"Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik" dies. And his period was one of stability like his predecessor's.. the strife and the revolts that had broken out in the state were over.. so he expanded into southern Russia, marched on India, Turkey and Iran and reached the borders of China.. and then he occupied the Maghreb.. and from the Maghreb.. he set off north to Spain and Portugal.. and he conquered al-Andalus.. These wars are long, and there will be a time for us to talk about them in detail, God willing.. but what concerns us now is that it was an era of stability and strength for the Umayyad state.. it was named in it "the Second Umayyad State".. and after him, his brother "Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik" takes power.

This other man had heard a hadith from one of the scholars about the conquest of Constantinople, in which the Prophet ﷺ foretells its conquest at the hands of a commander at the head of an army.. and this commander is one of the best commanders of the world.. and this army is one of the best armies on earth.. and the Prophet ﷺ adds in the hadith that: "Blessed is that commander, and blessed is that army".

Unfortunately, none of the historians notices that "Ibrahim Pasha" did in fact conquer it at the head of the Egyptian forces.. and its defences collapsed before him and it was left with no army, no artillery and no towers.. he simply did not enter it after the conquest.. and the Prophetic hadith spoke of its "conquest" in fact.

They attribute the prophecy in this hadith to the Ottoman "Mehmed the Conqueror".. who entered Constantinople at the head of an army of drunkards, who carried out massacres in it, spread terror in it, burned the churches and raped the women.. and turned Christian places of worship into mosques by the sword.. such as "Hagia Sophia".. and they insist that this is "and blessed is that army".. part of the Turks' work to falsify history. We will talk about this subject one day in detail, God willing.

The point is that our brother "Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik" said, "That's it.. I am going to be that commander".. so he took his fleet and went and besieged Constantinople.. and his health was nothing to write home about, because he was an extreme glutton.. to the point that they relate that he once ate a whole roasted lamb by himself.. and Imam al-Dhahabi recounted that he ate 40 chickens in one sitting.. so of course you may imagine what his coronary arteries looked like from the inside.. so during the exhausting siege of Constantinople.. his health could not hold out.. and he dies.

Among his traits was that he had appointed one of his cousins over the Hijaz.. and the people loved him greatly.. because he was a just man, so he began to think differently.. so he removed him from the governorship of the Hijaz and started placing him in other provinces.. for short periods.. because his way of governing was making people warm to Umayyad rule.. and before "Sulayman" dies.. he instructs that this man should be caliph after him.. and after this man.. they should bring "Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik".. and the people did indeed welcome the man he nominated, because they loved him.

And this man is Imam "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz".

As soon as the people pledge allegiance to him as caliph.. he ascends the pulpit.. and makes one of the most dangerous moves the elders of Banu Umayya ever observed.. and he declares to the people that he has taken on this affliction — rule — without any seeking on his part.. and therefore.. he is withdrawing the pledge of allegiance.. and returning the matter to the Rightly Guided Caliphate.. and he announces to them that they are now without a caliph.. and that they must go back to the era of the Rightly Guided and choose in its manner.

Consultation.

He comes down from the pulpit.. so the people rush at him.. and carry him and bring him back again.. and tell him, no, we want you, and we have pledged allegiance to you. To no avail.

After some clashes and argument he finally accepts.. and he delivers his first sermon to them.. and in it he lays down several conditions in order to rule them.. among them two for the people and five for his followers and officials..

As for the two conditions for the people, he says to them: 1 - No book after the Book of God, 2 - No one is to be obeyed in disobedience to God.

And the five conditions he stipulates for anyone who wants to work with him and be part of his inner circle are: 1 - that they raise to him the needs and grievances of the people who cannot reach him.. 2 - and that they strive to help him in good.. 3 - and that they guide him to good.. 4 - and that none of them backbites any of the subjects in his presence with evil.. 5 - and that each one of them sticks to his own work and does not meddle in what is not his business.

If these five conditions are not present in you.. do not come near him and do not try to work with him. That is his condition.

And then he orders the people to set out to the lands around them and inform them of his pledge of allegiance and his conditions.. so if they accept.. he is their ruler.. and if they refuse.. he will step down.. he will not be caliph. And indeed the people accept him as ruler, and he comes down from the pulpit in order to begin a new era.

This era was black for the profiteers, the cliques, the spongers, the scoundrels and the thieves.. because the first thing "Umar" did was to dismiss everyone who had been appointed out of kinship or acquaintance without competence.. and then he dismissed all the unjust governors, officials and judges.. from the corrupt entourage of the ruler.

And then he began for them a new calamity.

The orders he issued were that anyone who had received a single penny as a gift or a grant from the public treasury should return it to it willingly.. and if he refused, it would be taken back by force.

And when the governors and the followers of those who preceded him objected.. he began with himself.. and examined the land and wealth in his possession.. and began to see how they had come to him.. and he started returning them once more to their owners.. so if his predecessor, for example, had seized a piece of land from someone and given it to him as a gift.. he returned it to its owner.. and whoever could not manage to find its owner, sold it.. and put its money in the public treasury.. to the point that he had a sword inlaid with silver, which "Sulayman" had given him before his death.. so he handed it to the blacksmith, and he prised the silver out of it and returned it to the public treasury.. and fitted iron pieces in its place on the sword.. and "Sulayman" had also given him a valuable ring from the rings of the defeated princes of the Maghreb.. when he marched on it.. so he ordered that the ring go back to its owner.

