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| Umar II | |
|---|---|
| Name | ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz |
| Honorific | Imam al-Umar |
| Birth date | c. 682 |
| Birth place | Medina |
| Death date | 720 |
| Death place | Dirtar (Dayr al-Jathaliq)? |
| Reign | 717–720 |
| Predecessor | Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik |
| Successor | Yazid II |
| Dynasty | Umayyad Caliphate |
Umar II was the eighth Umayyad caliph whose short reign from 717 to 720 is noted for attempts at Islamic legal reform, fiscal equity, and religiously motivated governance. He sought to reconcile Quranic principles with administration in the context of the Umayyad Caliphate, interacting with leading figures from Medina, Damascus, Kufa, and Basra. His policies generated contemporaneous praise from representatives of the Tābi‘ūn and criticism from Umayyad elites, and later historians have debated his impact on the trajectory of Islamic history.
Born in or near Medina around 682, he descended from the Umayyad branch through his grandfather ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and was connected by marriage and kinship to figures of the Hejaz and Syria. As a youth he lived under the early caliphs of the Umayyad Caliphate such as Muʻawiya I and interacted with personalities from the circles of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib through familial networks. He received religious instruction influenced by scholars from Medina and was associated with the tradition of the Tābi‘ūn, linking him to transmitters like ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar and jurists who later formed schools around Ḥijāz cities. His biography intersects with disputes involving figures such as Marwan I and the Umayyad administration during the reigns of Umar II's contemporaries in Syria and Iraq.
Following the death of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik in 717, succession politics among Umayyad elites and the military in Syria produced a choice of a pious and reform-minded candidate to stabilize tensions. The selection process involved prominent actors such as members of the Umayyad family, governors from provinces like Egypt, factions in Kufa, and opinion leaders in Medina and Mecca. His appointment reflected compromises among supporters of dynastic continuity exemplified by Marwan II’s antecedents, and figures like Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik and Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf loomed in the background of court politics. The accession also occurred amid external pressures from the Byzantine Empire and campaigns on the frontiers near Anatolia and Transoxiana.
As caliph he reversed or curtailed several fiscal and administrative practices instituted under predecessors such as Al-Walid I and Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, ordering audits of provincial treasuries in Egypt, Iraq, Khorasan, and Maghreb. He attempted to reform tax policies affecting converts—responding to controversies involving the jizya and kharaj—and sought to extend equal treatment to Muslim converts in provinces including Sindh and Ifriqiya. Umar’s reforms entailed dismissals and appointments among governors exemplified by changes in Iraq and Syria and engaged with jurists from Medina, Kufa, and Basra for legal guidance, including consultations with transmitters linked to Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr’s milieu. He promoted charitable disbursements and audited stipends to veterans from campaigns in Constantinople and Caucasus.
Noted for asceticism and devotion to Quranic study, he emphasized adherence to prophetic traditions associated with transmitters from Medina and engaged with legal reasoning akin to early Hadith scholarship. His religious stance placed him in conversation with Sunni-oriented scholars and figures from the Tābi‘ūn, influencing debates involving jurists linked to emergent schools in Kufa and Basra. He instituted measures to align state practice with rites performed in Mecca and Medina and reportedly supported scholars such as those associated with the circles of Ibn Abbas and Aisha’s transmitters. His piety was praised by later chroniclers and polemicists, including writers from al-Andalus and Iraq, while Umayyad partisans sometimes viewed his religiosity as politically inconvenient.
Although his reign was brief, he recalibrated military pay and provisioning for garrisons in frontier zones like Armenia, Caucasus, and Tarsus, and adjusted priorities between expeditionary commands toward Byzantine frontiers and consolidation in Iraq and Khurasan. He restructured administrative practices in provincial capitals—reappointing or removing governors in Egypt, Ifriqiya, Khurasan, and Al-Andalus—and dealt with rebellions and dissident movements linked to figures in Khorasan and the Hejaz. His military posture influenced interactions with external polities such as the Byzantine Empire, Khazar Khaganate, and nomadic groups in Transoxiana, and his governance affected recruitment and settlement policies for veterans in regions like Jordan and Palestine.
He died in 720 after a reign of approximately three years; contemporary accounts variously place his death in Damascus or during travel, and sources name immediate succession arrangements handled by Umayyad elites who elevated Yazid II as his successor. The transition involved courtiers and provincial notables from Syria, Iraq, and Hejaz, and prompted reactions among jurists, tribal leaders in Kufa and Basra, and commanders on the frontiers. His burial was attended by religious authorities from Medina and political figures from Damascus.
Medieval historians such as Al-Tabari, Ibn al-Athir, and Al-Baladhuri portrayed him as a model caliph whose policies temporarily moderated Umayyad practices; later commentators in Ibn Khaldun’s tradition and scholars in al-Andalus debated his long-term effect on Umayyad stability. Modern historians working on the Umayyad Caliphate, Islamic jurisprudence, and early Hadith transmission assess his reign in light of fiscal reform, religious legitimation, and administrative precedent, comparing his approach to rulers like Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and later caliphs. His image has been invoked in discussions of legitimacy and reform across crises in Islamic history, and his short reforms influenced later fiscal policies in provinces such as Ifriqiya and Al-Andalus and were referenced by jurists in narrating early Islamic governance.
Category:Umayyad caliphs Category:7th-century births Category:720s deaths