Reforms of Umar's era
Encyclopedia
Umar was the second muslim
Caliph
and reigned during 634 to 644 CE. This article details the reforms of Umar's era.
Umar undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy, establishing an advanced administration for newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, as well as ordering a census of all the Muslim territories. During his reign, the garrison cities of Basra
h and al-Kūfah
were founded or expanded. In 638
, he extended and renovated the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina. He also began the process of codifying Islamic law
.
s called Wali
or amir. Whenever a governor was appointed by Umar, a man was sent with him that would read publicly his powers and jurisdictions. During the reign of Caliph Abu Bakr, the state was economically weak, while during Umar’s reign because of increase in revenues and other sources of income, the state was on its way to economic prosperity. Hence Umar felt it necessary that the officers be treated in strict way as to prevent the possible greed of money that may lead them to corruption. During his reign, at the time of appointment, every officer was required to make the oath:
Caliph Umar himself followed the above postulates strictly. Umar also developed an intelligence
department of secret services. This was one of the reason of Umar's iron fist rule on his empire. His agents were everywhere: in the army, in the bureaucracy and in the enemy land. For the officials of Umar it was said to be the most fearsome department. On discovery of any scandal on the part of any official, an investigation though a special department of accountability headed by Muhammad ibn Maslamah
would be carried out and if the official would prove guilty he was immediately deposed from his office and his punishment was vary from publicly humiliating punishments to flogging. Before appointment, all financial assets and details of the political officer use to be recorded and were check each year. It was due to Umar's strong commitment to eradicate corruption and bribery. He is reported to have said to one of his Governor:
A.D. A beginning was made with the Quraish and the Ansars
and the system was gradually extended to the whole of Arabia and to Muslim
s of conquered lands. A register of all adults who could be called to war was prepared, and a scale of salaries was fixed.
All men registered were liable to military service. They were divided into two categories, namely:
The pay was paid in the beginning of the month of Muharram
. The allowance
s were paid during the harvesting season.
The armies of the Caliphs were mostly paid in cash salaries. In contrast to many post-Roman polities in Europe, grants of land, or of rights to collect taxes directly from the payers, were of only minor importance. A major consequence of this was that the army directly depended on the state for its subsistence which, in turn, meant that the military had to control the state apparatus.
Promotions in the army were made on the strength of the length of service or exceptional merit. Officership was an appointment and not a rank. Officers were appointed to command for the battle or the campaign; and once the operation was concluded, they could well find themselves in the ranks again.
Leave of absence was given to army men at regular intervals. The troops stationed at far off places were given leave after four months.
Each army corps was accompanied by an officer of the treasury, an Accountant
, a Qadi
, and a number of interpreters besides a number of Physician
s and Surgeon
s. Expeditions were undertaken according to seasons. Expeditions in cold countries were undertaken during the summer, and in hot countries in winter. Umar established military cantonments on strategic positions throughout empire to deal with any emergency efficiently and quickly. The garrison towns of Kufa
, Busra and Fustat were founded by Umar. They were also provincial capital of their respective provinces.
, though he didn't resigned completely from the office and Abu Dardah only acted as his secondary.
Umar was the founder of Fiqh
(Islamic jurisprudence
). More than one thousand juristic pronouncements of Umar are on record and are followed by four Sunni schools of law in Islamic jurisprudence. In addition to this he also laid down the principle of Qiyas
or logical deduction and also enunciated numerous rules about inference and generalization of laws which form the basis of Islamic jurisprudence. In his instructions to his judicial officers Umar is reported to have said:
Umar was very keen in appointing qazis (Islamic term for Chief Justice
). To all the major provincial cities, Umar would personally appointed judges. Umar entrusted the office of justice only to those selected persons who could fulfill his criteria for this office, some of which are as follow:
Appointment of judges in districts and small towns were made by his appointed provincial Wāli
(Governors).
