Episode 18: Life of Umar ibn al-Khattab
Discovery of the Hidden Treasure in Hormuzan’s Palace:
When Hormuzan’s palace was captured, one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, As-Sa’ib ibn Al-Aqra entered the palace and was going through all the rooms.
In one of the rooms, he found an idol, which had arms and on one of the fingers on one of the hands, it was pointed in a particular direction towards the ground.
When As-Sa’ib ibn Al-Aqra noticed this, he said: This doesn’t seem normal. It seems that this idol was deliberately designed to have its finger pointed at that particular spot on the ground.
As-Sa’ib and some of his friends decided to dig up the place where the idol was pointing towards.
After digging for a while, they uncovered a huge jug-like container, which was filled with all sorts of precious jewels (rubies, diamonds, emeralds etc).
As-Sa’ib ibn Al-Aqra then informed Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, the governor of Basra, about this and gave him the container.
As-Sa’ib’s Request to Keep a Stone from the Treasure:
As As-Sa’ib ibn Al-Aqra was handing over these jewels to Abu Musa, he asked: Can I just keep this one stone, as my portion for this spoil of war?
Abu Musa granted this request and gave him the stone and then had all of those jewels sent back to Madinah to Umar ibn al-Khattab.
Hormuzan Identifies the Jewels:
When Umar ibn al-Khattab received all of these jewels, he called for Hormuzan.
Umar asked: do you recognise these jewels? Hormuzan replied: Yes, I do recognise these jewels, but I notice there is one stone that is missing.
Umar then explained: Yes, that stone that is missing, was gifted to the one who found this treasure, by the governor of those lands.
Hormuzan replied: that man who asked for that particular jewel (As-Sa’ib ibn Al-Aqra) he is very smart and he knows jewellery very well. He knows what is valuable and what is not, because that particular stone that he took is not just a normal jewel. It is a very rare and special jewel that you cannot find anywhere.
Umar ibn al-Khattab Questions the Revolts in Ahvaz:
Umar gathered the Muslim delegation that came from Persia and asked them: why has there been so many revolts since you took that land? Are you people not dealing with the Persians fairly? Are you not being just with them and oppressing them?
The Muslim delegation replied: As far as we know, we have only dealt with them in the fairest of ways. We have never oppressed them or done any type of injustice towards them.
Umar then asked them: if you have been fair, then why is this happening? Why are they revolting?
One of the men from the Muslim delegation, Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays said: I think I have the answer to why they keep revolting. As we expanded our borders into the Persian Empire, we conquered so many lands and we went to a certain point but then you ordered us to stop. When the borders had expanded so much, you ordered us to stop and not to continue with the conquests further down. So, we stopped and we are not going into new lands. We stopped according to your command.
Al-Ahnaf continued: But the Kisra of the Persian Empire, Yazdegerd is still alive and as long as he is still alive, the Persians will consider him to be their king.
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays’ Advice to Umar ibn al-Khattab:
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays advised Umar: We need to neutralise the threat of Yazdegerd. As long as he is still alive, he remains a threat to us. He can continue to mobilise his people and he can continue to cause these revolts. We need to finish him off and end Yazdegerd.
Al-Ahnaf continued: my opinion is that you allow us to continue the conquests of Persia. You told us to stop, but my advice is to let us continue and further expand our borders eastwards. We can take care of Yazdegerd as well.
Umar listened to this and said to Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays: You have spoken the truth.
Umar ibn al-Khattab Decides to Resume the Conquests:
Umar ibn al-Khattab made the decision to restart the conquests of Persia and allow the Muslim army to continue eastwards into Iran.
At this point, Yazdegerd was busy trying to form an army at Nahavand and he had gathered a large army.
Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, the governor of Kufa, got information that Yazdegerd was in Nahavand, and that he was gathering an army to attack the Muslims, to take back the control of Persia.
Sa’d sent a letter to Umar ibn al-Khattab notifying him of what was going on.
Complaints Against Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas:
During this period, some of the Muslims at Kufa sent a letter to Umar, complaining about Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, and they had a list of complaints that they sent to him.
Umar sent for Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas to come to Madinah from Kufa and Sa’d appointed a deputy in his place and travelled to Madinah.
