The exact date of the birth of Umar is not known. The concensus of opinion,
however, is that Umar was born at Mecca around
580 A.D He was younger than the Holy Prophet of Islam by about ten
years.
Umar belonged to the Adi clan of the Quraish. It was one of the
ten clans of the Quraish who inhabited Mecca.
The pedigree of Umar was: Umar the son of Khattab; the son of
Nufail; the son of Abul Uzza; the son of Riza; the son of
Ribah; the son of Qurat; the son of Adi; the son of Katb.
The pedigree of the Holy Prophet was: Muhammad (peace be on him)
the son of Abdullah; the son of Abdul Muttalib; the son
of Hashim; the son of Abd Munaf; the son of Qussay; the son of
Kulab; the son of Ka'b.
In the case of Abu Bakr and the Holy Prophet, Murrah in the eighth
degree was their common ancestor. In the case of the
Holy Prophet and Umar, Ka'b in the ninth degree was their common
ancestor.
Among Umar's ancestors, Adi rose to prominence as a diplomat, and
the clan came to be known after him. Whenever the
Quraish of the day had to negotiate any settlement with any other
tribe, Adi represented the interests of the Quraish as an
ambassador. Even in the case of disputes among the Quraish
themselves, Adi acted as the arbitrator. After the death of Adi
the two offices of diplomatic representation and arbitration
became hereditary in his descendants.
Umar's grandfather Nufail arbitrated in a dispute between Abdul
Muttalib, the grandfather of the Holy Prophet and Harab bin
Umayyah over the custodianship of the Ka'bah. Nufail gave his
verdict in favour of Abdul Muttalib. Addressing Harab bin
Umayyah he said:
"Why do you pick a quarrel with a person who is taller than you in
stature; more imposing than you in appearance; more
refined than you in intellect; whose progeny outnumbers yours and
whose generosity outshines yours in lustre? Do not,
however, construe this into any disparagement of your good
qualities which I highly appreciate. You are as gentle as a lamb,
you are renowned throughout Arabia for the stentorian tones of
your voice, and you are an asset to your tribe."
This address is indicative of Nufail's skill in diplomacy and his
highly developed sense of judgment.
Khattab the father of Umar was among the prominent members of the
Banu Adis. The Banu Adis had some feuds with Banu
Abdul Shams. The Banu Abdul Shams were stronger in power and
position, and the Banu Adis as a safety measure had to
seek alliance with some other clan. They allied themselves with
Ranu Shams. On this alliance, Khattab composed the following
verses:
"How can Abdul Shams still threaten us,
When other men of mettle espouse our cause?
In the halls of Banu Shams there are mighty warriors,
Whose hospitality and protection we enjoy."
The house in which Umar was born in Mecca was situated midway
between Safa and Marwah. During the period of his
caliphate, Umar had the house dismantled, and the site was turned
into a camping ground.
Umar's mother was Khantamah who was the daughter of Hisham bin
al-Mughirah. Al-Mughirah was a personage of high rank
among the Quraish. In the event of war he marshalled the Quraish
troops and led them to war. Hisham the maternal
grandfather of Umar and al-Walid the father of the renowned
General Khalid were brothers. Khalid was thus a cousin of Umar
s mother and his maternal uncle. Abu Jahl whose personal name was
Amr bin Hisham bir al-Mughirah was a brother of Umar's mother, and his maternal
uncle.
One of the sisters of Umar's mother, Umm Salma was married to the
Holy Prophet of Islam.
Umar had several brothers and sisters. The most well known out of
these were: Zaid and Fatima. Zaid and Umar were step
brothers, their mothers being different. Nevertheless the two
brothers were devoted to each other. When Zaid was later
martyred at the battle of Yamama during the caliphate of Abu Bakr,
Umar was highly grieved. He used to say, "Whenever the
wind blows from Yamama, it brings me the fragrance of Zaid."
Fatima was the real sister of Umar. She was married to her cousin
Saeed bin Zaid bin Amr. She played an important role in the
conversion of Umar to Islam.