Umar appointed judges with very high salaries and for lifelong tenure this as in modern times, was to make sure that judges could not be drawn to wards bribery and a non prejudice and unbiased verdicts could be reach.
Umar also held that in the court the Judge should not be praised and that all acts should be judged according to the test of public interest.
He also gave a general law that any act which did not harm any one and was otherwise not forbidden under law was permissible.
He issued some special instructions and code of conducts to be followed in the courts according to which judges were instructed to deal with rich and poor alike in the court in one such letter to his judge in Iraq
Umar has been quoted saying:
. Umar held the starting point of calendar to be the year of Hijra
roughly corresponding the year 622
, when Mohammad migrated to Madinah from Mecca
.
Umar prohibited the sale of wine
and drunkers
were punished with 80 lashes.
Umar held that a slave woman who bore children to her master should
be set free.
It was a practice among Arab poets to mention the name of some women in their poetry to make it attractive while other glorify their love affair with some girl mentioning her name in the poetic verses, it was a heinous practice and woman's modesty was directly targeted in it, Umar put a ban on this practice and declared it unlawful and a punishment was ruled out for the offenders. Similarly Umar also banned written satire
s and lampoon
s.
Umar established a more exact system of calculation of the inheritance
. Under Umar's rule, for first time in history, state intervention to control the price of merchandise was practiced.
Umar established a stable
s for the lost camel
s.
Umar started salary for Imam
s, Muadhans (Callers to prayer) teacher
s and public lectures. He also established an effective Postal service.
Annually zakat
was charged from Muslims, while from non-Muslim, jizya
was charged, it was charged from non-Muslims adult males only and was usually 2 dirhams per head auunally, which was far too less than the tax charged by Eastern Roman empire and Sassanid Persian Empire, a reason that pleased the non-Muslim subjects. In addition to this non-Muslims were also exempted from military services. they were free to follow any religion they want.
Umar's territorial domains including some of the world's most strategic places for trade caravans. Trade tax that Umar charged was far less than the tax charged by Roman and other empires. More over for the prosperous trade and trading incentives for merchants and for their comforts Umar established special chain of state-owned guest house and Guild
s for certain trades.
Umar held census
in the empire and established an institution of Diwa'an (literary means register), a department of registration
which had names of all the population mentioned in it. The provincial and district headquarter had their own copies of diwa'an.
Name of every new born baby was entered in Diwa'an, parents were responsible to register their infants, the incentive was the handsome allowance
that was started in 641
, when Umar established Bayt al-mal
or public treasury. It was a financial institution
, responsible for the administration of allowance
, tax
es, Jizya
and war spoil. Annual allowance was given to all Muslim
population of the empire, men, women children and new born infants. The highest amount of allowance was set for the wives of Mohammad which was 12,000 dirham
s. For adults the lowest allowance was 300 dirhams that was usually given to desert Bedouin
s. The allowance of infants was 100 dirhams.
The registers where the names of the receivers of allowance were mentioned were usually in the regional Bayt al-mal
, which were in major cities like Kufa
, Busra, Damascus
and Fustat etc. or in the district headquarter where the amir resides or with respective tribal chiefs. Allowance in Madinah and nearby villages was usually personally distributed by Umar.
Umar's purpose of giving allowance was soaring the economical condition of Muslims. Umar is reported to have express his views regarding the allowance in his famous saying:
Umar is also quoted saying:
This was a remarkable exertion to improve the living standard of common man. Umar's these efforts however worked, and by the time of Umar's successor Caliph Uthman, Muslim population was prosper.
Umar, a year later, when Muslim's allowance was startes, Umar also issued orders for the allowance for the poor and under privilege non-Muslims though out the empire.
The concepts of welfare and pension
were introduced in early Islamic law
as forms of Zakat
(charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam
, under Umar in the 7th century. The tax
es (including Zakat and Jizya
) collected in the treasury
of an Islamic government
were used to provide income
for the needy
, including the poor
, elderly
, orphan
s, widow
s, and the disabled
. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali
(Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to stockpile food supplies in every region in case a disaster
or famine
occurred. The Caliphate
can thus be considered the world's first major welfare state
.
and thus founded the science of Hadith.
