Umar ibn al-Khattab
c. 584 CE–c. 644 CE · Mecca
Umar ibn al-Khattab was the second of the four caliphs whom Sunni tradition calls "Rashidun" (rightly guided), ruling roughly 13-23 AH / 634-644 CE. He belonged to the Banu Adi clan of the Quraysh, the leading tribe of Mecca. His traditional birth year (c. 584 CE; some sources give c. 586) is an estimate; modern historians treat pre-Islamic Arabian dates as approximate. Reports hold that Umar first opposed Muhammad and then converted (traditionally c. 615-616 CE), after which he became a prominent figure among the early Muslims; he is later given the epithet al-Faruq ("the one who distinguishes truth from falsehood"). In 622 CE he took part in the Hijra (emigration) to Medina and became a close adviser to Muhammad and then to the first caliph, Abu Bakr, who is reported to have nominated him as successor. As caliph, Umar adopted the title amir al-mu'minin ("commander of the faithful"). His reign saw the rapid expansion of Muslim rule into the Sasanian (Persian) and Byzantine lands, and tradition credits him with administrative measures such as the diwan (a register for distributing stipends), the founding of the garrison towns of Kufa and Basra, and the dating of events from the Hijra — though the extent of his personal agency in each is uncertain. Sunni tradition reveres him as a model of justice; in the Twelver Shia view, by contrast, his accession is contested in favor of Ali. He was fatally stabbed in Medina in 23 AH / 644 CE by Abu Lu'lu'a, an enslaved Persian.
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Mecca
What they did here
Umar was born in Mecca into the Banu Adi clan of Quraysh; the birth year (c. 584 CE, with some sources giving c. 586) is a traditional estimate, not a securely attested date. Mecca is where the sources place his early life and his reported conversion to Islam (traditionally c. 615-616 CE). The narrative of his pre-conversion opposition and dramatic conversion comes from the sira (prophetic biography) and is traditional rather than independently documented.
About Mecca
Mecca (Makka), in the Hejaz of western Saudi Arabia, is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the site of the Ka'ba; it is Islam's holiest city and the destination of the annual hajj pilgrimage, toward which Muslims pray. As a centre of learning that drew scholars from across the Muslim world, it hosted many of the figures connected here during periods of study, teaching, or pilgrimage.
In the same place & time
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