Amr, a brother of Khattab was a paternal uncle of Umar. Zaid the
son of Amr, and a cousin of Umar was among the
distinguished persons of the Quraish, who before the advent of
Islam gave up idolatry, and came to believe in the unity of
God. Zaid was a poet. One of his poems reads:
"I believe in one God,
I cannot believe in a thousand gods.
I ignore the idols of Lat and Uzza,
A wise and cautious man can do no more."
Khattab the father of Umar persecuted Zaid for his religious
beliefs. Zaid died before the Holy Prophet of Islam announced his
prophetic mission. When the Holy Prophet proclaimed his
prophethood, Saeed the son of Zaid who had married Umar's sister
Fatima, was among the early converts to Islam.
No account is preserved about the early life of
Umar during the days of ignorance. Umar belonged to an ordinary family of
average means and there was nothing conspicuous about Umar or
his family during the days of ignorance to be recorded or
chronicled. We can merely pick up stray accounts here and
there, and try to weave them into a readable narrative.
It appears that Umar grew up as a typical Arab-a tall young man
with a fine physique and impressive personality. When he
was a child his father put him to the task of grazing camels.
Khattab was a hard taskmaster, and Umar often recalled how his
father belaboured him mercilessly whenever there was a lapse on
his part. Umar also recalled that when he was a child he
used to graze the flocks of goats and sheep of his maternal
aunts who doled out pittance to him in the shape of dates.
As a child, Umar used to graze the animals under his charge in
the grazing ground Dajnan, about ten miles from Mecca. When
Umar became the Khalifa, he happened to pass through Dajnan.
Turning to his companions he said:
"Gracious heavens! There was a time when I used to roam about
this desert as a camel-herd, wearing a felt jacket, and
whenever I sat down tired my father beat me. Now the times have
changed. There is now none save God as my superior."
Among the Quraish of those days, reading and writing was not in
vogue. In spite of that Umar received education in reading
and writing. It is related that among the Quraish of Mecca only
seventeen persons could read and write, and Umar was one of
them. That has to be acknowledged as a great attainment.
Umar's father was an authority in tracing genealogies. Under
the guidance of his father, Umar also acquired matchless skill in
the matter of the study of pedigrees.
Umar knew intimately as to who was who among the Quraish. He
was also well versed in the knowledge of the history of
Arabia.
Umar was blessed with a strong physique. He could undergo great
rigours. He could travel on foot for miles. He was an
athlete and a wrestler. He participated in the wrestling
matches on the occasion of the annual fair at Ukaz, and he won in
most of such matches. From the accounts that have come down to
us it appears that Umar had attained perfection in the art
of wrestling.
Some first hand descriptions of the physical appearance of Umar
have come down to us. Ibn Saad and al-Hakim have
recorded a description of Umar as Abu Miriam Zir, a native of
Kufa described him. Zir said:
"I went forth with the people of Madina on a festival day, and
I saw Umar walking barefoot. He was advanced in years, bald,
of a tawny colour-a left handed man, tall, and towering above
the people."
Ibn Umar described the physical appearance of Umar as follows:
"He was a man of fair complexion, a ruddy tint prevailing,
tall, bald and grey."
Ubayd bin Umayr described Umar as follows:
" Umar used to overtop the people in height."
Salima bin al-Akwa'a said about him:
" Umar was ambidexter; he could use both his hands equally
well."
Ibn Asakir records on tile authority of Abu Raja al-U'taridi
that:
"Umar was a man tall, stout, very bald, very ruddy with scanty
hair on the cheeks, his moustaches large, and the ends thereof
reddish."
Umar was a skillful rider. He could successfully manage even
the wildest of horses he would literally jump on the back of the
horse, and sit with such ease and steadiness that he appeared
to be a part and parcel of the horse he rode.
He was very intelligent and shrewd. He was a good public
speaker. He was gifted with an uncommon degree ot tact and
judgment, and on several occasions he successfully undertook
ambassadorial missions on behalf of the Quraish.
By all accounts he was self-respecting, broad-minded and
sincere. He was a man of strong convictions, a good friend, and a
bad enemy. Like the rugged hills around him, he was harsh and
stern, violent in temper, but very good of heart. He was
always prepared to stand up against the oppressor and espouse
the cause of the weak.
