Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan (Arabic: عُمَر بْن عَبْد الْعَزِيز بْن مَرْوَان, romanized: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān; c. 680 – February 720) was the eighth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 717 until his death in 720. He is credited to have instituted significant reforms to the Umayyad central government, by making it much more efficient and egalitarian. His rulership is marked by the first official collection of hadiths and the mandated universal education to the populace.

He dispatched emissaries to China and Tibet, inviting their rulers to accept Islam. It was during his three-year reign that Islam was accepted by huge segments of the populations of Persia and Egypt. He also ordered the withdrawal of the Muslim forces in various fronts such as in Constantinople, Central Asia and Septimania. However despite this, his reign witnessed the Umayyads gaining many new territories in the Iberian Peninsula.

Umar is regarded by many Sunni scholars as the first mujaddid and is sometimes referred to as the "fifth rightly guided caliph" due to his reputation for just governance. Some Sunni scholars consider Hasan ibn Ali’s brief caliphate (661) as part of his father Ali ibn Abi Talib’s rule, citing a hadith that describes the rightly guided caliphate as lasting thirty years. Umar was also honorifically called Umar al-Thani (Umar II) after his great-grandfather, Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (r. 634–644).

Umar was likely born in Medina around 680. His father, Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, belonged to the wealthy Umayyad clan resident in the city, while his mother, Layla bint Asim, was a granddaughter of the second Rashidun caliph Umar (r. 634–644). His lineage from the much-respected Caliph Umar would later be much emphasized by historians to differentiate him from the other Umayyad rulers.

At the time of his birth, another branch of the Umayyads, the Sufyanids, ruled from their capital Damascus. When the reigning Caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683) and his son and successor, Mu'awiya II (r. 683–684), died in quick succession in 683 and 684, respectively, Umayyad authority collapsed across the Caliphate and the Umayyads of the Hejaz, including Medina, were expelled by supporters of the rival caliph, the Mecca-based Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (r. 683–692). The Umayyad exiles took refuge in Syria, where loyalist Arab tribes supported the dynasty. Umar's grandfather, Marwan I (r. 684–685), was ultimately recognized by these tribes as caliph and, with their support, reasserted Umayyad rule in Syria.

In 685, Marwan ousted Ibn al-Zubayr's governor from Egypt and appointed Umar's father to the province. Umar spent part of his childhood in Egypt, particularly in Hulwan, which had become the seat of his father's governorship between 686 and his death in 705. He received his education in Medina, however, which was retaken by the Umayyads under Umar's paternal uncle, Caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705), in 692. Having spent much of his youth in Medina, Umar developed ties with the city's pious men and transmitters of hadiths. Following the death of Umar's father, Abd al-Malik recalled Umar to Damascus, where he arranged Umar's marriage to his daughter, Fatima. Umar had two other wives: his maternal cousin Umm Shu'ayb or Umm Uthman, the daughter of Shu'ayb or Sa'id ibn Zabban of the Banu Kalb tribe, and Lamis bint Ali of the Balharith. From his wives he had seven known children, as well as seven other children from concubines.

Shortly after his accession, Abd al-Malik's son and successor, al-Walid I (r. 705–715), appointed Umar governor of Medina. According to Julius Wellhausen, al-Walid's intention was to use Umar to reconcile the townspeople of Medina to Umayyad rule and "obliterate [sic] the evil memory" of the preceding Umayyad governors, namely Hisham ibn Isma'il al-Makhzumi, whose rule over Medina had been harsh for its inhabitants. Umar took up the post in February/March 706 and his jurisdiction later extended to Mecca and Ta'if.

Information about his governorship is scant, but most traditional accounts note that he was a "just governor", according to historian Paul Cobb. He often led the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca and showed favor toward the Islamic legal scholars of Medina, notably Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab. Umar tolerated many of these scholars' open criticism of the Umayyad government's conduct. However, other accounts hold that he showed himself to be materialistic during his early career. On al-Walid's orders, Umar undertook the reconstruction and expansion of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina beginning in 707. Under Umar's generally lenient rule, the Hejaz became a refuge for Iraqi political and religious exiles fleeing the persecutions of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, al-Walid's powerful viceroy over the eastern half of the Caliphate. According to Cobb, this served as Umar's "undoing" as al-Hajjaj pressured the caliph to dismiss Umar in May/June 712.