Umar ibn al-Khattab Questions Sa’d about the Complaints:
When Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas arrived in Madinah, Umar ibn al-Khattab asked him about the complaints.
One of the complaints that the people had was that Sa’d did not keep his door open at certain times. Umar asked: is this true?
Sa’d replied: All day, I give my time to the people. In the daytime, if they have any complaints or problems, I’m always open to them. But in the night, this is my time between myself and Allah. I want to worship Allah in the night, but people still want to come in the night. O Amir al-Mu’minin, I give them the whole day, they have to at least leave me the night, so I can worship my Lord in peace.
Umar ibn al-Khattab, after listening to this, said: you have spoken the truth, if they have any problems they should come during the day. They do not have the right to disturb you at night.
Sa’d ibn Abu Waqqas Providing Explanations for Each Complaint:
Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas was able to provide explanations for each complaint and Umar ibn al-Khattab understood that he was not being unfair to his people.
Umar then sent Sa’d along with an observer to Kufa and the job of this observer was to ask the residents of Kufa about Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas.
When the observer asked the people about Sa’d, they praised him and stated: He is a very good leader, he is fair, honest and he gives us his time.
Usamah ibn Qutadah’s Slander on Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas:
Then one man, Usamah ibn Qutadah slandered Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas.
Usamah lied against Sa’d and said: Surely Sa’d does not accompany the military expeditions. He does not distribute the wealth equally and fairly. He is not fair in the verdicts that he gives.
Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas when he heard this, said: you have lied against me, three lies. So I am going to make three Duas against you, one for each lie.
Sa’d’s Three Duas for Usamah ibn Qutadah:
Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas continued: Ya Allah, if this servant of yours is lying, and the only reason he stood and said this against me was to show off to the people and get some type of reputation, if he is lying ya Allah, I ask you to make his life long and increase his poverty in his life. And make him a person who is tested by fitnah.
Sa’d’s Duas are Later Fulfilled:
Usamah ibn Qutadah eventually became very old, he was poor and used to hang out in the streets.
When he would see any young girls passing by, he would wink at them and the people considered him as a crazy person that was hanging out on the streets.
The Appointment of Nu’man ibn Muqarrin:
Umar ibn al-Khattab then appointed Nu’man ibn Muqarrin to lead the army of the Muslims to fight against Yazdegerd in Nahavand.
Umar sent a letter to Nu’man telling him: it has reached me that the Persian army of Yazdegerd has gathered at Nahavand to fight you. When you receive this letter, go with your army to Nahavand in order to confront Yazdegerd and the Persians.
Umar continued in the letter: Be good and fair with your soldiers, treat them kindly and don’t make things difficult for them.
Umar ibn al-Khattab also ordered the Muslims of the different cities in Persia to join the army of Nu’man ibn Muqarrin.
Reconnaissance Mission Before Nahavand:
Nu’man now had his army ready to move forward to Nahavand but before they left, he sent three people first to make sure that the Persians did not set up any traps.
The three men that Nu’man sent for this mission were three of the most renowned warriors of the Arabs. They were: Amr ibn Fani, Amr ibn Ma’adi Yakrib and Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid.
After one day and one night, Amr ibn Fani left and went back and Nu’man al-Muqarrin asked: why are you already back?
Amr ibn Fani replied: This is not our land, I am an Arab and this is the land of the non-Arabs. I don’t know this land and if you go into a land that you don’t know about, the land can kill you.
Amr ibn Maa’di Yakrib and Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid continued and after two days, Amr ibn Maa’di Yakrib decided to go backm as he said: I am going back, I think that after two days, we haven’t discovered any traps or obstacles. I can go back and tell Nu’man that the path is clear.
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid vowed to continue on into Nahavand before going back and when he reached the city, he saw the preparations and strategies of the army of Yazdegered.
With this information, he went back to the Muslim commander, Nu’man and told him that the path was clear and that there were no traps or obstacles in their way.
Preparations for the Battle of Nahavand:
Nu’man ibn Muqarrin then ordered his army to move forward and head towards Nahavand to confront Yazdegerd and the Persians.
Nu’man organised the army and appointed leaders in every position of the army.
Umar ibn al-Khattab also sent support from Madinah and sent an army under the command of Al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah.
The Muslim army finally reached Nahavand and started making preparations to battle Yazdegerd and the Persian army.