He followed the profession of a trader. He undertook journeys
to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere for the purposes of trade.
He was a successful trader, and he made good money as a result
of these commercial journeys. When Umar migrated from
Mecca, according to his own account, he was one of the richest
Quraish merchants.
In his books, Akhbar-ul-Zaman, and Kitab-ul-Ausat the
celebrated historian Masudi is understood to have related the incidents
of the travels of Umar Masudi states that Umar paid visits to
several Arabian and Persian princes. These books of Masudi
have, however, been lost, and the details of these journeys are
no longer available to us.
Before his conversion to Islam, Umar had three wives His first
wife was Qariba bint Abi Umayya al-Makhzumi. She belonged to
the same clan as the mother of Umar. She was one of the most
beautiful women of Mecca of the day. His second wife was
Zainab bint Maziun. She was the sister of Usman bint Maz'un an
early companion for whom the Holy Prophet had great
regard. She was the mother of Abdullah and Hafsa. His third
wife was Malaika bint Jarul al-Khuzai. She was also called Umm
Kulsum.
| PRE ISLAM |
When the Holy Prophet (peace be on him)
proclaimed his apostlehood, the reaction among the Quraish was violent. Umar, a
young man of strong convictions, held the new faith to be
a sacrilege of the idols of Katbah. Young, well-built, and
fiery-tempered as he was, Umar was in tile forefront in
opposition to Islam.
Some accounts have come down to us showing Umar's
attitude to Islam in the days before his conversion. Umar has related
that in the days of ignorance he was one day standing by
an idol with a number of Quraish when an Arab sacrificed a calf.
From the belly of the calf the following cry was heard:
"O blood red one,
The deed is done.
A man will cry
Besides God, none."
This corroborated what the Holy Prophet (peace be on him)
said. Umar, however, dismissed the cry as sheer hallucination.
It is on record that along with some Arabs Umar went to a
soothsayer, and asked him to look into the matter of Muhammad
(peace be on him) who had proclaimed a new faith. The
soothsayer looked to the beaven for a long time. Then he leapt and
said:
"O men, God has honoured and chosen Muhammad,
Purified his heart and bowels.
His stay, among you,
O men will be short."
Umar cursed the soothsayer and returned home very cross
and upset.
Lubna, a maid servant of Umar, accepted Islam. When Umar
came to know of her conversion, he beat her violently and asked
her to retract. She said that he might kill her, but she
would not leave Islam. Thereafter it became the wont of Umar that he
would beat her every day and would stop beating till he
himself felt exhausted. In spite of that, the slave girl remained
steadfast.
Umm Abdullah bint Khatamah, a lady related to Umar, also
accepted Islam. Umar was very furious at her conversion. As she
along with her husband Amar bin Rabiah and other early
converts decided to migrate to Abyssinia, Umar felt moved. He visited
her and said, "Umm Abdullah are you going?" She said, By
God, you have made our living in Mecca very difficult. There is no
option with us but to migrate elsewhere." Inadvertently
Umar said, 'Umm Abdullah, may God protect you; go in peace." At that
time Umm Abdullah felt that in spite of Umar's opposition
to Islam, he would one day accept the new faith.
We have it on the authority of Umar himself that one day
he came across the Holy Prophet in the Ka'bah. The Holy Prophet
was reciting verses from the Holy Quran and as Umar
listened to these verses he felt that it was the work of some poet. Then
the Holy Prophet recited, "This is the revealed word of
God; it's not the work of any poet. Yet you people do not believe".
Thereupon Umar felt that if this was not the work of any
poet it would be the work of a soothsayer. Thereupon the Holy
Prophet recited the verses, "And this is not the word of
any soothsayer; it is divine word communicated through Gabriel."
Hearing these verses Umar stood transfixed for some time.
