102 chapter three
The Expansion of the Islamic State under Caliph Umar
The expansion of the Islamic state must have been in the Prophet’s
mind before his death. He is reported to have prophesied the con-
quests of Byzantine and Persia and that the Arabs would rule over
those countries (Sirat-Ibn-Hishàm). At his death, an expedition was
on its way to the south of Syria and had to be stopped at the out-
skirts of al-Medìnah on hearing the shocking news. The expedition
was dispatched by Abù-Bakr as planned by the Prophet. At the death
of Abù-Bakr, Muslims were experiencing early victories in Iraq and
the south of Syria. But the Islamic conquests reached a high peak
at the time of Umar. The second caliph started his caliphate by
completing the task which his predecessor had started: the invasion
of Syria and Iraq. That was done successfully. On the Byzantine
front, Damascus fell in 636 after a series of battles, Jerusalem sur-
rendered in 638, Caesarea fell in 641, and Ascalon was capitulated
in 644. Meanwhile, Muslim troops marched into Egypt and defeated
the Byzantines near Heliopolis in 640 which resulted in the fall of
Babylon. Almost a year after the fall of Babylon, Alexandria fell and
a peace treaty was concluded between the Patriarch Cyrus, the civil
governor of Egypt, and the Muslim commander, Amr ibn al-As, in
- The Byzantine Empire was not entirely destroyed, however, as
Anatolia and the Balkans remained with the Byzantines. On the
Persian front Muslims had a similar success. Despite tough resistance
and an early defeat in 634 Muslims achieved a decisive victory in
the battle of Qadisiya in 636 and a final victory in 642. The 642
victory was called the “victory of victories”. That put an end to the
Persian resistance in Iraq and forced the Persian king to retreat to
Istakhar, the old Persepolis, (Al- ̨abarì). As a result of the severe
resistance of the Persians, Umar did not want to pursue the Persians
any further and wished, “that a barrier was built between us and
them”. It was not until 652 AC, under the Umayyads, that the
remaining resistance of the Persians was demolished and the Persian
king was killed.
The expansion of the Islamic state, or the empire as it might be
called, brought with it changes in Islamic society that necessitated a
fresh outlook in dealing with economic issues. The contribution of
the second caliph in this respect was particularly admirable.