ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Marwān b. Ḥakam b. Abī al-ʿĀṣ b. Umayya b. ʿAbd Shams b. ʿAbd Manāf, Abū Ḥafṣ al-Qurashī al-Umawī. He is known as Amīr al-Muʾminīn (Commander of the Faithful). His mother was Umm ʿĀṣim Laylā bint ʿĀṣim b. ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb. He was called "the Fair-Faced of Banū Marwān." The people used to say: "The Fair-Faced and the Deficient have set the sons of Marwān in order." We have mentioned here the reason for ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz being called the Fair-Faced. As for the 'Deficient', an explanation will be given later.
ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was a noble tābiʿī (member of the generation following the Companions). He transmitted hadith from Anas b. Mālik, Sāʾib b. Yazīd, and Yūsuf b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Salām. Yūsuf was a Companion (ṣaḥābī) at a young age. ʿUmar also transmitted hadith from a group of tābiʿūn and others. Likewise, a group composed of tābiʿūn and others transmitted hadith from him.
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal said: "I do not know of anyone among the tābiʿūn whose word is considered a proof (ḥujja) except ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz." After his cousin Sulaymān b. ʿAbd al-Malik, allegiance (bayʿa) was given to him for the caliphate. As mentioned previously, Sulaymān had appointed him as his successor.
It is reported that ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was born in Egypt in the year 61 AH, the year in which al-Ḥusayn, son of ʿAlī, was killed. This has been stated by more than one person. According to Muḥammad b. Saʿd, he was born in the sixty-third year of the Hijra. There is also a view that he was born in the fifty-ninth year of the Hijra. Allah knows best.
ʿUmar had many brothers, but his full brothers were Abū Bakr, ʿĀṣim, and Muḥammad.
Abū Bakr b. Abī Khaythama narrated from Layth who said:
"I heard that ʿImrān b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Shuraḥbīl b. Ḥasana related that on the night ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was born or became caliph, he saw a dream: In the dream, he saw a herald in the heavens calling out: 'A gentle, devout man who manifests righteous deeds and is among those who pray has come to you.' When I asked who this person was, he descended to the earth and wrote the letters of the name 'ʿUmar'—ʿayn, mīm, and rāʾ—on the ground."
ʿĀdam b. Iyāḍ narrated from Abū ʿAlī Sarwān, the freedman of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, who said:
"ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz entered his father's stable. One of the horses kicked and wounded him. His father wiped away the blood from his wound and said: 'If you are the wounded one among the sons of Umayya, then you are a fortunate man.'"
Naʿīm b. Ḥammād narrated from Abū Kubayl who said: "When ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was a small child, he cried. When his mother heard him crying, she sent to ask: 'Why are you crying?' He replied: 'I am crying because I remembered death.' Upon hearing this, his mother also began to cry."
ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz memorized the Qur'an at a young age. al-Ḍaḥḥāk b. ʿUthmān al-Khuzāmī said: His father entrusted him to Ṣāliḥ b. Kaysān for his upbringing. When his father went on ḥajj, he visited him in Medina and asked Ṣāliḥ about ʿUmar's condition. Ṣāliḥ replied: 'I do not know of anyone in whose heart Allah holds such a great place as this boy.'
According to a narration from Yaʿqūb b. Sufyān, one day ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz missed the congregational prayer. When Ṣāliḥ b. Kaysān asked him why he was late, he replied: 'The one who was combing my hair was fixing it, so I was delayed.' Ṣāliḥ rebuked him, saying: 'Did you put combing your hair before prayer?' and wrote a letter about this to his father ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz in Egypt. His father sent a messenger to tell him that he would not speak to him until he shaved his head completely.
ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would visit ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh and listen to his advice. ʿUbayd Allāh once heard ʿUmar speak against ʿAlī. When ʿUmar visited him, he turned away and began to pray. ʿUmar waited for him, and when he finished and greeted him, ʿUbayd Allāh turned to him angrily and said: 'When did you hear that Allah was displeased with the people of Badr after He was pleased with them?' ʿUmar understood his meaning and said: 'For this sin, I seek forgiveness first from Allah and then from you. By Allah, I will never speak against ʿAlī again.' Indeed, it was never heard that ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz spoke against ʿAlī after that. Whenever he mentioned him, he did so with praise.
Abū Bakr b. Abī Khaythama narrated from Dāwūd b. Abī Hind who said:
"ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz entered the Prophet's Mosque through a certain gate and came to us. One of those present said: 'The sinner ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz sends his son to us to learn the obligatory shares and the sunnahs. He claims that he will not die before becoming caliph and ruling like ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb.'
