BIRTH OF THE KHALIFATE 49went humming from person to person through gossip and tale-telling,
street talk and scholarly debate, flowing easily because the ideas were not
that new. The Zoroastrian world hovered on the brink of monotheism.
The Byzantine world had come into it with Christianity. And of course,
ages ago, Judaism had introduced radical monotheism to the Levant (the
region berween Mesopotamia and Egypt).
The whole time Omar the conqueror was directing the territorial ex-
pansion oflslam, Omar the spiritual leader was directing the consolidation
of Muslim doctrine and defining the Islamic way of life. Abu Bakr had es-
tablished that Islam was not just an abstract ideal of community, but one
particular community with a world-changing destiny. Omar formalized
this by declaring a new calendar that began, not with the birth of Mo-
hammed, nor with the first revelations, but with the Hijra, the migration
of Muslims to Medina. Omar's calendar enshrined the conviction that
Islam was not just a plan for individual salvation, but a plan for how the
world should run. Many religions say to their followers, "The world is cor-
rupt, but you can escape it." Islam said to its followers, "The world is cor-
rupt, but you can change it." Perhaps this was inherent from the earliest
days of Mohammed's preaching, but Omar confirmed this course for Islam
and set it on tracks of iron.
Abu Bakr had ruled with legendary humility, trying never to impose his
own will but merely administering the directives set forth by the Qur' an
and the Prophet. Omar made this attitude a cornerstone of Muslim doc-
trine, a seminal decision because in vowing to do only what the revelations
directed, he committed Muslims to determining what the revelations di-
rected in every possible case, great and small.
During Abu Bakr's khalifate, at Omar's suggestion, all the pieces of the
Qur'an were compiled in one place. It was a miscellaneous collection at
first, because when the revelations were coming in, people recorded them
on anything that came to hand-a sheet of parchment, a piece of leather,
a stone, a bone, whatever. As khalifa, Omar began a sorting process. In his
presence, each written verse was checked against the memorized version
kept by the professional reciters whom this society regarded as the most re-
liable keepers of information. Scribes then recorded the authorized copy of
each verse before witnesses, and these verses were organized into one com-
prehensive collection.