Political and civil administration The government of Umar was a
unitary government, where the sovereign political authority was the caliph. The empire of Umar was divided into provinces and some
autonomous territories, e.g.,
Azerbaijan and
Armenia, that had accepted the suzerainty of the caliphate. The provinces were administered by the provincial governors or
Wali, personally and fastidiously selected by Umar. Provinces were further divided into about 100 districts. Each district or main city was under the charge of a junior governor or Amir, usually appointed by Umar himself, but occasionally also appointed by the provincial governor. Other officers at the provincial level were: •
Katib, the Chief Secretary •
Katib-ud-Diwan, the Military Secretary •
Sahib-ul-Kharaj, the Revenue Collector •
Sahib-ul-Ahdath, the
Police chief •
Sahib-Bait-ul-Mal, the
Treasury Officer •
Qadi, the Chief Judge In some districts there were separate military officers, though the
Wali was, in most cases, the Commander-in-chief of the army quartered in the province. Every appointment was made in writing. At the time of appointment an instrument of instructions was issued with a view to regulating the ''Wali's
conduct. On assuming office, the Wali'' was required to assemble the people in the main
mosque, and read the instrument of instructions before them. Umar's general instructions to his officers were: Various other strict codes of conduct were to be obeyed by the governors and state officials. The principal officers were required to travel to Mecca on the occasion of the Hajj, during which people were free to present any complaint against them. In order to minimize the chances of corruption, Umar made it a point to pay high salaries to the staff. Provincial governors received as much as five to seven thousand dirham annually besides their shares of the spoils of war (if they were also the commander in chief of the army of their sector). Under Umar, the empire was divided into the following provinces: •
Mecca (Arabia) •
Medina (Arabia) •
Basra (Iraq) •
Kufa (Iraq) •
Jazira, in the upper reaches of the
Tigris and
Euphrates •
Syria •
Iliyā (Palestine) •
Ramlah (Palestine) •
Upper Egypt •
Lower Egypt •
Khorasan (Persia) •
Azerbaijan (Persia) •
Fars (Persia) Umar was first to establish a special department for the investigation of complaints against the officers of the state. This department acted as the
administrative court, where the legal proceedings were personally led by Umar. The department was under the charge of
Muhammad ibn Maslamah, one of Umar's most trusted men. In important cases, Muhammad ibn Maslamah was deputed by Umar to proceed to the spot, investigate the charge and take action. Sometimes an Inquiry Commission was constituted to investigate the charge. On occasion, the officers against whom complaints were received were summoned to Medina and charged in Umar's administrative court. 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. Umar was a pioneer in some affairs: • Umar was the first to introduce the public ministry system, where the records of officials and soldiers were kept. He also kept a record system for messages he sent to Governors and heads of state • He was the first to appoint police forces to keep civil order • He was the first to discipline the people when they became disordered Another important aspect of Umar's rule was that he forbade any of his governors and agents from engaging in any sort of business dealings whilst in a position of power. a man named Al-Harith ibn Wahb was once found to have extra money beyond his salary and Umar enquired about his wealth. 'Umar summoned al-Harith ibn Wahb and said, "What are those young camels and slaves that you sold for two hundred dinars?" He said, "I went out with some expenditure funds and used them to trade." 'Umar said, "By God, we have not sent you out to trade, using the wealth of the Muslims. Pay them back."
Canals Since Medina, with a rapidly growing population, was at risk of recurring famines when crops were lacking, Umar sought to facilitate the import of grain. He ordered the building of a
canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea and an improvement of port infrastructure on the
Arabian coast. When Basra was established during Umar's rule, he started building a nine-mile canal from the
Tigris to the new city for irrigation and drinking water. Al-Tabari reports that
Utba ibn Ghazwan built the first canal from the Tigris River to the site of Basra when the city was in the planning stage. After the city was built, Umar appointed
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (17–29/638–650) as its first governor. He began building two important canals, the
al-Ubulla and the Ma'qil, linking Basra with the
Tigris River. These two canals were the basis for the agricultural development for the whole
Basra region and used for drinking water. Umar also adopted a policy of assigning barren lands to those who undertook to cultivate them. This policy continued during the Umayyad period and resulted in the cultivation of large areas of barren lands through the construction of irrigation canals by the state and by individuals.
Reforms Under Umar's leadership, the empire expanded; accordingly, he began to build a political structure that would hold together the vast territory. He undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy, establishing an advanced administration for the newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, and ordered a census of all the Muslim territories. During his rule, the garrison cities (
amsar) of Basra and Kufa were founded or expanded. In 638, Umar began a major expansion of the
Prophet's Mosque in Medina. To make room for the growing community, he demolished the surrounding houses, but he spared the homes of
Muhammad's wives. This project created a new enclosure measuring 57.49 by 66.14 m. Umar rebuilt the walls using sun-dried
mud bricks and raised the roof to a height of 5.6 m. To improve the space for worshippers, he had pebbles spread across the floor and added three new gates for better access. He also created a specific area called Al-Buṭayḥah (). This was a designated space where people could engage in social and intellectual activities, such as reciting poetry, without disturbing those praying. Umar also ordered the expulsion to Syria and Iraq of the Christian and Jewish communities of
Najran and
Khaybar. He also permitted Jewish families to resettle in Jerusalem, which had previously been barred from all Jews. He issued orders that these Christians and Jews should be treated well and allotted them the equivalent amount of land in their new settlements. Umar also forbade non-Muslims from residing in the
Hejaz for longer than three days. He was first to establish the army as a state department. In 641, he established
Bayt al-mal, a financial institution and started annual allowances for the Muslims. As a leader, Umar was known for his simple, austere lifestyle. Rather than adopt the pomp and display affected by the rulers of the time, he continued to live much as he had when Muslims were poor and persecuted. In 638, his fourth year as caliph and the seventeenth year since the
Hijra, he decreed that the
Islamic calendar should be counted from the year of the Hijra of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.