Authentic Hadiths were compiled mostly related to religious, moral, social and community related affairs. These were copied and sent throughout the empire to Judge
s, governor
s, teacher
s and scholars of all provinces for guidance. All these Hadiths had the status of law. Umar took special measures in keeping science of Hadith unadulterated. He accordingly forbade companions of Mohammad from reporting hadith in public. Later during caliph Uthman ibn Affan's reign this sanction was however withdrawal.
Mohammad
initially prayed the tarawih
, a special Muslim prayers during the month of Ramadan
, in congregation but later discontinued this practice out of fear that Muslims would start to believe the prayers to be mandatory, rather than a sunnah. During his Caliphate Umar reinstated the practice of praying tarawih in congregation as there was no longer any fear of people taking it as something mandatory.
During Mohammad's and Abu Bakr
's era divorce given at a time whether one or fifty were to be considered a single divorce that will followed by a Iddah
of four months and ten days and during this period if the couple wanted to reconcile the first divorce will be void. during Umar's reign Muslims conquered Persian and Roman lands and thus came into contact with beautiful and charming Persian
and Greek women. It had become a general practice that most of the Muslim soldiers would divorce their Arab wives and marry a Persian or Greek women. According to Islamic tradition, wife was financially responsibility of her husband during Iddah
or reconciliation period and was to stay at her husband's home during iddah where now new Persian or Roman mistress of her husband reside as well, the Arab women use to be side lined and the four month iddah would become a period of intense mental stress and sorrow for her. This matter worried Umar who was apprehensive for its social results in future. This all peaked after 636
and Umar thus exercising the Islamic jurisprudence of ijtihad
declared that from now to so on three Talaq
(divorce) will be considered absolute and Nikah
(marriage) will be dissolved letting the women free from any authority of her husband. This was done by Umar for public good specially for women for whom this was a sign of relief. One year later in 637
after the conquest of Byzantine capital city of eastern zone Antioch
Umar declared that those Muslim who already have four wives cant divorce any of their wife to marry a Roman or Persian women.
This section needs editing because there are no references,and there are major inaccuracies.Nikah mut'ah was forbidden by Muhammad during his lifetime as can be seen in the hadith in this link http://www.searchtruth.com/searchHadith.php?keyword=marriage&book=&translator=2&search=1&search_word=any&start=10&records_display=10.
To state that Umar forbade it based on the reasons mentioned is untrue and without reference.
Nikah Mut'a, a marriage
with a pre-set time was a common practice among the pre-Islamic Arabs. Umar forbade it on the ground that it in many cases was usually immoral.
It was a common practice that a husband can not led the funeral prayer of his wife. Umar led one of his wife's funeral prayers. He also ruled that on the occasion of a funeral prayers four Takbir
s should be offered.
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
and reigned during 634 to 644 CE. This article details the reforms of Umar's era.
Umar undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy, establishing an advanced administration for newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, as well as ordering a census of all the Muslim territories. During his reign, the garrison cities of Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
h and al-Kūfah
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
were founded or expanded. In 638
638
Year 638 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 638 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* The Muslims capture Jerusalem and Akko.* In...
, he extended and renovated the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina. He also began the process of codifying Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
.
Political
Umar was a political genius, he not only expanded his empire at an unprecedented rate but also buildup its political structure on firm and sound bases. Umar was very acute in the appointment of his provincial governorGovernor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
s called Wali
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
or amir. Whenever a governor was appointed by Umar, a man was sent with him that would read publicly his powers and jurisdictions. During the reign of Caliph Abu Bakr, the state was economically weak, while during Umar’s reign because of increase in revenues and other sources of income, the state was on its way to economic prosperity. Hence Umar felt it necessary that the officers be treated in strict way as to prevent the possible greed of money that may lead them to corruption. During his reign, at the time of appointment, every officer was required to make the oath:
- That he would not ride a Turkic horse.
