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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Omar Biography OMAR, The second Mohammedan caliph. He was born about 581. Before the year 617 he opposed the Prophet, but in that year he was won over to the new faith and became one of its ablest supporters. He was associated with Abu Bekr as one of his principal advisers, and on the death of Abu Bekr in 634 succeeded as Caliph and with increased vigor pushed on the wars of conquest which had been undertaken by his advice. The beginning of his reign was signalized by the victory of Kadesia (635) over the Persians. By 637 Omar had completed the conquest of Syria and Palestine. In 639 he sent Amr ibn al As (q.v.) to invade Egypt. In 641 Alexandria fell and the country passed from the Greeks to the Saracens. He was summoned to Jerusalem in 637 to receive the keys of that city. Barca and Tripoli were next subdued by Amr. Armenia was overrun in 641, and about the same time the victory of Nehavend brought Persia under the sway of the Arabs. In 644 Omar was assassinated in the mosque of Medina from motives of revenge by a Persian slave called Firuz, who was a Christian. He lingered five days after receiving the wound, but refused to appoint a successor, and named six commissioners who were to choose one from among themselves. He was buried in the mosque of Medina, near the Prophet and Abu Bekr, and his tomb is still visited by pilgrims. Omar may be called the organizer of the Mohammedan power, as from a mere sect he raised the followers of Islam to the rank of a conquering nation and left to his successor an empire. He was the founder of many excellent institutions; he assigned a regular pay to his soldiers and made some excellent regulations for the more lenient treatment of slaves. He originated the practice of dating from the era of the Hejira (q.v.). Consult: Gustav Weil, Geschichte der Chalifen. (Mannheim, 1846); August Müller, Der Islam in Morgen- und Abendland (Berlin, 1887); Sir William Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate (2d ed., London, 1893); Lammens, "Le Triumvirat Abou Bakr, Omar et Abou-Obaida," in Mélanges de la faculté orientale (Beirut, 1910); C. I. Huart, Histoire des Arabes (Paris, 1913). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 450. |