Umar II

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (Arabic: عمر بن عبد العزيز‎, romanized: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz; 2 November 682 – c. 5 February 720), commonly known as Umar II, was the eighth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 22 September 717 until his death in 720. He was also a cousin of the former caliph, being the son of Abd al-Malik's younger brother, Abd al-Aziz. He was also a matrilineal great-grandson of the second caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab. He has been described as "the most pious and devout" of the Umayyad rulers.

Gold dinar of Umar II, minted in Damascus, 719/20

Silver dirham of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, minted in Damascus, 718/719

But Allah has issued in an eloquent Book (Quran) and a just example Sunnah by means of which He guides us to obedience and proscribes disobedience.

Quotes

Do not destroy a church, synagogue, or fire temple with respect to which an agreement has been concluded with you, and do not permit the construction of a new church or fire temple.

• Do not destroy a church, synagogue, or fire temple with respect to which an agreement has been concluded with you, and do not permit the construction of a new church or fire temple. Do not drag the lamb to its place of slaughter of sharpen the knife over the head of the animal. Do not combine two prayers without an excuse.
  • Letter to Abd al-Rahman bin Nu'aym, also quoted in History of the Prophets and Kings, Vol. 24, p. 101

Last Sermon delivered to People

Whenever we learn that one of you needs something, I try to satisfy his need to the extent that I am able.

• "O people, you were not created in vain, nor will you be left to yourselves. Rather, you will return to a place in which Allah will descend in order to judge among you and distinguish between you. Destitute and lost are those who forsake the all-encompassing Mercy of Allah, and they will be excluded from Paradise, the borders of which are as wide as the heavens and the Earth. Don't you know that protection, tomorrow, will be limited to those who feared Allah [today], and to those who sold something ephemeral for something permanent, something small for something great, and fear for protection? Don't you realize that you are the descendants of those who have perished, that those who remain will take place after you, and that this will continue until you are all returned to Allah? Every day you dispatch to Allah, at all times of the day, someone who has died, his term having come to an end. You bury him in a crack in the earth and then leave him without a pillow or a bed. He has parted from his loved ones, severed his connections with the living, and taken up residence in the earth, whereupon he comes face to face with the accounting. He is mortgaged to his deeds: He needs his accomplishments, but not the material things he left on earth. Therefore, fear Allah before death descends and its appointed times expire. I swear by Allah that I say those words to you knowing that I myself have committed more sins than any of you; I therefore ask Allah for forgiveness and I repent. Whenever we learn that one of you needs something, I try to satisfy his need to the extent that I am able. Whenever I can provide satisfaction to one of you out of you of my possessions, I seek to treat him as my equal and m relative, so that my life and his life are of equal value. I swear by Allah that had I wanted something else, namely, affluence, then it would have been easy for me to utter the word, aware as I am of the means for obtaining this. But Allah has issued in an eloquent Book (Quran) and a just example Sunnah by means of which He guides us to obedience and proscribes disobedience."
  • History of the Prophets and Kings, Vol. 24, p. 98/99, also quoted in Umar Bin Abd Al-Aziz, p. 708-710

Last Words

• This is the Last Abode; we appoint it for those who desire not exorbitance in the earth, nor corruption. The issue ultimate is to the godfearing.
  • Quran: Chapter 28, verse 83, quoted in History of the Prophets and Kings, Vol. 24, p. 102

about taxation

• Whosoever accepts Islam, whether Christian, Jew or Zoroastrian, of those now subject to taxes and who joins himself to the body of the Muslims in their abode, forsaking the abode in which he was before, he shall have the same rights and duties as they have, and they are obliged to associate with him and to treat him as one of themselves.
  • Issued an edict on taxation, quoted in "The Fiscal Rescript of ʿUmar II", p. 3

Tribute

• Now that Umar's death has been announced to me, I say:
  May the mainstay of justice and religion be not far away.
  The people have left behind, in the tomb that they dug
  in Day Sim'an, the balance of the scales.
  • tribute by a unknown poet on Umar's death, also quoted in History of the Prophets and Kings, Vol. 24, p. 101

External links

• Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī: History of the Prophets and Kings, translated by David Stephan Powers, State University of New York Press, Albany, United States, 1989
• Dr. Ali Muhammad as-Sallabi: Umar Bin Abd Al-Aziz, Darussalam Publications, New York, 2007
• Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb: The Fiscal Rescript of ʿUmar II, Arabica. Brill. Volume 2, Issue 1: p. 1–16. January 1955