The death of Caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz

The fifth Rightly-Guided Caliph, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, died at Dayr Simʿan after two and a half years of a caliphate in which he filled the earth with justice — until, it was said, a man would come out with his zakat and find no poor person to accept it.

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz assumed the caliphate in 99 AH, wept, and said: It is a trial and a test. Then he began with himself, returning estates and jewels to the public treasury and holding his family to the same. He lived the life of ascetics though he was a caliph to whom the world was gathered.

He returned wrongfully taken property to its owners, whoever they were, abolished the taxes that burdened people, and ordered his governors to justice and to withhold harm — until wealth overflowed in his caliphate, and it was called out: Where are the debtors? Where are those seeking marriage? — until all were enriched.

He ordered Abu Bakr ibn Hazm to record the Sunnah for fear that knowledge would be lost — the first official recording of hadith. His days were not long; he was poisoned, it was said, and died at Dayr Simʿan near Homs in 101 AH at about forty. The Muslims wept for him and counted him among the Rightly-Guided.