Umar‟s Justice and Accountability

Meaning: And (remember) when We made this House (the

Kaaba) a central place for mankind to turn to (and assemble) and a sanctuary for peace and (commanded,) „Make the place, where Abraham stood, a place of prayer.‟ (2:125) 2. Second was about the veiling of women. I said, „O Prophet! I wish you instruct your wives to observe purdah as good and bad ones talk to them.‟ So the verse regarding it was revealed. 3. When the wives of the Prophet unitedly made some demands to him, the following verse was revealed exactly having the same words that I said to them:

:(66 5)اریخاجاوزاہلدبینانکقلطناہبریسع

Meaning: If he divorces you then it may well be that your Lord will give him in your place better wives than yourselves. (66:5) Thus Allah favoured me through this verse.” (Bukhari 402)

(Further detail is mentioned in the Hadith section)

UMAR‟S JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

During his caliphate, Umar laid a lot of emphasis on accountability. He often said, “Hold yourself accountable before you are held accountable (by Allah). As self-accountability will ease your requital on the day of judgement.” He added, “Prepare yourself for the biggest court (the day of judgement) where none of your actions would be concealed.” An incomparable system of accountability was implemented in the reign of Umar. The example of such system is not seen even in the modern era. In fact, he himself faced accountability many times. He put so much emphasis on justice, equality and control of desires that people and governors were afraid of his accountability. The public could fearlessly file complaints against the authorities. When complaint against any governor reached

Umar, he responded right away by calling him in his court. He did not hesitate to punish that governor if on investigation he turned out to be at fault. He had strictly instructed his governors to serve and facilitate the public. He ordered them, “Do not shut the doors of your houses so a sorrowful person can easily approach you for his needs. Do not ride on a Turkish horse because it is a sign of pride and vanity. Do not wear thin silk clothes and do not consume sieved flour.”

Whenever he appointed a governor for a state, a list of his assets and wealth was made and kept as record in the office of the caliphate. If the financial state of that governor drastically changed during his term, he had to go through the process of accountability. It is written in Futuh al-Buldan23 that the first step in the accountability was that at the appointment of any officer, a list of his assets was made which was then examined every so often. The assets were declared publicly at the time of appointment to hold witnesses. It was also ensured that the state officers were given enough stipend to fulfil their and their families‟ basic needs. Their original assets were audited minutely to check for any discrepancies. According to a famous tradition, when Abu Hurairah was appointed the governor of Bahrain and he was taking ten thousand dirhams with him to Bahrain, Umar immediately questioned him, “Where did you get this money from?” Abu Hurairah replied, “I had some mares which aided in financial gain.” His explanation was reasonable, thus was accepted. Then Umar asked Abu Hurairah to leave for Bahrain, but he pardoned by saying, “This is a huge responsibility. I am afraid, even if I

23 Futuh al-Buldan is a renowned book on the conquest of the countries, written in Arabic by a Middle Eastern historian, Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri. This book includes geographical and political history along with events of the caliphate.

unintentionally do injustice, I would not be spared from your accountability.”

Umar ibn Khattab had ordained the governors and officers not to enter Madina in the darkness of night rather enter in the morning so people could see them. The accountability of Umar was not limited to only financial matters, but it actually included every aspect of life of the officers. They were held accountable on their lifestyle, conduct and socioeconomic values. Whenever Umar appointed someone at an important post, he gave him special instructions and ensured that he practically followed them. He focused on their character building and also tried to spiritually enlighten their souls with the Islamic norms and values.

During the pilgrimage days, Umar made public announcements, offering people to reach out to him for any compliant against his officials.

Once all the officials were in his court during pilgrimage days. As usual he made a public announcement so people could reach out to him for any complaints. A man said, “O Leader of the Believers! Your officer Amr ibn al-As struck me though I was not at fault.” Umar replied, “Get up and publicly take revenge from him.” The conqueror and governor of Egypt, Amr ibn al-As said, “O Umar! Your such order will disgrace the governors.” Umar replied, “For me every individual has the same respect and dignity. I have witnessed Prophet Mohammad permitting retaliation from his sacred self (to set an example of justice and equality).” Amr ibn al-As settled the matter with the man by offering him a gold coin for one strike. Umar often directed his governors through his sermons. Once during a sermon, he said, “Remember! People follow their ruler until he follows Allah‟s ordain. When the leader diverts from the ordain of Allah then people also kick over the traces and rebel. If

the ruler is depraved and corrupt, the public becomes more wayward.” Often in gatherings some opinionated people would criticize Umar. However, Umar was never rude towards them. He handled critics very well.  Umar deposed Khalid ibn Walid from the post of commander. While travelling to Syria when he talked about it in a gathering, a man said, “Umar! You did not do justice.

You dismissed the commander whom Prophet Mohammad had appointed. It is like putting the sword back in scabbard that the Holy Prophet had taken out. You envied your cousin and were not compassionate towards him.” Even after hearing such rude comments of the man, Umar did not lose his composure and politely gave reasons of his decision.

Such actions of Umar encouraged people to fearlessly question their rulers and hold them accountable.

 One day, Umar while addressing the gathering said, “What will you do if I incline towards the world and do injustice?”

