In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Umar ibn Abdil Aziz

AlJumuah Rajab 1416
Umar ibn Abdul Aziz was the revivalist of the first century after
Hijrah. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was the first person to declare him as such,
and there was no disagreement among the Muslim scholars on this matter.

During the rule of Banu Umayyah, the succession of power was
hereditary, and was thus confined in the Banu Umayyah family, until Sulayman
took power. Upon appointing his successor, Sulayman sought the advice of the
sons of the Prophet’s companions. They advised him to choose Umar Ibn
Abdul Aziz. When Umar was chosen, the people carried him over their
shoulders to the pulpit. He thanked Allah and said: “O people! This matter
has befallen on me without my knowledge, nor have I asked for it, nor
have I been consulted about it, and I am now resigning, so choose a
Khalifah among yourselves.” The people shouted with one voice: “We have
chosen you O Umar, and have accepted you as our Khalifah!”

That was Umar’s first act of revival: to change the succession of power
from being hereditary to become subject to consultation, where the
Muslims choose their ruler. Umar earnestly started the revival movement. He
abolished the luxuries that the rulers before him had for their use,
and all the privileges enjoyed by the ruler’s family and relatives. He
asked his wife to choose between staying with him or keeping the wealth
her father gave her. She chose to stay with him, and took her jewelry to
the state treasury.

Next, he made sweeping changes in the government. He appointed jurist
scholars known for their righteousness and piety, and dismissed the
corrupt ones. He abolished taxes and distributed the wealth with justice.
He organized the collection and distribution of Zakat so well that there
was a time when no one came to ask for it, and the Zakat distributors
could not find anybody to take it.

Then he worked toward the purification of the Muslims’ souls and of the
social and moral environment. For this reason, he encouraged the
scholars to spread the true Islamic knowledge among the Muslims, and to call
the disbelievers to Islam. He fought the deviations and innovations
inherited from those before him. He gave back to the people of the book
the rights that the Qur’an prescribed. He appointed scholars to record by
writing the hadith of the Prophet, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, and
the quotations of his companions, radhiallahu `anhum. It was in fact the
first organized movement to record the hadith.

These reforms had a deep impact on the Muslim ummah and that it why
Umar ibn Abdul Aziz deserves to be called the revivalist of the first
century.

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Admonitions from `Umar ibn `Abdil Azeez

From At-Tabaree's History
According to Abdallaah bin Bakr bin Habeeb al-Sahmee: We were told by
a man in the mosque of al-Junaabidh that `Umar bin `Abd al-`Azeez
delivered a sermon to the people in Khunaasirah in which he said:

O people, you were not created in vain, nor will you be left to
yourselves [See 75:36]. Rather, you will return to a place in whichAllaah
will descend in order to judge among you and distinguish between you.
Destitute and lost are those who forsake the all- encompassing mercy of
Allaah, and they will be excluded from Paradise, the borders of which are as
wide as the heavens and the earth. Don't you know that protection,
tomorrow, will be limited to those who feared Allaah [today], and to those
who sold something ephemeral for something permanent, something small
for something great, and fear for protection? Don't you realize that you
are the descendants of those who have perished, that those who remain
will take their place after you, and that this will continue until you
are all returned to Allaah? Every day you dispatch to Allaah, at all
times of the day, someone who has died, his term having come to an end.
You bury him in a crack in the earth and then leave him without a pi
llow or a bed. He has parted from his loved ones, severed his
connections with the living, and taken up residence in the earth, whereupon
he comes face to face with the accounting. He is mortgaged to his deeds: He
needs his accomplishments, but not the material things he left on
earth.

Therefore, fear Allaah before death descends and its appointed times
expire. I swear by Allaah that I say those words to you knowing that I
myself have committed more sins than any of you; I therefore ask Allaah
for forgiveness and I repent. Whenever we learn that one of you needs
something, I try to satisfy his need to the extent that I am able.
Whenever I can provide satisfaction to one of you out of my possessions, I
seek to treat him as my equal and my relative, so that my life and his
life are of equal value. I swear by Allaah that had I wanted something
else, namely, affluence, then it would have been easy for me to utter the
word, aware as I am of the means for obtaining this. But Allaah has
issued in an eloquent Book and a just example (sunnah) by means of which
He guides us to obedience and proscribes disobedience.

He lifted up the edge of his robe and began to cry and sob, causing the
people around him to break into tears. Then he stepped down. That was
the last sermon he gave before he died, may Allaah have mercy on him.

/For variant versions of this sermon, see Ibn `Abd al-Hakam, Seerah
43-45, 132-33; Ibn Katheer, Bidaayah, IX, 199; This translation was taken
from The History of al-Tabaree, Vol XXIV, by D.S.Powers/

In the same book, it is also related that,

According to `Abdallaah - his father - al-Fudayl - `Abdallaah: I was
told that `Umar bin `Abd al-Azeez wrote to the Syrian army as follows:

"As-salaamu `alaikum wa rahmatullaah. Now then, whoever contemplates
death frequently speaks little, while he who knows that death is certain
is satisfied with a little. Farewell."

According to Mansoor bin Muzaahim - Shu`ayb, that is, Ibn Safwaan - Ibn
`Abd al-Hameed: `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Azeez said:

He who gives sincere advice to his brother in matters of religion and
looks out for the well being of the latter's daily affairs has fulfilled
his brotherly obligation and carried out the duty that was incumbent
upon him. Fear Allaah. Accept these words, for they are offered as
sincere advice to you with regard to your religion; and cling fast to them,
for they constitute a warning that will save you in the afterlife. The
sustenance has been apportioned; therefore, let no believer exceed what
has been apportioned to him, and be united in seeking the good. In
contentment there is abundance, substinence, and sufficiency. The term of
this life is in your necks, and Jahannam lies before you. What you see
will pass away, what has been is as if it never was, and all will soon
be dead. You have seen the stages of the dying man, both when he is in
the agony of death, and then after his demise when he has tasted death
and the people all around him are saying, "He has passed away, May Al
laah have mercy on his soul." You have witnessed the hasty manner in
which he is removed, and the division of his estate, when his face is
lost, his memory forgotten, and his doorway forsaken, as if he had not
mixed with those who keep their word, nor inhabited the lands. Therefore,
beware the horror of a day on which not so much as the weight of an ant
on the scale will be despised.

According to `Abd al-Rahmaan bin Mahdee - Sufyaan: `Umar bin `Abd
al-`Azeez said:

He who acts without knowledge causes more corruption than good, and he
who does not consider his speech to be part of his actions sins
repeatedly. Satisfaction is scarce, and the true believer should rely on
patience. Allaah never bestowed a blessing upon one of His servants and then
took it away from him, giving him patience in return for that which was
taken away, except that the replacement was better than what was taken
away from him." Then he recited the following verse: "Surely the
patient will be paid their wages in full without reckoning." [39:10]

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