people who can separate the haq and false.
Umar’s family belong to a middle class family, he could read and write that in those days is something rare. Umar was also known for his strong physique, where he became a champion wrestler in Mecca.

Before Islam, as is the tradition of pagan Mecca time, Omar buried her daughter alive. As he said himself, “I cried when digging the grave for my daughter. He developed and then combed beard”.

Drinking is also common among the Quraysh. Some records say that in the pre-Islam, Umar liked to drink wine. After becoming Muslim, she did not touch alcohol at all. However, after conversion to Islam, not derived ban drinking alcohol (intoxicating) explicitly. So there is a story, In the evening, Umar bermabuk-mabukkan until dawn. When the time dawn arrived, he went to the mosque and was appointed as a priest. When reading the letter al-Kafirun, because paragraph 3 and 5 sounds the same, after reading the verse 5, he again repeated to paragraph 4 continuously. Finally, Allah revealed drinking ban on the firm.

Convert to Islam

When the invitation to embrace Islam was declared by the Prophet Muhammad, Umar took positions to defend the traditional religion of the Quraysh (idolatry). At that time Omar was one of the very hard in the fight against the message of Islam and often torture believers.

It is said that at one point, Umar resolved to assassinate Muhammad. When looking for him, he ran into a Muslim (Na’em bin Abdullah) who then told me that his sister had also embraced Islam. Umar was shocked to notice it and went home.

At home find that his brother Umar was reciting verses from the Holy Qur’an (Thoha letter), he became upset of it and hit his brother. When he saw his brother’s bloody by his swing he was sorry, and then requested that reading can be he saw. He then became very upset by the contents of the Qur’an and then immediately embraced Islam on the same day.

Become a Caliph

During the reign of Umar, the Islamic power grew rapidly. Islam took over Mesopotamia and Persia from the hands of some of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia (which ends the Sassanid Empire) and took over Egypt, Palestine, Syria, North Africa and Armenia from the Roman Empire (Byzantium).

History records many great battles that became the beginning of this conquest. At the Battle of Yarmuk, which happened near Damascus in the year 636, 20 thousand Muslim troops defeated the Roman armies that reached 70 thousand and the end of Roman rule in southern Asia Minor. Other Islamic forces in a small amount to get the victory over the Persians in a larger number of battle Qadisiyyah (636 th), near the river Euphrates. In the battle, the Muslim army generals Sa `ad ibn Abi Waqqas defeated the Sassanid army and killed the famous Persian general, Rustam Farrukhzad.

In the year 637, after a long siege of Jerusalem, the Muslims finally take over the city. Umar was given the key to enter the city by the priest Sophronius and invited to pray in the church (Church of the Holy Sepulchre). Umar chose another place to pray so as not to jeopardize the church. 55 years later, Omar Mosque was established place he prayed.

Omar did a lot of administrative reform and control of the public policy, including building administrative systems to new areas conquered. He also ordered the census to be held throughout the Islamic territories. 638 years old, he was ordered to expand and renovate the Grand Mosque in Mecca and Masjid Nabawi in Medina. He also began the process of codification of Islamic law.

Umar was known from a simple lifestyle, rather than adopt the lifestyle and appearance of the rulers in those days, he remained alive as when the Muslims were poor and persecuted.

In the year to 17 Hijri, in the four leadership, Umar decreed that the Islamic calendar should be calculated when the incident began to migrate.