- That he would not wear fine clothes.
- That he would not eat sifted flour.
- That he would not keep a porter at his door.
- That he would always keep his door open to the public.
Caliph Umar himself followed the above postulates strictly. Umar also developed an intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
department of secret services. This was one of the reason of Umar's iron fist rule on his empire. His agents were everywhere: in the army, in the bureaucracy and in the enemy land. For the officials of Umar it was said to be the most fearsome department. On discovery of any scandal on the part of any official, an investigation though a special department of accountability headed by Muhammad ibn Maslamah
Muhammad ibn Maslamah
Muhammad ibn Maslamah, sometimes surnamed Ansari was a Companion of Muhammad.He was among the first in Yathrib to become a Muslim and was a halif or an ally of the Aws tribe in Medina indicating he was not an Arab...
would be carried out and if the official would prove guilty he was immediately deposed from his office and his punishment was vary from publicly humiliating punishments to flogging. Before appointment, all financial assets and details of the political officer use to be recorded and were check each year. It was due to Umar's strong commitment to eradicate corruption and bribery. He is reported to have said to one of his Governor:
Military
Caliph Umar organized the army as a State department. This reform was introduced in 637637
Year 637 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 637 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Battle of Mag Rath: Dál Riata influence...
A.D. A beginning was made with the Quraish and the Ansars
Ansar (Islam)
Ansar is an Islamic term that literally means "helpers" and denotes the Medinan citizens that helped Muhammad and the Muhajirun on the arrival to the city after the migration to Medina...
and the system was gradually extended to the whole of Arabia and to Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s of conquered lands. A register of all adults who could be called to war was prepared, and a scale of salaries was fixed.
All men registered were liable to military service. They were divided into two categories, namely:
- Those who formed the regular standing army; and
- Those that lived in their homes, but were liable to be called to the colors whenever needed.
The pay was paid in the beginning of the month of Muharram
Muharram
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited...
. The allowance
Allowance
Allowance may refer to:*Allowance *Allowances in accounting, see Accounts receivable*Personal allowance in the United Kingdom's taxing system* Jobseeker's Allowance, a term for unemployment benefit in the United Kingdom* EU Allowances...
s were paid during the harvesting season.
The armies of the Caliphs were mostly paid in cash salaries. In contrast to many post-Roman polities in Europe, grants of land, or of rights to collect taxes directly from the payers, were of only minor importance. A major consequence of this was that the army directly depended on the state for its subsistence which, in turn, meant that the military had to control the state apparatus.
Promotions in the army were made on the strength of the length of service or exceptional merit. Officership was an appointment and not a rank. Officers were appointed to command for the battle or the campaign; and once the operation was concluded, they could well find themselves in the ranks again.
Leave of absence was given to army men at regular intervals. The troops stationed at far off places were given leave after four months.
Each army corps was accompanied by an officer of the treasury, an Accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
, a Qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
, and a number of interpreters besides a number of Physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s and Surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
s. Expeditions were undertaken according to seasons. Expeditions in cold countries were undertaken during the summer, and in hot countries in winter. Umar established military cantonments on strategic positions throughout empire to deal with any emergency efficiently and quickly. The garrison towns of Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
, Busra and Fustat were founded by Umar. They were also provincial capital of their respective provinces.
Judicial
e stressed on independence of judiciary and declared it a sovereign state organ that could proceed with out any pressure of state. No was exempted from law not even Caliph himself. during early years of his rule he also acted as a chief justice of Madinah but later due to increasing burden of work he was left with no option but to assign his office to some other person, he accordingly appointed Abu Dardah, a well known SahabiSahaba
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
, though he didn't resigned completely from the office and Abu Dardah only acted as his secondary.