Visit to Jerusalem in 637 's entrance into
Jerusalem in 638. Umar's visit to
Jerusalem is documented in several sources. A recently discovered Judeo-Arabic text has disclosed the following anecdote: Following the peaceful surrender of the city, Caliph Umar issued a document known in historical sources as the
Pact of Umar, which is also referred to as the Covenant of Umar. This agreement guaranteed the safety of the lives and property of Jerusalem's inhabitants, ensured the protection of
places of worship, and explicitly prohibited
forced religious conversion. The status of
churches was preserved, and Christians were permitted to continue their religious practices without interference. The pact is widely regarded as an early and significant example of religious tolerance and the protection of minority rights under Islamic rule. According to Islamic narratives, some Christian clerics, upon observing Umar's conduct, stated that his characteristics corresponded to descriptions found in their own sacred texts and consequently handed over the keys of the city to him. When the time for prayer arrived, Patriarch Sophronius offered Umar the opportunity to perform his prayer inside the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Umar declined this offer, explaining that if he were to pray there, future Muslims might use this act as justification to convert the church into a mosque, thereby undermining Christian
freedom of worship. Instead, he performed his prayer at a location outside the church, where the
Mosque of Omar now stands. This attitude has been cited in historical narratives as a notable example of Caliph Umar's respect for
religious spaces and his sensitivity toward safeguarding the rights of different faith communities.
Military expansion The military conquests were partially terminated between 638 and 639 during the years of great famine in Arabia and plague in the
Levant. During his reign the Levant, Egypt,
Cyrenaica,
Tripolitania,
Fezzan, Eastern
Anatolia, almost the whole of the
Sassanid Persian Empire including
Bactria, Persia, Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Caucasus and
Makran were annexed to the Rashidun Caliphate. According to one estimate more than 4,050 cities were captured during these military conquests. Prior to his death in 644, Umar had ceased all military expeditions apparently to consolidate his rule in recently conquered
Roman Egypt and the newly conquered Sassanid Empire (642–644). At his death in November 644, his rule extended from present day
Libya in the west to the
Indus river in the east and the
Oxus river in the north.
Great famine In 638, Arabia fell into severe drought followed by a famine. Soon after, the reserves of food at Medina began to run out. Umar ordered caravans of supplies from Syria and Iraq and personally supervised their distribution. His actions saved countless lives throughout Arabia. The first governor to respond was Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, the governor of Syria and supreme commander of the
Rashidun army. Later, Abu Ubayda paid a personal visit to Medina and acted as an officer of
disaster management, which was headed personally by Umar. For internally displaced people, Umar hosted a dinner every night at Medina, which according to one estimate, had attendance of more than a hundred thousand people.
Great plague While famine was ending in Arabia, many districts in Syria and Palestine were devastated by
plague. While Umar was on his way to visit Syria, at
Elat, he was received by
Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, governor of Syria, who informed him about the plague and its intensity and suggested that Umar go back to Medina. Umar tried to persuade Abu Ubayda to come with him to Medina, but he declined to leave his troops in that critical situation. Abu Ubayda died in 639 of the plague, which also cost the lives of 25,000 Muslims in Syria. After the plague had weakened, in late 639, Umar visited Syria for political and administrative re-organization, as most of the veteran commanders and governors had died of the plague.
Welfare state To be close to the poor, Umar lived in a simple mud hut without doors and walked the streets every evening. After consulting with the poor, Umar established the first welfare state,
Bayt al-mal The Bayt al-mal aided the Muslim and non-Muslim poor, needy, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. The Bayt al-mal ran for hundreds of years, from the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century through the Umayyad period (661–750) and well into the Abbasid era. Umar also introduced a child benefit and pensions for the children and the elderly.
Free trade Local populations of Jews and Christians, persecuted as religious minorities and taxed heavily to finance the
Byzantine–Sassanid Wars, often aided Muslims to take over their lands from the Byzantines and Persians, resulting in exceptionally speedy conquests. As new areas were attached to the Caliphate, they benefited from increased commerce; while trade was encouraged, the primary fiscal obligation was wealth redistribution through the
zakat, which functioned as a formal system of social security. Since the
Constitution of Medina, drafted by Muhammad, the Jews and the Christians continued to use their own laws in the Caliphate and had their own judges. == Assassination ==