Caliph Umar is a very special and unique person. History has failed to produce people like Umar. He established the pillars of justice. Truth always flowed through his tongue and his intuition was always right. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said, “If there is going to be a Prophet after me, it will be Umar.” (Bukhari)
He is the man who conquered lands as far as Persia, the man who conquered the superpower of his time, the man who took lands as far as Sham (the area to the East of the Mediterranean Sea, West of the Euphrates River, North of the Arabian Desert and South of the Taurus Mountains), lands that had barely been seen by the Arabs. The Arabs under Umar were able to reach the border of China, all the way to the South of France. Umar was also regarded as one of the greatest political geniuses in history.
During his tenure as Caliph, he initiated a number of projects. He established the public treasury, courts of justice and appointment of judges, postal service, land revenue department, public rest areas, hostels and ablution stations, unions for certain trades, a stable for lost camels, a more exact system of calculating inheritance, police department, military bases at strategic points in different provinces, and took many more strategic measures to consolidate the smooth functioning of his Caliphate.
Michael Hart in his book The 100 ranked Umar as the 52nd most influential person in history. He said, “Umar’s brilliant leadership was responsible for the expansion of the Islamic territory and the enormous extent that it did occur under him.” Umar was such a great leader that even Mahatma Gandhi commented on him by saying, “If India has to improve, it should be ruled by a dictator as honest and upright as Umar.”
The following are the various management lessons which we can learn from him:
i. Organising: Umar was a very good organiser. He created a unitary government to rule the entire empire. He appointed a governor for every province. The appointee was usually someone who did not crave the position. He organised a group with responsibilities for revenue, military, security, treasury, his office and the chief judge. He used to order his governors, saying that he has not appointed them commanders and tyrants over the people but he has sent them as leaders instead, so the people may follow their example, to give the Muslims their rights and do not beat them lest they become abused, not to praise them unduly, lest they fall into the error of conceit, not to keep the doors shut in their faces, lest the more powerful of them eat up the weaker ones and not to behave as if they were superior to them, for that was tyranny over them.
ii. Controlling: Umar had very good control over the entire state. Under his leadership, the empire was expanding at an unprecedented rate. He also began to build the political structure that would hold together the vast empire that was being built. He undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy. He established an advanced administration for the newly conquered lands, ordered a census of all the Muslim territories and what not.
Umar was the first to establish a special department for the investigation of complaints against the officers. This department acted as administrative court, where legal proceedings were personally led by Umar. He was known for this intelligence service through which he made his officials accountable.
iii. Leadership: Umar, after being appointed caliph, addressed the people, “Put me right if you discover any crookedness in me.” He also said, “I am harsh, oh Allah, allow me to be soft with the people, I am responsible for.” A leader is someone who recognises his weaknesses and is not afraid to admit them. His priority is the well-being of his people, not his ego. Most importantly, he turns to Allah for help in fulfilling his responsibility and does not solely rely on himself.
His remarkable skills of political wisdom, oration, intelligence, judiciousness and impartiality were well acknowledged by people. Umar used to lead his people by example. He kept his personal possessions to a minimum and used to eat simple food. He always refused to take salary and never touched the state treasury. He believed in equality and was always concerned about the condition of the underprivileged people. His fair dealings were widely popular among the Muslims and his sense of justice was unparalleled.
In most of his nights he would walk the streets of Madina. He would ask the people, especially the poor about their concerns. His vision was to ensure that not even a single person be left hungry. So, Umar used to say, “Umar will not sleep until every stomach is full.” Once Umar was walking through a place called Harah and had a servant with him named Aslam. They saw fire being kindled and walked towards it and they found a lady with her children. He asked the lady why they had been there. She said they had been there because of the cold weather and hunger. Umar noticed that she was boiling stones in water to keep the children preoccupied so that she could tell them that food was being readied. He went back to the Treasury (Baitul Maal), took a sack and filled it with barley, wheat, rice, fat, money and whatever was needed and put the sack on his back, not allowing Aslam to carry it, and went back to the lady. He asked the lady to move from her place; he cooked the food and served it to the children and waited till the children fell asleep. Then only he left.
Umar displayed dedication, sense of responsibility, empathy, sympathy, politeness, humbleness and helpful nature during his leadership. The entire incident shows the qualities required by one to become a great leader.
iv. Human Resource Development: Once Umar was sitting with his friends. He asked his friends if they were asked to pronounce a wish, what it would be. One companion got up and said, “I would supplicate to Allah to give me this room full of gold and silver, and if Allah would give me that then I would donate everything to the cause of Allah.” Then another companion got up and said, “I would supplicate to Allah to give me this room full of diamonds, and if Allah would give me that then I would donate everything to the cause of Allah.”
Both these acts are good as people are ready to spend all their wealth in the way of Allah, but as Umar was a visionary leader, he said, “If I was given the opportunity to supplicate to Allah, I would ask him to give me youth like Abdullah ibn Masood, Maaz bin Jabal and Uzaifa ibn Yaman. And if Allah would give me such youth, I would use them in the cause of Allah.” This shows us, how concerned Umar was to prepare youth who would work for the cause of Allah and he preferred them to gold, silver and diamonds.
v. Emotional Intelligence: Once, a man came to Umar to complain about his wife’s ill-temper. While he was waiting for Umar to come out of his house, he heard Umar’s wife scolding him and Umar quietly listening to her, and not answering her back. The man turned around and started walking away, muttering to himself, “If that is the case with Umar, the leader of the believers, who is famous for his uprightness and toughness, then what about poor me?”
