The Conversion (616 CE)
‘Umar set out with his sword, intending to kill the Prophet. A man warned him: “Before you deal with Muhammad, deal with your own household.” He went to his sister Fatima bint al-Khattab and her husband Sa’id ibn Zayd — both secretly Muslim. When he arrived they were reciting Surah Ta-Ha (20). In his fury, he struck his sister. She bled, but said calmly: “‘Umar, you can do what you want — but Islam has entered our hearts.”
Shaken, ‘Umar asked to read what she had been reciting. The opening verses of Ta-Ha struck him: “We have not sent down to you the Quran that you be distressed.” He asked to be taken to the Prophet.
The Prophet’s response upon seeing him: stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, and said: “‘Umar, have you not come to the end of your persecution?” ‘Umar declared: “La ilaha illa Allah wa Muhammadun Rasul Allah.”
The companions said the takbir so loudly it echoed through the valleys of Mecca. The Prophet had prayed: “O Allah, strengthen Islam with Abu al-Hakam ibn Hisham [Abu Jahl] or with ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab — whichever is more beloved to You.”
Al-Faruq: The Distinguisher
‘Umar insisted on announcing his Islam publicly — walking to the Ka’ba and declaring it openly, when the companions had always maintained secrecy. He challenged anyone who wanted to make his mother childless to meet him behind the wadi. Nobody accepted. He became the companion who made public practice possible in Mecca.
The Caliphate (634-644 CE) — Key Achievements
- Expansion: Egypt, greater Syria, Iraq, Persia
- The Hijri calendar: Established 622 CE (year of Hijra) as year 1 of the Islamic calendar
- Administrative structures: Provincial governors (walis), a state treasury (bayt al-mal), a judiciary (qadi) distinct from administration
- Military code: Stricter application of Islamic warfare laws
- Assassination: Stabbed by Abu Lu’lu’a, a Persian slave, during Fajr prayer in 644 CE
See also: Sahaba, Seerah Medina, Khilafa Rashida, Prophet Muhammad, Bohra History