Sirat Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
- Author died
- 214 AH
- Editions
- عالم الكتب
Sirat Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (The Biography of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz) is an early biographical work by the Egyptian Maliki jurist Abdullah ibn Abd al-Hakam (155–214 AH / 771–829 CE), dedicated to documenting the life, character, governance, and justice of the Umayyad Caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (d. 101 AH / 720 CE) .
Transmission and Sources
The book was preserved and transmitted by the author's son, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam . In the opening chain of transmission, Ibn Abd al-Hakam states that he assembled the material from reports relayed by leading scholars of his era and the preceding generation, including Malik ibn Anas, al-Layth ibn Sa'd, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, Abdullah ibn Lahi'ah, Bakr ibn Mudar, Sulayman ibn Yazid al-Ka'bi, Abdullah ibn Wahb, Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim, and Musa ibn Salih .
Content and Structure
The work is organized thematically around key aspects of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz's personal and public life, structured through anecdotal narratives (akhbar) and official documents:
- Early Life and Upbringing: The book records Umar's early years in Medina, his closeness to his maternal great-uncle Abdullah ibn Umar, and his relationship with his father, Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, the governor of Egypt .
- Ascension and Renunciation of Caliphal Pomp: Upon his accession to the caliphate after the funeral of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, Umar immediately rejected the traditional royal horses, tents, and luxurious carpets reserved for new rulers, instructing his freedman Muzahim to deposit them into the public treasury (bayt mal al-muslimin) .
- Redressing Grievances (Radd al-Mazalim): Ibn Abd al-Hakam highlights Umar's immediate efforts to return confiscated estates and unjust levies to their rightful owners, as well as the liquidation of his own personal properties, mounts, garments, and perfumes, donating the proceeds to the treasury while adopting an austere personal stipend .
- Administrative Justice and Epistles: The text preserves correspondence between Umar and provincial officials and Umayyad relatives, including his response to Umar ibn al-Walid regarding property restitution and justice . It also records incidents of resolving administrative conflicts between regional officials, such as those in Qinnasrin, and punishing false witnesses .
- Fiscal Policies and Social Relief: The work includes accounts of Umar's economic administration, such as reports from his tax collector in Ifriqiya, Yahya ibn Sa'id, who found no poor individuals eligible to receive alms (sadaqat) due to the abundance achieved under Umar's rule, using surplus funds instead to manumit slaves .
- Personal Piety and Supplications: The biography features Umar's personal devotions, his speeches, and specific supplications he recited inside the Ka'bah and during the pilgrimage at Mount Arafat .
Reception and Editions
As one of the earliest dedicated monographs on Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, the work served as a primary source for classical Muslim historians and biographical anthologists, including al-Dhahabi, Ibn Kathir, and Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi .
In modern print, the text was transcribed and edited by Ahmad Ubayd al-Dimashqi and printed in Cairo at al-Matba'ah al-Rahmaniyyah in 1927, followed by subsequent printings, including a Damascus edition in 1954 .
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