Hazrat Umar Farooq — Page 42
Hadhrat Abdur-Rahman, a prominent Companion of the Holy Prophet, who was also present, inquired of him afterwards the reason of mentioning all that. Hadhrat Umar replied, “As I was sitting on my own, contemplating upon my status in the society, I felt proud for a while. Then I decided to remind myself the real position that I hold. I convinced myself that I do not hold any position of honour in the society except that which comes through the sheer grace of Allah. ” Hadhrat Umar occupies an important place in world history in general and the history of Islam in particular. He was a great statesman, a great General, and a great leader. He was accessible to every person, and he took pains to redress the genuine grievances of every person. He patronised education. He promoted the study of the Holy Quran and Hadith. Indeed Hadhrat Umar possessed all the qualities that are the characteristics of greatness. TREATMENT OF NON-MUSLIMS IN A MUSLIM STATE. The status of alien subjects was worse than slaves in Roman as well as Persian Empires. The Syrian Christians had the same faith as their rulers yet they had no proprietary rights in the land they tilled. On the contrary they themselves were treated as a kind of property, for when an estate was sold by one owner to another, all the cultivators went with the estate into the hands of the new owner, who had the same rights over them as their old master. The condition of the Jews was even worse. On the other hand when these Empires were conquered during the time of Hadhrat Umar, the people belonging to other faiths enjoyed the same rights as the Muslim subjects. Their lives and properties were safe and so were their places of worship. They were free to celebrate their religious festivals and the rights and privileges of their religious leaders were maintained as before. The rule of the Quran that there is no compulsion in matters of religion was strictly applied. Great respect was shown to the honour and self-respect of all non-Muslims and it was considered totally wrong to utter words of contempt or disdain towards their beliefs and practices. The prejudices found in some Muslim countries today regarding the non-Muslim minorities is alien to Islamic culture. It is claimed by some so-called religious scholars of today that no non-Muslim can be employed by a Muslim State on a key post, but during Hadhrat Umar’s time the whole revenue records of Iraq, Syria and Egypt were kept in Syrian, Coptic and Persian languages and for that reason the officials of this department were all Christians or Magians. Moreover on Hadhrat Umar’s orders Roman Christian was employed to compile records of taxes in Madinah. Hadhrat Umar also opened the ranks of the army to everyone without distinction of country, nation or creed. It is said that as many as five hundred Roman and Greek soldiers fought under the banner of Islam during the conquest of Egypt. When Amr bin Al-Aas founded Fustat city, they were settled in a separate quarter of their own. It is also mentioned in history books that a large number of Jews and Magians were enlisted in the Muslim Force. Magians, who are also known as Parsees, are the followers of Zoroaster, a Prophet of God who lived in Persia long time ago. They, too, lived in a separate colony in Fustat called Parsee Colony. Some Muslim scholars of today say that no non-Muslim can visit the holy city of Makkah. It is considered as a religious injunction. In the days of Hadrat Umar, however, non-Muslims used to visit Makkah without any hindrance and stayed there as long as they wished. This shows that there was no restriction on the non-Muslims to visit Makkah in the early period of Islam. The erroneous belief seemed to have crept into Muslim faith later. HADHRAT UMAR WAS MARTYRED 42