Dāwūd said: 'By Allah, we saw that before he died, ʿUmar became caliph and was a just imam like ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb.'
Zubayr b. Bakkār narrated from ʿUtbi who said:
"The first sign of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz's righteousness was his passion for knowledge and his inclination toward good manners. When his father was appointed governor of Egypt, ʿUmar was still young, and it was uncertain if he had reached puberty. His father wanted to take him from Damascus to Egypt, but ʿUmar said: 'Father, if you do not take me to Egypt, perhaps it will be better for both you and me.' His father asked: 'What should I do, then?' ʿUmar replied: 'Send me to Medina so I may sit in the assemblies of the jurists and learn their manners.' His father sent him to Medina with servants. ʿUmar sat in the same assemblies as the Quraysh and followed their customs, avoiding the youth until his reputation spread. When his father died, his uncle, the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān, took him in and included him among his own children, preferring him over most of them. He married him to his daughter Fāṭima. A poet said about Fāṭima:
'O daughter of the caliph, whose grandfather was also a caliph, O sister of caliphs, whose husband is also a caliph.'
The narrator says: 'We know of no other woman up to our time who possessed the qualities mentioned in this poem except Fāṭima.'
ʿUtbi said: 'Anyone who envied ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz did so out of resentment for the continuous blessings he received and his dignified gait.'
Al-Aḥnaf b. Qays said: 'The perfect person is one whose faults can be counted. Their faults are so few that they can be enumerated.'
ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz inherited wealth, goods, and mounts from his father. He and his brothers inherited so much that we do not know of anyone else who inherited as much. This has been mentioned previously.
One day, ʿUmar entered the presence of his uncle ʿAbd al-Malik, but he was limping. His uncle asked:
- O ʿUmar, what has happened to you that you are limping?
- I am wounded.
- Where is your wound?
- Between my leg and the skin of my testicle.
ʿAbd al-Malik said to Rūḥ b. Zanbaʿ, who was present: 'By Allah, if a man from your people were asked such a question, he could not answer as he did.'
When his uncle ʿAbd al-Malik died, ʿUmar grieved greatly and wore coarse garments under his clothes for seventy days. When al-Walīd became caliph, he treated ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz well, as his father ʿAbd al-Malik had done. He appointed him governor of Medina, Mecca, and Ṭāʾif. ʿUmar served in this position continuously from the eighty-sixth to the ninety-third year of the Hijra. In the eighty-ninth and ninetieth years, he led the people in ḥajj. In the ninety-first year, al-Walīd led the people in ḥajj. Then ʿUmar again led the ḥajj in either the ninety-second or ninety-third year.
During his governorship, ʿUmar expanded and rebuilt the Prophet's Mosque by order of al-Walīd, including the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) grave within the mosque. During this period, he was the best and most just of people in terms of livelihood. When faced with a difficult matter, he would gather the jurists of Medina and seek their opinions. He had appointed ten jurists in Medina for such matters and would not make a decision without consulting them. Their names were: ʿUrwa, ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUtba, Abū Bakr b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-Ḥārith b. Hishām, Abū Bakr b. Sulaymān b. Khaythama, Sulaymān b. Yasār, Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. Ḥazm, Sālim b. ʿAbd Allāh, ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿĀmir b. Rabīʿa, and Khārija b. Zayd b. Thābit.
ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would not depart from the opinion of Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab. Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab would not visit any of the caliphs except when ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was governor of Medina.
Ibrāhīm b. Ablah said: I went to Medina, where Ibn al-Musayyab and others were present. One day, ʿUmar summoned them to consult on a matter.
Ibn Wahb said: Layth, one of the Berber chiefs, told me: I was with Rabīʿa b. Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān one day—during ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz's governorship of Medina—when we discussed his actions. Rabīʿa said to me: 'Do you mean to say that ʿUmar made mistakes or did wrong? By Allah, in whose hand is my soul, ʿUmar never erred.'
It is established by multiple chains of transmission that Anas b. Mālik said: 'While he was governor of Medina, I never prayed behind an imam whose prayer more closely resembled that of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) than this young man (ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz).'
They said: ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz would perform the bowing (rukūʿ) and prostration (sujūd) completely, but would keep the standing (qiyām) and sitting (qaʿda) brief. According to an authentic narration, he would say tasbīḥ ten times in each rukūʿ and sujūd.
Ibn Wahb narrated from Layth, who narrated from Abū Naḍr al-Madīnī, who said:
'I saw Sulaymān b. Yasār coming out from ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz's presence. I asked him:
- Are you coming from ʿUmar?
