Thursday, December 20, 2012

Umar al-Khattab

We only know them by name (the Prophet's companions) but here's another account of one of his closest companions who had done so much for Islam after the Prophet's death (pbuh).Aunt Wiki (Wikipedia) has this to say of Umar (buried in Madinah!):


1. 'Umar, also spelled Omar (Arabic: عمر بن الخطاب, Transliteration: `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, Umar Son of Al-Khittab, born 579 CE – died 7 November 644 CE)

2. One of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs (rulers) in history.
He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634.

3. He was an expert Islamic jurist and is best known for his pious and just nature, which earned him the title Al-Faruq ("the one who distinguishes between right and wrong").

4.He is sometimes referred to as Caliph 'Umar I by historians of Islam, since a later Umayyad caliph, 'Umar II, also bore that name.

5. Under Umar the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate ruling the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. His attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years.

6. It was Umar, according to Jewish tradition, who set aside the Christian ban on Jews and allowed Jews into Jerusalem and to worship.


Prof Kasule who spoke on Umar al Khattab at the recent meeting of female academic leaders said in Islam, there's no restriction on female leadership.This gender divide is advocated by the Western modern mind because it cannot handle differences, diversities (wough!) and wants uniformity and standardisation all the time (pedas cili api!)
That was the reason why he purposely chose Umar al Khattab's model of leadership for the women's conference although he agreed Aisya and Khadija would make good examples as well but Aisha was more the academic leader (hey, I said it first, OK? haha).Anyway, it was truly a delight listening to Prof Kasule.Suka dia.

Umar's key characteristics as a leader include the following:

1.Having moral courage.He'd defend truth, righteousness and justice regardless of anything/anyone.Dengan Rasulullah pun dia tegor. :) Prof Kasule advised all female leaders to be like him..do not fear to speak truth to power, etc.

2.Having moral balance: he was strong but not violent, lenient but not weak, generous but not extravagant, economical but not miserly.

3. He had moral vision and foresight: having clear sense of direction, active and confident leadership (bkn flip flop macam siapaa?)

4.He had moral commitment to serve the community (community is not family members, Okeh?)

5.He had moral integrity: keeping away from any appearance --- yup, even appearance TAK BOLEH -- of financial impropriety even if that means denying himself and his family their due rights.Anak dia pernah mengamuk: apa ni Abah? Abang Long buat kerja ni dgn titik peluh sendiri bukan proxy ke hapa ke.

His dad said: but people know you are my son.Maybe they were lenient to you in their dealing with you.They make it easy money for you cos' they know you are my son.

Macam tu sekali, Tuan2 dan Puan2.Hiba, kan?

His financial integrity possibly remains unchallenged by today's standard.He would confiscate and deposit  profits made by his son Abdullah, in the public treasury eg his sale of a camel bought with PERSONAL funds.Itu pun habis kena rampas masuk public funds.

Umar also sold personal gifts sent to his wife by the Byzantine Empire and again deposited the proceeds in the public treasury. Oh Momma Obiang (another dictator in Africa)..habeh lari la isteri2 mu! Oh Rosemary...

Umar also refused to give entitled state money to a relative but preferred to give him from his personal money.

For him, not even appearance of inappropriety must be tolerated.
He did not appoint his relatives to public office (setengah cabinet..sepupu, anak, isteri, suami semua nompang dua2 kaki)

He even inflicted public punishment on his son more severe than the common citizens (susah nak implement this)

Umar would make sure that those reporting to him had the highest moral standards, given fixed salaries and their wealth regularly audited.

This is the story of Umar.If we were to study the characteristics of the Prophet (pbuh), we'd cry rolling on the floor.

2 comments:

ubuntu_linux said...

Prof, such an interesting post. really enjoy to read, plus the way u presented the info made it nicer :)

Faridah said...

Ubuntu: Thank you.If you become an academic leader one day, remember this post. :)