Umar was the founder of Fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
(Islamic jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
). More than one thousand juristic pronouncements of Umar are on record and are followed by four Sunni schools of law in Islamic jurisprudence. In addition to this he also laid down the principle of Qiyas
Qiyas
In Islamic jurisprudence, qiyās is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in order to apply a known injunction to a new circumstance and create a new injunction...
or logical deduction and also enunciated numerous rules about inference and generalization of laws which form the basis of Islamic jurisprudence. In his instructions to his judicial officers Umar is reported to have said:
Umar was very keen in appointing qazis (Islamic term for Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
). To all the major provincial cities, Umar would personally appointed judges. Umar entrusted the office of justice only to those selected persons who could fulfill his criteria for this office, some of which are as follow:
- Must be well reputed for his morals, modesty, and interpersonal relations.
- Must be intelligent, and astute in judicial decisions and enjoy his own personal view regarding all social issues that could enable them in the formulation of precedentPrecedentIn common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
or case lawCase lawIn law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...
. - He must be highly qualified in fiqhFiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
- Must be socially a powerful and influential personality so that he might not come under pressure of any powerful perpetrator.
Appointment of judges in districts and small towns were made by his appointed provincial Wāli
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
(Governors).
Umar appointed judges with very high salaries and for lifelong tenure this as in modern times, was to make sure that judges could not be drawn to wards bribery and a non prejudice and unbiased verdicts could be reach.
Umar also held that in the court the Judge should not be praised and that all acts should be judged according to the test of public interest.
He also gave a general law that any act which did not harm any one and was otherwise not forbidden under law was permissible.
He issued some special instructions and code of conducts to be followed in the courts according to which judges were instructed to deal with rich and poor alike in the court in one such letter to his judge in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
Umar has been quoted saying:
Social
One of Umar's most remarkable reform was establishment of Islamic calendarIslamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
. Umar held the starting point of calendar to be the year of Hijra
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
roughly corresponding the year 622
622
Year 622 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 622 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Religion :* July 16 – Year one of the Islamic...
, when Mohammad migrated to Madinah from Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
.
Umar prohibited the sale of wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and drunkers
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
were punished with 80 lashes.
Umar held that a slave woman who bore children to her master should
be set free.
It was a practice among Arab poets to mention the name of some women in their poetry to make it attractive while other glorify their love affair with some girl mentioning her name in the poetic verses, it was a heinous practice and woman's modesty was directly targeted in it, Umar put a ban on this practice and declared it unlawful and a punishment was ruled out for the offenders. Similarly Umar also banned written satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
s and lampoon
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
s.
Umar established a more exact system of calculation of the inheritance
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
. Under Umar's rule, for first time in history, state intervention to control the price of merchandise was practiced.
Umar established a stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
s for the lost camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s.
Umar started salary for Imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
s, Muadhans (Callers to prayer) teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s and public lectures. He also established an effective Postal service.
Annually zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
was charged from Muslims, while from non-Muslim, jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
was charged, it was charged from non-Muslims adult males only and was usually 2 dirhams per head auunally, which was far too less than the tax charged by Eastern Roman empire and Sassanid Persian Empire, a reason that pleased the non-Muslim subjects. In addition to this non-Muslims were also exempted from military services. they were free to follow any religion they want.
Umar's territorial domains including some of the world's most strategic places for trade caravans. Trade tax that Umar charged was far less than the tax charged by Roman and other empires. More over for the prosperous trade and trading incentives for merchants and for their comforts Umar established special chain of state-owned guest house and Guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s for certain trades.
Umar held census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
in the empire and established an institution of Diwa'an (literary means register), a department of registration
Family register
A family register is a registry used in many countries to track information of a genealogical or legal interest.Often, official recognition of certain events or status may only be granted when such event or status is registered in the...
which had names of all the population mentioned in it. The provincial and district headquarter had their own copies of diwa'an.