At that moment, Umar came out of his house and saw the man walking away. He called him and said, “What is it you want of me, O man?” The man replied, “O leader of the believers, I came to complain to you about my wife’s bad temper and how she nags me. Then I heard your wife doing the same to you, so I turned around, muttering to myself, ‘If that is the situation of the leader of the believers, then what about me?’”.
Umar replied, “O my brother, I bear with her because of her rights over me. She cooks my food, bakes my bread, washes my clothes, breast-feeds my child and yet none of these is her duty; and then she is a comfort to my heart and keeps me from forbidden deeds. Consequently, I bear with her.” The man said, “It is the same with me, O leader of the believers.” Umar said, “Then, O my brother, be patient with her, indeed this life is short.” (Adh-Dhahabi, Al-Kabair)
In another instance, Umar was walking with his slave Aslam when he happened to meet a lady called Khaula binte Salaba. She met him on the road and stopped him and started advising him, saying, “I know you since you did not know how to graze the camel and you used to get beatings from your father and now you have been made the Caliph; so do not be strict with people, do not peel away their skins with your whip but be soft and forgiving.” When she left, his slave Aslam asked him as to why he kept quiet? Umar replied, “She is the lady whose voice was heard by Allah on the throne; even if she would advise me the whole night, I would stand and listen to her.” Umar did not get angry while the lady was advising him on the road but kept his calm and listened to her with utmost patience. This shows how effectively Umar controlled his emotions.
In another instance, a non-Muslim came to Umar; he was in a very bad state. He said, “The state in which I am in is the result of injustice by one of the Muslims; he has beaten me up very badly, you please take the necessary action.” After listening to him Umar became very angry and asked the slave to go with the man and get the soldier who had done injustice to the man. When the slave went, he realised that the person who had beaten up the non-Muslim was none other than Abdur Rahman bin Auf. The slave told him, “Umar is very angry, I am afraid he might punish you out of his anger; it would be better if you send Maaz bin Jabal. Later Umar realised that he was angry; so he made Wadhu and performed two rakat Salah and then he took the decision. Thus, his decision was sound and just. This incident helps us learn that even during a phase of anger Umar adopted the anger controlling technique by making Wadhu and performing Salah.
vi. Spiritual Intelligence: Umar had such deep obedience to Allah that he was always very humble and filled with humility. It was his fear of the question of “what will you say to your Lord” that motivated all his actions. Hence he spent the rest of his life trying to atone for his persecution of the Muslims prior to accepting Islam.
Umar was only concerned about being saved from the fire of Hell. Once he said that all his good deeds not be recorded for him provided that he be saved from the hell as neither having any extra good nor bearing any evil. Even when he was given glad tidings that he would be admitted into Paradise, he remained in awe and full of obedience to Allah the Exalted.
vii. Crisis Management: The year 638 C.E. witnessed one of the biggest crises during the Umar rule. When famine spread far and wide throughout Arabia, he arranged rations to come in from Syria, Palestine and Iraq. Once the rations arrived in Medina, he sent his people to re-route the food caravans to go deeper into Arabia to take food to the people. For people who were displaced and had come to Medina for help, Umar hosted a dinner every night for everyone. Some accounts said that there were over 1,00,000 people at the dinners.
Later in the year 639 C.E. there was another crisis. Just as the famine was ending, a great plague was spreading in Syria and Palestine. When the plague was over, Umar went to Syria to re-organise the administration as so many of the governors had died of plague. Thus Umar effectively managed every crisis which occurred during his rule.
viii. Self-Management: Umar had a business and also some pieces of land; he had a partner from among the Ansar. He made an agreement with his partner and said, “I am going to work for one day and you go to Madina and accompany Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) the whole day and when you come back in the night, you report to me everything the Prophet said and the next day I will accompany the Prophet and you take care of the work.” The desire to seek knowledge led both of them to do double the work as they had to do the work of the partner in their absence. This incident shows how Umar managed his life effectively by doing justice to his work and gaining knowledge.
ix. Total Quality Management: Once, Umar sent Amr Bin Ala’as to conquer Egypt with 4000 soldiers only. Amr Bin Ala’as asked Umar for more soldiers. Umar then sent him 4000 more soldiers; among them were four companions about whom Umar said, “Each and every one of them equals 1000.” This emphasises that Umar made him feel that the companions were of a better quality and no one could overpower them.
Truly, the life of Umar is an example and inspiration for every human being. He is one of the best reverts the world has ever witnessed. Umar lived a very simple life, many times foreigners found him resting under a tree or praying in the mosque among the people. It was difficult for them to identify who the Caliph was. Umar was constantly merciful, caring, principled, thoughtful and God-fearing. Here was a man who was so worried of displaying the smallest injustice, the smallest suspicion, the smallest oppression – all because he was preparing himself to answer the question, “What will you say to your Lord later?”.