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PersonAD 584 – AD 644

Umar

Also called: Umar ibn al-Khattab, Omar

Second caliph (634–644), whose armies conquered Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Persia, and who fixed the Islamic calendar from the year of the Hijra

At first a persecutor of Muhammad, after his conversion he became one of his closest companions. As caliph he won at Yarmuk, Qadisiyya and Nahavand, conquering Byzantine Syria and Egypt and Sasanian Iraq and Iran. He set up garrison cities in the conquered lands and a register (diwan) for paying the warriors, and fixed the Islamic calendar from the year of the Hijra. In 644 he was stabbed to death in Medina by a Persian slave.

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3 related events

  1. 1
    AD 630Conquest of Meccaparticipant

    After a long struggle, Muhammad and the Muslims of Medina entered Mecca with little resistance and cleared the idols from the Kaaba, which became the sanctuary of Islam.

  2. AD 632 – AD 661The Rashidun Caliphatemonarch

    After Muhammad’s death four caliphs, from Abu Bakr to Ali, led the Muslim world. In this period the Arabs conquered Byzantine Syria and Egypt and Sasanian Persia.

  3. 2
    AD 636 – AD 651Fall of the Sasanian Empire and the Muslim Conquest of Western Asiamonarch

    Arab armies defeated the Sasanians at Qadisiyya (636) and Nahavand (642), and with the death of the last king, Yazdegerd III, in 651 Sasanian Persia came to an end.

People who appear alongside

  • Abu BakrAD 573 – AD 634

    First caliph (632–634), Muhammad’s close companion and father-in-law, chosen to lead the community after Muhammad’s death (the Shia hold that Ali should have succeeded); he reunited Arabia

  • AliAD 600 – AD 661

    Fourth caliph (656–661), Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, whom the Shia revere — with his descendants — as the only rightful successors (imams); assassinated at Kufa

  • UthmanAD 576 – AD 656

    Third caliph (644–656), of the Umayyad clan, who had the standard text of the Qur’an compiled; resented for favouring his kin, he was killed by rebels in Medina

  • MuhammadAD 570 – AD 632

    Prophet of Islam, who began preaching in Mecca around 610 after what he proclaimed were revelations from the one God, Allah; moving to Medina, he built a community of believers and united Arabia

  • Muawiya IAD 602 – AD 680

    Founder of the Umayyad caliphate (661–680); as governor of Syria he opposed Ali, made Damascus his capital and named his son as heir, making the caliphate hereditary

  • Yazdegerd IIIAD 651

    Last king of Sasanian Persia (632–651), who fled east after a string of defeats by the Arabs and was killed near Merv, ending the dynasty

Themes this person appears in

  • The Rise of the Islamic WorldAD 570 – 1055

    From the revelation to Muhammad to the Seljuk entry into Baghdad — 450 years in which a new faith from Arabia built a civilisation stretching from Iberia to Central Asia and reached as far as Silla by sea