BLOW TO THE ADVANCMENT OF ISLAM
ASSASSINATION OF HAZRAT UMAR

A thousand years lost

The plot was hatched by a Persian General Hormuzan, and executed by others like Kaab al-Ahabr, Jafinah and of course the stabber Pirouz Nahvandi. On pilgrimage itself, Hazrat Umar was isolated and stabbed to death. It was not just one man who died that day, it was Islam perhaps which was put on hold for a thousand years. There was a utopia created by him. That utopia was resented by all whose own future was put at stake by the following of the Islamic system. The dictation of Caliph Umar was from the Quran itself.

A thousand years later, another man rose to the challenge of Islam. His name was Aurangzeb Alamgeer. The Muslim point of view is best represented by the saying of Maulana Rashid Akhter Nadvi, who said:

“There are two persons in the Muslim world to have been able to revive the true spirit of Islam—one is Omar bin Abdul Aziz and the other is Aurangzeb Alamgeer.”

For political truth, the writing of Shibli Nomani is best. Even that has been corrupted in various editions by vested interests. As Sheikh Atta ullah tells us in the third centenary volume of Aurangzeb’s rule:

“Speaking at the occasion Maulana Ilmuddin Salik said that Aurangzeb was vilified by Hindu historians for no other reason except that he was a true Muslim. British’s portrayed him as a whimsical tyrant ruling ruthlessly over a vanquished host of Hindu population to add fuel to the fire of Hindu-Muslim differences. This was, in perfect harmony with the policy of divide and rule.

With an array of convincing arguments and historical facts the Maulana disproved that Alamgeer’s adherence to one sect ever led him to deal out a bigoted treatment to the members of other sects or religions. He quoted instances when he alloted lands to Hindu temples and Sikh shrines. He added that only those temples were demolished which were built without the permission of the government.”

What was Hazrat Umar’s Utopia like?

A judgement can be made from the fact that in the period between 634 and 644, there was no need for a justice department , nor a police force. The Qazi had asked to be relinquished of his duty. Crime had totally stopped in that society. Nobody was doing harm to anybody else. A real utopia was being seen by the world.

The history of mankind has been a history of ups and downs. Sometimes civilization reached a height, at other times it fell into degradation. Did man ever achieve any utopia? Was there a time when perfect equilibrium was achieved? Yes, the time between 634-644. Without any definite resources and with a heart filled with compassion for the deprived people, he made human history by doing the impossible, creating the prefect social equilibrium. A system in which man concentrates only on his own self is self defeating but in a system where he takes care of the others as the policy of his own self is to reach the height of idealization. The Prophet had himself said that wish for others, what you wish for yourself. That Caliph Umar had achieved in his life time by setting examples of sacrifice and fore-sight.