- Yes.
- Are you teaching him?
- Yes.
- By Allah, he knows better than you; he is more learned than you.'
Mujāhid said: 'We came to ʿUmar to teach him, but soon we became his students.'
Maymūn b. Mihrān said: 'The scholars were like students in the presence of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.'
In another narration, Maymūn said: 'ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was the teacher of the scholars.'
Layth said: A man who had been a companion of Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās and was appointed governor of al-Jazīra by ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz told me: 'Whenever we wanted to know something, we always found ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz to be the most knowledgeable about its essence and details. The scholars were only like students in his presence.'
ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṭāwūs said: I saw my father and ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz converse from the night prayer until morning. When they parted, I asked my father: 'Father, who is this man?' He replied: 'This is ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. He is one of the righteous of the Umayyad dynasty.'
ʿAbd Allāh b. Kathīr said: I asked ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz: 'What was the first thing that turned you toward the path of Allah?' He replied: 'I wanted to beat my slave, but he said to me: Remember a night whose morning will be the Day of Resurrection.'
Imam Mālik said: When ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was removed from the governorship of Medina in the ninety-third year of the Hijra, as he departed and looked back at Medina, he wept and said to his freedman: 'O Muzāḥim! We fear that we may be among those expelled by Medina. For in a hadith it is related that Medina expels its impurities as a bellows expels impurities from iron, and what is good and pure remains clear.'
I say: After leaving Medina, ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz stayed for a while in a place called Suwayda near there, then went to Damascus to his cousins.
Muḥammad b. Isḥāq narrated that ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said: 'When I left Medina, there was no one more knowledgeable than me. When I arrived in Damascus, I forgot what I knew.'
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated from al-Zuhrī who said:
'One night I conversed with ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and narrated hadith to him. He said to me: "I had heard and memorized all the hadiths you narrated to me, but now I have forgotten them."'
Ibn Wahb narrated from al-Zuhrī that ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said: 'At noon, al-Walīd sent for me. When I came to him, his face was sullen. He signaled for me to sit, so I sat. He asked: "What do you say about someone who curses the caliphs? Should such a person be killed?" I remained silent. He repeated the question, and I remained silent. The third time, I said:
- O Commander of the Faithful, has the person you mention killed the caliph?
- No, but he has cursed him.
- Then he should be punished accordingly.
After I answered thus, he became angry and returned to his family. His executioner, named Ibn Rayyān, said to me: "Go." So I left. Whenever a wind blew, I thought it was a messenger from al-Walīd coming to summon me to him.'
ʿUthmān b. Zabr said: 'While he was caliph, Sulaymān b. ʿAbd al-Malik visited the military garrison with ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. There were horses, camels, mules, loads, and men. Sulaymān asked: "What do you think about this?" ʿUmar replied: "I see the world devouring itself, and you are responsible for all of this." As they approached the garrison, they saw a crow take a morsel of food from Sulaymān's tent and fly away cawing. Sulaymān asked again:
- O ʿUmar, what about this?
- I do not know.
- What do you think the crow means by its cawing?
- I think it is saying: Where did it come from, and where is it going?
- How strange you are.
- Truly strange is the one who knows Allah yet disobeys Him, who knows Satan yet obeys him, and who knows the world yet turns toward it.'
As mentioned previously, when Sulaymān and ʿUmar stood at ʿArafāt, Sulaymān saw the multitude of people. ʿUmar said to him: 'These are your subjects today, but tomorrow you will be called to account for them.' In another narration, ʿUmar said: 'Tomorrow, on the Day of Resurrection, these will be your adversaries.' Upon hearing this, Sulaymān wept and said: 'We seek Allah's help.'
As mentioned earlier, Sulaymān and ʿUmar were once caught in the rain, and when lightning flashed, ʿUmar began to smile. Sulaymān asked: 'Are you laughing?' ʿUmar replied: 'Yes, these are signs of Allah's mercy, and yet we are in this state and you are afraid. Consider what your state would be if you saw signs of His wrath and punishment.'
According to a narration from Imam Mālik, Sulaymān and ʿUmar once argued, and during the argument Sulaymān said: 'You are lying.' ʿUmar replied: 'You accuse me of lying? By Allah, since I realized that lying harms its perpetrator, I have never lied.' After this, ʿUmar decided to leave and migrate to Egypt, but Sulaymān did not let him go and sent someone to say: 'Whenever I face an important matter, you are always the one I turn to.'
As mentioned previously, when Sulaymān was dying, he appointed ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz as his successor. After Sulaymān's death, matters proceeded accordingly. Praise be to Allah.