In his heart of hearts he thought that perhaps truth lay with
Muhammad (peace be on him). Umar, however, dismissed
these feelings and soon he was his former self very hostile to Islam. He went to
the Quraish and
participated in their counsels. They felt concerned that
the venom of the new faith was spreading and the only remedy was
that Muhammad (peace be on him) should be killed. All
present at the meeting agreed that Muhammad (peace be on him)
should be killed. Then the meeting invited volunteers who
would kill the Prophet. Umar volunteered to kill the Prophet, and
vindicate the faith of their forefathers.
One hot sultry day in the year A.D. 616, Umar buckled
his sword and set out to kill the Holy Prophet (peace be on him). In the
way, Umar met Nuaim bin Abduilah. He was a friend of Umar. He
had been converted to Islam, but Umar did not know of that.
Noticing the dark frowns on his face, Nuaim asked Umar what he
was up to. Umar said that he was going to slay Muhammad
(peace be on him), and thus vindicate the gods of Ka'bah. Nuaim
said! "Beware if you harm Muhammad (peace be on him) you
will not be safe from the fury of Banu Hashim. Desist from such
a course in your own interest". Umar ejaculated angrily: "It
appears you have also become a Muslim." Nuaim said, "Umar, do
not bother about me, but take care of your sister and
brother-in-law who have been converted to Islam, and who may be
reading the Quran at this very moment."
That made Umar pause. Instead of going to the Holy Prophet, he
went to the house of his sister. His sister was Fatima and
her husband was Saeed bin Zaid. Umar loved his sister. He had
never thought that his brother-in-law or his sister would have
the audacity to accept Islam. This was news to him. He could
not believe it, but he thought it advisable to verify the facts.
As Umar stepped into the house of his sister, he found that
both Fatima and her husband were reading the Quran from a leaf.
Seeing Umar, his sister hid the leaf. Fatima rose to welcome
her brother with a smile. But there was a dark frown on the face
of Umar. "What were you reading", he thundered. "Nothing",
replied Fatima.
Umar caught his brother-in-law by the throat and said, "So you
have apostasised from the faith of your forefathers". Saeed
retorted, "Rather we have abandoned falsehood for truth."
Thereupon Umar was about to strike Saeed when Fatima
intervened saying, "Hands off from my husband. If ypu have
anything to say, say it to me, but do not touch my husband."
Umar asked, "Is it a fact that you have become Muslims." She
replied, "Yes. we have become Muslims. You may kill us if you
like, but we will not waver in our faith".
Umar stayed his hands and desired that the leaf from which they
had been reading should be shown to him. Fatima said that
he could not touch the sacred leaf until he had washed his
hands. Umar washed his hands, and the sacred leaf was handed
over to him. It was the Sura Ta Ha. It read:
We have not sent the Qur'an to thee,
To be an occasion for thy distress,
But only as an admonition to those who fear God.
A revelation from Him,
Who created the earth and the heavens on high.
God most gracious,
Is firmly established on the throne of authority.
To Him belongs what is in the heavens and on earth,
And all between them and all beneath the soil.
If thou pronounce the word aloud, it's no matter
For verily He knoweth what is secretAnd what is yet hidden.
Verily there is no god but He
To Him belongs the most beautiful names." (20: 1-8)
As Umar read the verses over and over again, he felt as if
these verses were addressed to him in person, and the mysterious
Ta Ha referred to Umar-the Man. Umar shuddered with the fear of
God, and he felt as if his conscience was upbraiding him,
"Umar, how long would you stay away from the path of truth. Has
not the time come for you to follow the truth?"
And then Umar resolved that he would lose no time in following
the truth. Turning to his sister and brother-in-law he said, "I
came to you as an enemy of Islam; I go from you as a friend of
Islam. I had buckled this sword to slay the Prophet of Islam; I
now go to him to offer him allegiance."
Fatima and Saeed cried "Allah o-Akbar".
The episode has been dramatised by Allama Iqbal in his poem
"Secrets of the Self". He has exhorted the Muslim women to be
like the sister of Umar. He says:
"O Muslim women;
Out of the evening create a new dazzling morn.
To the true lovers of God,
Recite the Holy Qur'an
And enthusiastically translate
Its spirit into action
Don't vou know that such recitation
Changed altogether Umar's fate."
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