Umar Fâruq رضي الله عنه: Accomplishments, Simplicity, Justice and Leadership

Accomplished Firsts by Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)

Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) invented and enforced many things in the sphere of financial, political, administrative and social spheres, which are known as accomplishments first instituted by him. Some of them are mentioned below:

He set up a formal Bait-ul-Mâl or public treasury and introduced the Hijri calendar, he adopted the appellation of Amir-ul-Mo'minin (Chief of the believers), he established a regular department for the military and a separate department for financial affairs and fixed the salaries for men in voluntary services. He also introduced the practice of measuring the land and keeping its record, adopted a census system, he had canals dug and populated cities like Kufah, Basrah, Jizah, Fustât (Cairo) and delineated provinces out of the occupied territories.

He was first to allow rival country's traders to come to Muslim territories for the purpose of business. He was also the first to make use of the whip for corporal punishment and set up a prison and police department. He introduced a system of collecting direct information concerning states and conditions of the masses, he established a secret intelligence service, he had wells bored, built houses and fixed a daily allowance for the destitute among the Christians and the Jews. Moreover, it was from his original planning to make arrangements for congregational Tarâwih prayers, he levied Zakât on horses for trading purposes and started four Takbir for the funeral prayer.

Various Conditions and Special Features

Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) lived on simple and coarse food. Messengers from outside Al-Madinah stayed with the Caliph and dined with him as his guest. They felt uneasy for they were not in the habit of living on such simple foods. His dress was also simple to the extreme. He would most often wear clothes with a number of patches. At times he had leather patches on his cotton shirts. On one occasion he remained in his home, while the people waited for him outside. On his coming out they understood that he had no clothes to wear. He had washed the one outfit he possessed and until it dried, he could not come out.

After Hijrah (migration), he lived in a village two to three miles away from Al-Madinah. After becoming caliph, he shifted to Al-Madinah and settled in a house located near the Prophet's Mosque between Bâb-us-Salâm and Bâb-ur-Rahmah. He was in debt at the time of his death. He ordered the debt to be paid by selling his residential house. Mu’âwiyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) purchased the house and the debt was thus settled.

He once said in his address: "People! There was a time when I used to bring water for others and in return for that they gave me dates to live on." When the people said what was the need of narrating such things. He replied, "I felt a shade of pride over myself and it was the most suitable cure." He so often made journeys between Al-Madinah and Makkah but never took with him a tent or any type of shelter. When he needed rest, he would spread a mantle under an acacia tree and lay on it. When overcome by sleep, he used to collect pebbles and sand to make a pillow to put his head on. He fixed payments from the public treasury for the wives of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), the Companions of Badr, those who took the pledge of Ridwân and all the elite and distinguished Companions. When he fixed the payment for Usâmah more than his son, Abdullah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) raised an objection. He then said to his son, "The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) loved Usâmah more than you and his father more than your father."

Umar Fâruq's fellows and advisors were all religious scholars and there was no consideration for age. He held them in high esteem. Knowledge of men and their mettle was among his traits. He was also fully aware of special traits in various Companions and earned their services accordingly. While choosing persons to shoulder the responsibilities of governing, commanding, administrating, and other important posts, he was never influenced by mere piety and divinity but he based his choice on skill and suitability.

During his decade long caliphate, hundreds of battles were fought in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Khurasân. He did not take part in any of these battles, nevertheless the strategies were decided and the necessary arrangements were made by him. All the battles were fought under the instructions of Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) and no one can point out any flaw in any of his judgement or instruction. He had instructed all provincial governors that no soldier should be kept from going home for more than four months in succession.

He was once advised to use honey to cure some disease, but he had no honey with him nor could any be had from anywhere else. However, it was stocked in the public treasury. The people advised him to take it from there. He argued that it was the property of the people and so he could not take it without their permission.

One day he washed the wounds of the camels and said that he was afraid of being questioned about their condition on the Day of Judgment. He once asked Salman (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) whether he was a king or a caliph. He replied that if he collected from someone a dirham, or more or less than that, and spent it unnecessarily, he was a king otherwise, he was a caliph.

Even after being the Caliph for a long time, he had taken nothing from the public treasury, with the result he came under the stress of starvation. Finding no way out he assembled the people in the Prophet's Mosque and said that since he remained preoccupied with the affairs of the caliphate, he found no time to look after his personal needs. So, he requested them to fix something from the public treasury. Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) said that he should get only two meals per day from the public treasury, which he accepted without question.

Abdullah bin Umar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) said, "It never happened that Umar fell in anger and his fury was not subsided at the mention of Allâh's Name or on making him afraid of Allâh or on reciting any Verse of the Qur'ân." Bilâl (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) once asked Aslam (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) about Umar (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) and he replied, "He is, undoubtedly, the best of all but when he grows angry, it is nothing short of a calamity." Bilâl (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) said, "Why don't you recite any Verse at that time and his anger will totally subside?"

Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) once sent Sâriyah at the head of a military detachment. Some time after that during a public address he cried, "O Sâriyah! Go to the mountain side." After sometime a messenger came to Al-Madinah from the place of battle and gave an account of the battle. During his narration he said, "We were about to be defeated when we heard someone calling out thrice, 'O Sâriyah! Go to the mountain side.' Because of this, our enemy was defeated."

When those words were uttered by Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) in his Friday address, some people among the audience had said, "You are giving your call to Sâriyah here while he is engaged in fighting with the disbelievers in Nahâwand." Whereupon he had said, "It was such a scene at that time that the Muslims appeared engaged in fighting and it was essential for them to look towards the mountain. Thus came out from my tongue those words." When the messenger of Sâriyah came to Al-Madinah with his letter, the event was mentioned therein referring to the day and time exactly, which corresponded to the date and time of Umar's address.

Abdur-Rahmân bin Auf (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) once said to him: "They fear you so much that they can't look towards you nor can they move their lips." Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) replied, "By Allâh, I fear them more than they fear me."

Umar Fâruq (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) had issued orders to the governors to perform the Hajj during the Hajj season and he himself used to be present there on those occasions. The wisdom behind such a practice was that he wanted to give an opportunity to everyone to meet him and place before him anything against their governors and they (the governors) should be ready to give an explanation for their behavior. As a result of this, the governors kept alert lest they were taken to task before the public for their actions. Thus he laid the foundation of a true democracy and real equality.