Name of every new born baby was entered in Diwa'an, parents were responsible to register their infants, the incentive was the handsome allowance
Allowance
Allowance may refer to:*Allowance *Allowances in accounting, see Accounts receivable*Personal allowance in the United Kingdom's taxing system* Jobseeker's Allowance, a term for unemployment benefit in the United Kingdom* EU Allowances...
that was started in 641
641
Year 641 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 641 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* February 11 – Byzantine...
, when Umar established Bayt al-mal
Bayt al-mal
Bayt al-mal is an Arabic term that is translated as "House of money" or "House of Wealth." Historically, it was a financial institution responsible for the administration of taxes in Islamic states, particularly in the early Islamic Caliphate. It served as a royal treasury for the caliphs and...
or public treasury. It was a financial institution
Financial institution
In financial economics, a financial institution is an institution that provides financial services for its clients or members. Probably the most important financial service provided by financial institutions is acting as financial intermediaries...
, responsible for the administration of allowance
Allowance
Allowance may refer to:*Allowance *Allowances in accounting, see Accounts receivable*Personal allowance in the United Kingdom's taxing system* Jobseeker's Allowance, a term for unemployment benefit in the United Kingdom* EU Allowances...
, tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es, Jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
and war spoil. Annual allowance was given to all Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
population of the empire, men, women children and new born infants. The highest amount of allowance was set for the wives of Mohammad which was 12,000 dirham
Dirham
Dirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s. For adults the lowest allowance was 300 dirhams that was usually given to desert Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
s. The allowance of infants was 100 dirhams.
The registers where the names of the receivers of allowance were mentioned were usually in the regional Bayt al-mal
Bayt al-mal
Bayt al-mal is an Arabic term that is translated as "House of money" or "House of Wealth." Historically, it was a financial institution responsible for the administration of taxes in Islamic states, particularly in the early Islamic Caliphate. It served as a royal treasury for the caliphs and...
, which were in major cities like Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
, Busra, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and Fustat etc. or in the district headquarter where the amir resides or with respective tribal chiefs. Allowance in Madinah and nearby villages was usually personally distributed by Umar.
Umar's purpose of giving allowance was soaring the economical condition of Muslims. Umar is reported to have express his views regarding the allowance in his famous saying:
Umar is also quoted saying:
This was a remarkable exertion to improve the living standard of common man. Umar's these efforts however worked, and by the time of Umar's successor Caliph Uthman, Muslim population was prosper.
Umar, a year later, when Muslim's allowance was startes, Umar also issued orders for the allowance for the poor and under privilege non-Muslims though out the empire.
The concepts of welfare and pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
were introduced in early Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
as forms of Zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
(charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam
Five Pillars of Islam
The Pillars of Islam are basic concepts and duties for accepting the religion for the Muslims.The Shi'i and Sunni both agree on the essential details for the performance of these acts, but the Shi'a do not refer to them by the same name .-Pillars of Shia:According to Shia Islam, the...
, under Umar in the 7th century. The tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es (including Zakat and Jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
) collected in the treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
of an Islamic government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
were used to provide income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
for the needy
Needy
Needy may refer to:* Poverty* Codependent, a tendency to behave in overly passive or excessively caretaking ways that negatively impact one's relationships and quality of life...
, including the poor
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, elderly
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
, orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
s, widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
s, and the disabled
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali
Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
(Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to stockpile food supplies in every region in case a disaster
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
or famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
occurred. The Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
can thus be considered the world's first major welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
.
Religious
Umar was the first to realize the necessity of the proper sifting of the HadithHadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
and thus founded the science of Hadith.
Authentic Hadiths were compiled mostly related to religious, moral, social and community related affairs. These were copied and sent throughout the empire to Judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s, governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
s, teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s and scholars of all provinces for guidance. All these Hadiths had the status of law. Umar took special measures in keeping science of Hadith unadulterated. He accordingly forbade companions of Mohammad from reporting hadith in public. Later during caliph Uthman ibn Affan's reign this sanction was however withdrawal.
Mohammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
initially prayed the tarawih
Tarawih
Tarawih refers to extra congregational prayers performed by Muslims at night in the Islamic month of Ramadan. They are not compulsory; however, many Muslims pray these prayers in the night during Ramadan...
, a special Muslim prayers during the month of Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
, in congregation but later discontinued this practice out of fear that Muslims would start to believe the prayers to be mandatory, rather than a sunnah. During his Caliphate Umar reinstated the practice of praying tarawih in congregation as there was no longer any fear of people taking it as something mandatory.
During Mohammad's and Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
's era divorce given at a time whether one or fifty were to be considered a single divorce that will followed by a Iddah
Iddah
In Islam, iddah or iddat is the period a woman must observe after the death of her spouse or after a divorce, during which she may not marry another man. The period, three months after a divorce and four months and ten days after the death of a spouse, is calculated on the number of menses that a...
of four months and ten days and during this period if the couple wanted to reconcile the first divorce will be void. during Umar's reign Muslims conquered Persian and Roman lands and thus came into contact with beautiful and charming Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
and Greek women. It had become a general practice that most of the Muslim soldiers would divorce their Arab wives and marry a Persian or Greek women. According to Islamic tradition, wife was financially responsibility of her husband during Iddah
Iddah
In Islam, iddah or iddat is the period a woman must observe after the death of her spouse or after a divorce, during which she may not marry another man. The period, three months after a divorce and four months and ten days after the death of a spouse, is calculated on the number of menses that a...
or reconciliation period and was to stay at her husband's home during iddah where now new Persian or Roman mistress of her husband reside as well, the Arab women use to be side lined and the four month iddah would become a period of intense mental stress and sorrow for her. This matter worried Umar who was apprehensive for its social results in future. This all peaked after 636
636
Year 636 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 636 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* August 20 – Battle of Yarmuk:...
and Umar thus exercising the Islamic jurisprudence of ijtihad
Ijtihad
Ijtihad is the making of a decision in Islamic law by personal effort , independently of any school of jurisprudence . as opposed to taqlid, copying or obeying without question....
declared that from now to so on three Talaq
Divorce (Islamic)
In Islam there are separate rules for divorce for men and women under the terms of Islamic law . When a man has initiated a divorce the procedure is called . When a woman has initiated a divorce it is called khula ....
(divorce) will be considered absolute and Nikah
Nikah
Marriage in Islam is an Islamic prenuptial contract between a man and woman to live as husband and wife. It is a formal, binding contract considered integral to a religiously valid Islamic marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom and bride involved in marriage proceedings...
(marriage) will be dissolved letting the women free from any authority of her husband. This was done by Umar for public good specially for women for whom this was a sign of relief. One year later in 637
637
Year 637 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 637 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Battle of Mag Rath: Dál Riata influence...
after the conquest of Byzantine capital city of eastern zone Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
Umar declared that those Muslim who already have four wives cant divorce any of their wife to marry a Roman or Persian women.
This section needs editing because there are no references,and there are major inaccuracies.Nikah mut'ah was forbidden by Muhammad during his lifetime as can be seen in the hadith in this link http://www.searchtruth.com/searchHadith.php?keyword=marriage&book=&translator=2&search=1&search_word=any&start=10&records_display=10.
To state that Umar forbade it based on the reasons mentioned is untrue and without reference.
Nikah Mut'a, a marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
with a pre-set time was a common practice among the pre-Islamic Arabs. Umar forbade it on the ground that it in many cases was usually immoral.
It was a common practice that a husband can not led the funeral prayer of his wife. Umar led one of his wife's funeral prayers. He also ruled that on the occasion of a funeral prayers four Takbir
Takbir
The Takbīr or Tekbir is the Arabic term for the phrase ' . It is usually translated "God is [the] Greatest," or "God is Great". It is a common Islamic Arabic expression...
s should be offered.