Reforms of Hazrat Umar RA
Introduction:
Hazrat Umar was the second muslim Caliph and reigned during 634 to 644 CE. Hazrat 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
ūfah were founded territories. During his reign, the garrison cities of Basrah and al-K ūfah 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.
Political Reforms: Hazrat 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. Hazrat Umar was very acute in the appointment of his provincial governors called Wali or amir. amir. Whenever a governor was appointed by Hazrat 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 Hazrat Umar’s reign because of increase in revenues and other sources of income, the state was on its way to economic prosperity. Hence Hazrat 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. Hazrat Umar was first to establish a special department for the investigation of complaints against the officers of the State. This department acted as Administrative court, where the legal proceedings were personally led by Hazrat Umar.[1] The Department was under the charge of Muhammad ibn Maslamah, one of Hazrat Umar's most trusted man. In important cases Muhammad ibn Maslamah was deputed by Hazrat Umar to proceed to the spot, investigate the charge and take action. Sometimes an Inquiry Commission was constituted to investigate the charge. On occasions the officers against whom complaints were received were summoned to Medina, and charged in Hazrat Umar's administrative court. Hazrat Umar was known for this intelligence service through which he made his officials accountable This service was also said to have inspired fear in his subjects. On discovery of any scandal on the part of any official, an investigation through 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 used to be recorded and were checked each year. It was due to Umar's strong commitment to eradicate corruption and bribery.
Military Reforms: Caliph Umar organized the army as a State department. This reform was introduced in 637 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 Muslims 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. (2) The pay was paid in the beginning of the month of Muharram. The allowances 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 Physicians and Surgeons. Expeditions were undertaken according to seasons. Expeditions in cold countries were undertaken during the summer, and in hot countries in winter. Hazrat Umar established military cantonments on strategic positions throughout the empire to deal with any emergency efficiently and quickly. The garrison towns of Kufa, Busra and Fustat were foun ded by Umar. They were also provincial capitals of their respective provinces.
Judicial Hazrat Umar stressed the independence of the judiciary and declared it a sovereign state organ that could proceed without any pressure of state. No one was exempt from the law, not even the 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 Sahabi, though he didn't resign completely from the office and Abu Dardah only acted as his secondary. Hazrat Umar was the founder of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). More than one thousand juristic pronouncements of Hazrat 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 Hazrat Umar is reported to have said: “
When you do not find a judgment on an issue in the Quran or Hadith and you are
in doubt about it, ponder over the question and ponder again. Then look for dicta on like and similar issues, and decide accordingly
” (3)
Hazrat Umar was very keen in appointing qazis (Islamic term for Chief Justice). To all the major provincial cities, Hazrat Umar would personally appointed judges. Hazrat 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 the m in the formulation of precedent or case law.
•
He must be highly qualified in fiqh
•
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 (Governors). Hazrat 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. Hazrat 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.
Social Reforms: One of Hazrat Umar's most remarkable reform was establishment of Islamic calendar. Hazrat 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. Hazrat Umar prohibited the sale of wine and drunkers were punished with 80 lashes. Hazrat 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, Hazrat 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 satires and lampoons. Hazrat Umar established a more exact system of calculation of the inheritance. Under Hazrat Umar's rule, for first time in history, state intervention to control the price of merchandise was practiced. Hazrat Umar established a stables for the lost camels. Hazrat Umar started salary for Imams, Muadhans (Callers to prayer) teachers 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 Hazrat 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 Hazrat Umar established special chain of state-owned guest house and Guilds for certain trades. Hazrat 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 newborn 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 Hazrat Umar established Bayt al-mal or public treasury. It was a financial
institution, responsible for the administration of allowance, taxes, Jizya and war spoil. Annual allowance was given to all Muslim population of the empire, men, women children and newborn infants. The highest amount of allowance was set for the wives of Mohammad which was 12,000 dirhams. For adults the lowest allowance was 300 dirhams that was usually given to desert Bedouins. 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 Hazrat Umar. Hazrat Umar's purpose of giving allowance was soaring the economical
condition of Muslims. Hazrat Umar is reported to have express his views regarding the allowance in his famous saying: “
"The one who have wealth should invest it in profitable works,
and if some one have fertile land he should cultivate it, because soon those rulers will come who will money only to those whom he wills to." (4)
Hazrat Umar is also quoted saying:
“
"Among Bedouin (poor nomads) who so ever will receive the
allowance, he must purchase some goats when he receives allowance next year, he should sell those goats and along with the money of allowance should purchase cattle. ” (4) This was a remarkable exertion to improve the living standard of the common man. Hazrat Umar's these efforts however worked, and by the time of Hazrat Umar's successor Caliph Uthman, Muslim population was prospering. Hazrat Umar, a year later, when Muslim's allowance was started, Hazrat Umar also issued orders for the allowance for the poor and under privileged non-Muslims throughout 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 taxes (including Zakat and Jizya) collected in the treasury of an Islamic government were used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, 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. (5) The Caliphate can thus be considered the world's first major welfare state.
Conclusion: In highlighting some of the political, social, civil and economic reforms undertaken by the second Rightly-Guided Caliph Umar, this essay has provided a compelling perspective that such reforms had enabled the functioning of the Islamic state along the characteristics of the ideal Ummah as proposed by the Prophet and in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah. Both Hazrat Umar ’s character and his stance towards these reforms reassert his commitment to the ideal Islamic state; and he remains a figure that inspires contemporary Muslim leaders to govern in the way of Islam.
References: 1. Shadi Hamid (August 2003), "An Islamic Alternative? Equality, Redistributive Justice, and the Welfare State in the Caliphate of Umar", Renaissance: Monthly Islamic Journal p. 1 2. Ibid p. 7 3. Ibid p. 12 4. http://uqreln1301.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/the-life-and-legacy-of-umar-ibn-alkhattab-umar-the-great/ 5. http://hikm.wordpress.com/2006/01/26/the-reforms-of-umar-bin-khattab/