And the third decision was more dangerous.

"Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz" orders a halt to the advance on the lands at the frontiers of the state.. and the withdrawal of the forces from there.. and he sent to every army commander among his men, "Do not lead the Muslims in conquest, for what God has opened to them is enough for them".. there is no more conquest now.. the lands we have entered are enough.. and there are no more captives and spoils.. those stories are over.. we will work and plant and develop the existing state.

And all these reforms were of course the ruin of the houses of Banu Umayya.. who found themselves genuinely bankrupt.. and all the things they had stolen or taken as a favour or otherwise.. were confiscated and returned to their owners.. and they suddenly found themselves, in a day and a night.. ordinary people.. neither wealthy nor holders of power.. so they gathered together and went to "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz".. and he sent them all away gently.. and told them that there was no going back now. The free ride was over and the story had ended.. they were like the rest of the citizens of the state.. earning by their own effort.

When they find that there is no use with him.. they go to his aunt "Fatima bint Marwan" and ask her to speak to him.. and they threaten her that they will revolt against him.. so when she tells him.. he tells her that he fears only one thing.. his standing before God at the hour of reckoning.. so she went back and said to them, "You have done this to yourselves; you married the children of Umar ibn al-Khattab, and he came to resemble his grandfather".. so they fell silent, on the verge of exploding with rage.

And he had a relative and a dear friend named "Rawh ibn al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik".. who in the days of "al-Walid" seized shops that were not his.. and "al-Walid" upheld him in his deed.. so the owners of the shops went to "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz".. and he asked for the registers of the state to see whose shops these were.

So the registrar comes to him.. and tells him that the shops do indeed belong to "Rawh".. so he asks "Rawh" about their source.. and when he cannot answer.. he confesses and says that they were a gift from "al-Walid".. so he returns them to their owners.. and "Rawh" leaves him in anger and says to them, "Whoever comes near the shops, I will kill him".. so his phrase is reported to "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz".. and he orders the guards to go with him until he returns the shops to the people.. and if he refuses.. they are to strike off his neck.. so "Rawh" is afraid and submits to the order.

He abolishes the jizya for the citizens of the state.. and the Umayyad state used to levy it even on those of them who entered Islam.. seeing it as a great source of income.. but "Umar" refuses this.. and he abolishes it in spite of the noses of the Umayyads.

Many jurists see that this era ought to be added to the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphate, and that is why they called "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz" the fifth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.. The Shiites, most of them, dislike "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz" because they see that accepting the assumption of the caliphate in the first place, so long as you are not of the Prophet's household, is a "grave sin" and a major offence.. but many of their jurists still acknowledge his justice and his merits nonetheless.

But of course Banu Umayya.. who suddenly found themselves without privileges, without power and without money, with the business halted and the easy money cut off.. do not stay silent.

So on a hot day in the first days of Rajab, in the year 101 AH; corresponding to 720 AD.. he asks one of his servants to hand him a drink to moisten his throat with.. and as soon as he drinks the drink he pauses for a few moments and then says to the boy:

- What made you put poison in it for me?

So the servant is startled for a few moments.. and lowers his gaze.. and then explains to him that some of Banu Umayya ordered him to put this poison in his drink.. and that he had refused at first.. so they threatened him with death if he did not do it.. and granted him a thousand dinars and promised him manumission and freedom if he carried out the order.

So Imam "Umar" says to him, "Bring the thousand dinars".. so he hands them to him.. and he throws them to some of his companions and orders that they be deposited in the public treasury.. and then he frees the killer and says to him, "Go to where no one can see you".

He fights the poison for about twenty days.. and in the last days of Rajab of the same year, he breathes his last at the age of 39.. and leaves behind 11 sons.. and an estate of no more than 17 dinars.. he was shrouded and buried with seven of them.. and 10 dinars remained.. they were divided among his children.. each one took 19 dirhams.

And after "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz", according to the testament of Sulayman, comes "Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik", or "Yazid II".. and he was not a bad ruler.. but in order to guard against being killed like his predecessor.. he begins to bring back the free ride gradually.. and Banu Umayya are satisfied with him.

But in the last years of his reign, and specifically in the year 104 AH, corresponding to 721 AD; a child is born of the lineage of "al-Abbas", the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ.. this child is the grandson of "Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas", may God be pleased with them, whom we spoke about before.. and this child's name was "Abu al-Abbas Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib al-Hashimi al-Qurashi".

This child will later be titled "Abu al-Abbas Abd Allah al-Saffah".. and destinies will draw for him a special path.. and it is decreed for him that he establish a new state and a new caliphate.. that begins to butt heads with the Umayyad caliphate head to head.. and tries to bring it down.. and turns us into a new bend of history.

The state he will found will be named after his grandfather.. and will bear the name "the Abbasid State".

And this subject, talking about it would take long.

And there remains more to be said.

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The previous posts are in the first comment.

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