Umar bin Abdul Aziz was the fifth caliph among Khulafa-ar-Rashedeen (the truly guided caliphs). He is also identified as Khalifa ar-Saleh which means the gifted or real caliph. According to many Muslim scholars the Khulafa ar Rashideen are five: Abu Bakr RA, Umar bin Khatab RA, Usman RA, Ali RA and Umar bin Abdul Aziz.
Umar bin Abdul Aziz was born in 62 A.H. He was the son of Abdul Aziz who was the Governor of Egypt. His mother was grand daughter of Umar bin Khatab R.A. His father was supposed to succeed Abdul Malik as caliph but died in Abdul Malik’s lifetime and so he did not become the caliph.
Umar bin Abdul Aziz had a scar on his face as a horse had kicked him when he was a child. Umar bin Khatab RA was used to say that his descanted would appear with a scar on his face and he would fill the earth with justice and righteousness. That was why when the horse kicked Umar bin Abdul Aziz and he began to bleed, his father continued to mop his face and said
“If you are the one spoken about the scar, you are fortunate.”
Before this some people used to say that the world would not come to an end as long as Umar’s ideal caliph had not become the ruler yet.
Umar bin Abdul Aziz was sent to Madina in his childhood where he spent his life in the company of learned legal scholars of the city. He gained knowledge of spirituality from them. He had such a high status in knowledge and virtue that had he not been the caliph he would have been counted among the religious scholars and been recognized as a great imam.
Zaid bin Aslam narrated: “After the Prophet P.B.U.H we have never performed our salat (obligatory prayers) in a way that resembled the Prophet’s salat except the salat we made behind Umar bin Abdul Aziz.”
Before becoming caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz wore showy clothes. However, after becoming caliph he adopted a poor man’s life style in all aspects. Maimoon bin Mehran says that “many well known scholars used to live in his company as students”. Mujhahid says that “we visited Umar bin Abdul Aziz with the intention that he would learn something from us but after coming from him we had much to learn from him”.
After the death of his father, Abdul bin Marwan called him to Damascus and married his daughter Fatima to him. When Waleed became caliph, he placed Umar bin Abdul Aziz as the governor of Madina who remained in power from 86 A.H. to 93 A.H. He performed Hajj several times as the leader of pilgrimage. During his period of govern-ship of Madina, all the scholars and leaned Muslims used to gather around him. He made a council of legal scholars there and used to arrange the affairs of expeditions with their consultations.
Because of Hujjaj’s complaints, Waleed dismissed him from the governor-ship of Madina and sent him to Syria. When Waleed wanted to depose his brother Sulaiman from the succession and put his own son to his place, except Hajjaj and Qutaiba all leaders not liked it. The first man who openly and vehemently opposed Waleed was Umar bin Abdul Aziz . This made Waleed threw him into prison. He remained there for three years and was released on some one’s recommendation. Sulaiman bin Abdul Malik was highly obliged to him for his sacrifice. That is why when Sulaiman became caliph, he selected him as his prime minister and left in his will for him to become caliph after his death.
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