One man took out his sword from the scabbard and said,

“We will course-correct you with the sword.” Umar then said, “Thanks to Allah that there are such men in my nation who will put me right if I ever go wayward.” This implies that he wanted people to recognize that it is up to the nation to ensure that their ruler remains on the right track, they should keep watch on his actions and hold him accountable.

Umar believed that the accountability of the ruler must not be limited to him only but his family members should also be included in it.

 About the accountability of the Caliph, Umar said, “Government is answerable to the nation. People can hold their leader accountable rather they should do so periodically because he is not just appointed by Allah that he is answerable to Him only (This means people have elected

him so he is answerable for his actions to them as well). Undoubtedly, everyone is answerable to Allah for his actions but when an incumbent is elected by people on their goodwill then he is in fact their guide. If he surpasses his limits, then people should rectify him. More the people are determined to hold their ruler accountable, better the ruler would be. Contrarily, if this determination diminishes in people, it results in the downfall of not just the ruler but the nation as well.”

It did not matter whether someone was old or young, rich or poor, incumbent or elector, everybody was equal in the court of Umar. During accountability, everyone had to stand in the dock in the court whether he was governor, ruler or any office holder. There are several examples of accountability and justice of Umar among which one is as follows:  It is narrated by Anas ibn Malik that he was sitting with

Umar when an Egyptian came to him and said, “I have come to seek refuge in your court.” Umar asked, “Why, what happened to you?” The man replied, “The governor Amr ibn al-As sent some horses to Egypt. I also got one of the horses.

The remarkable beauty of my horse got people‟s attention and admiration. The son of governor, Mohammad ibn Amr ibn al-As said, „I Swear to the Lord of Kaaba! This horse is mine.‟ When he passed by me, I repeated his words (in denial of giving him the horse) „Swear to the Lord of Kaaba! This horse is mine.‟ On hearing this, Mohammad bin Amr ibn al-As started beating me horrendously. He hollered as he continued to strike me, “I dare you to take this horse. Don‟t you know I belong to the elite class?”

The Egyptian had barely finished his complaint that Umar said, “You can have a seat.” Immediately after that he wrote these words to the governor of Egypt, “Leave for Madina along with your son as soon as you receive this letter.”

Amr ibn al-As called his son and inquired, “Son! Did something happen or did you commit a sin? Why Umar has mentioned your name (in the letter)?”

Anyways, both father and son rushed to Madina. Anas ibn Malik relates, “We were in the company of Umar when Amr ibn al-As arrived. We witnessed that Umar‟s eyes were looking for his son, Mohammad ibn Amr. He was behind his father. Umar asked, „Where is that Egyptian?‟ The Egyptian responded, „I am here.‟ Umar then ordered him, „Grab the whip and strike this spoiled brat.‟ The Egyptian started striking the son of Amr ibn al-As. He groaned in pain but Umar commanded to continue to beat him until he started bleeding. Then Umar said:

“You went through this (pain) because of your father. Had he not gotten the incumbency, you would not have struck the Egyptian.”

On this the spoiled brat said,

“O Leader of the Believers! What if he struck me, I have already hit him.” On this Umar was outraged and said, “Regardless, if you beat him again, I will take strict action against you and ultimately you shall have to surrender to him.”

This is the conversation Umar had with the son, while the conversation with the father made history. Umar addressed the governor and said, “O Amr! Since when you started treating humans like slaves. Humans are born independent from the womb of their mothers.”

Then Umar addressed the Egyptian and said, “You can return home with the peace of mind that you are safe and let me know right away if you are assaulted again.” Umar always did justice. In this regard he was strict and fair not only with public but also with his family. Ismail narrates from Mohammad ibn Abi Waqas:

 When Umar received some scent from Bahrain, he said,

“How nice it would be if a woman weighs the pieces of scent precisely so we could fairly distribute it among the

Muslims.” His wife Atiqa bint Zayd said, “I am very precise in weighing. Allow me to weigh the scents.” Umar did not agree, upon which Atiqa asked why she could not do it.

Umar said, “I am afraid you will wear it like this.” Then he slid his fingers through his temples. He added, “Also you will rub the scent on your neck. In this way I may get more scent compared to my fellow Muslims.”  Atara says, “When we received scents, we would sell them and deposit money in the treasury. Umar used to keep these scents and other valuable items with his wife who would then sell them. One day Umar‟s wife sold a small amount of scent to me. While weighing she had to frequently adjust the quantity of scent, while doing so some sweet scent was left on her fingers. She licked her fingers and then wiped them with the corner of her scarf. When Umar entered the house, he noticed the corner of her scarf was aromatic. He asked, „What aroma is this?‟ His wife clarified the whole situation.

Umar said, „Oh! In other words you have been relishing the scents of the treasury.‟ After saying that he started wiping the corner of her scarf with water. Even then he was not satisfied and rubbed the scented corner of the scarf along the ground to ensure the scent dissipates from it.”

Atara relates another incident, “Once I went to the wife of Umar. Yet again a little bit of something was left on her fingers when she was weighing it. I wanted to get the little bit of that as well. It was sweet so unconsciously she licked her fingers, however, instantly she rubbed her hands against the ground. I surprisingly stopped her and asked why she did that. She replied, „Don‟t you remember what he (Umar) did to me last time, it got me in trouble‟.”