106 chapter three
Thirdly, religious reasons
(8) Umar viewed as general the verses that put the spoils at the
disposal of the Prophet, or the state, to allocate them to Muslims in
the way he saw fit and the other verses that determined the right
of the soldier to four fifths as specific. His main argument was that
the distribution of spoils should not lead to the circulation of wealth
only among the rich (Qur"àn, 59:7).
The debate ended with the approval of the proposal of the caliph.
Economic Development
If the policies of the second caliph regarding the conquered land are
analyzed in a broad economic context, they will depict the caliph’s
awareness of two main economic issues in the early Islamic state:
economic development and wealth distribution. The efficiency of
using economic resources in general and the productivity of land in
particular seemed to have been a primary target in Umar’s eco-
nomic development. His attitude regarding the conquered land was
an economist’s attitude towards land as a means of production. In
that example, the land was left in the hands of the original holders
who were more capable than the Arabs of cultivating it. Furthermore,
in imposing land tax, Kharàj, the base of tax was the cultivable land
regardless of the land being cultivated or otherwise. That was deemed
to increase the utility of land as a means of production.
The emphasis of the second caliph on the efficiency of using land
as a means of production was demonstrated further in the next two
cases: the case of reclaiming barren land and the case of owning
more land than what one could afford to look after. In the case of
reclaiming barren land, Umar, in line with the Islamic teachings,
instructed, “Whoever revives dead land becomes its owner” (Abù-
Yùsuf ). When no one had ownership over the barren land, no argu-
ment was likely to arise, but a dispute might erupt if the land had
an original owner. Then came the second case: “If the owner of
land had not utilised it fully for three years and someone else, or a
group of people, came along and utilised the abandoned part he, or
they, may claim the ownership of that part”, Umar warned, (Abù-
Ubaid). The second caliph emphasised, “there is no right to the
holder after three years of no utilisation” (Al-Màwardì). Umar was
so strict in the implementation of these rules that he confiscated land
belonging to one of the Prophet’s close companions, Bilàl, despite
the fact that the land was given to the companion by the Prophet