ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz: The Fifth Rightly-Guided Caliph (UK British Muslim Guide)

The Umayyad caliph the Sunni tradition calls "the fifth rightly-guided"

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz — Umar II — is one of the most respected figures in early Islamic history, and uniquely so. He was an Umayyad: a member of the dynasty whose policies and political conduct had drawn sharp criticism from many Muslim scholars. He ruled for just two years, five months and four days. He died at age 40, almost certainly from poisoning by members of his own family who could not tolerate his reforms. And yet, despite all of this, the mainstream Sunni tradition counts him as the fifth of the rightly-guided caliphs (al-Khulafāʾ al-Rāshidūn) — placing him alongside Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān and ʿAlī (RA).

For British Muslim families teaching their children Islamic history, his story carries one of the most powerful lessons in the entire tradition: that genuine Islamic leadership can emerge from the most unlikely places, and that two years of just rule can outweigh decades of political compromise.

His birth and lineage

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was born around 61 AH (681 CE) in Madinah. His father ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān was the Umayyad governor of Egypt for many years and a son of Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam (the fourth Umayyad caliph). His mother Laylā bint ʿĀṣim was the granddaughter of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb (RA) — the second rightly-guided caliph. Through his mother's line, then, the future Umar II carried the blood of the most just ruler the early caliphate had known.

The classical biographers preserve a remarkable story about his maternal lineage. ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb was patrolling the streets of Madinah at night (as was his custom as caliph) when he overheard a young woman refusing her mother's instruction to dilute the milk they were selling. The mother said: "The caliph won't see." The daughter replied: "But the Lord of the caliph sees." ʿUmar (RA), impressed, married the daughter to his son ʿĀṣim. From that marriage came Laylā, the mother of Umar II. The classical scholars draw the lesson: Umar II's commitment to justice was not an accident — it was the inheritance of three generations of taqwā in his maternal line.

His early life and education

ʿUmar grew up in Madinah, where he studied under several of the most prominent Tabiʿūn (the generation after the Companions), including the great hadith scholar Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān and the prominent jurist ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah. His early upbringing in Madinah, in close contact with the scholarly heirs of the Companions, shaped him profoundly. He memorised the Quran early, mastered the prophetic tradition, and developed a personal piety that contemporaries found striking even as a young man.

Governor of Madinah (87–93 AH)

His older cousin, the caliph al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, appointed him governor of Madinah, Makkah and Tā'if in 87 AH (706 CE) when Umar was around 26 years old. He accepted on three conditions: that he would rule with absolute justice, that he would be permitted to perform Hajj in his first year of rule (he had not done so before), and that he would be permitted to spend his entire salary in charity in Madinah. The caliph agreed.

His tenure as governor of Madinah was striking. He sought scholars' counsel before making decisions, established a consultative council, restored properties unjustly seized by previous governors, and moved the centre of Madinan religious learning forward by significant degrees. He held the post for nearly six years, leaving an administrative legacy that subsequent governors struggled to match.

Becoming caliph (99 AH)

The succession was unusual. The Umayyad caliphs typically passed power within their immediate family, often from father to son or brother to brother. When the caliph Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik fell ill in 99 AH (717 CE), he chose his cousin ʿUmar — known across the empire for his piety and just governance — as his successor. The decision shocked the Umayyad family, many of whom had expected one of Sulaymān's sons or brothers to be named.

According to the classical biographers, ʿUmar received news of his own appointment with weeping rather than celebration. He addressed the assembled people from the pulpit: "By Allah, I did not seek this position, nor did I consult anyone about it. So whoever wishes to give the pledge of allegiance is free to do so, and whoever wishes to refuse is free not to."

The reforms (99–101 AH)

Umar II's two-year reign was an extended programme of justice. The major reforms included:

1. Restoration of seized property

He returned to its rightful owners property that had been unjustly seized by previous Umayyad rulers, including from his own family. The Umayyad family's wealth was reduced significantly. He started by surrendering his own personal wealth and the gifts his predecessors had given him.

2. Tax reform

He abolished the unjust taxes (like the kharāj imposed on new Muslim converts in violation of Islamic principle) and ensured that taxes were collected only as Islamic law permitted. The result was paradoxical and revealing: tax revenue rose, because justice produced economic confidence.

3. Hadith codification

One of his most enduring legacies. He ordered Imām al-Zuhrī and others to collect and write down the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, fearing that the death of the Companions and Tabiʿūn would lead to loss of authenticity. This decree marks the beginning of the formal hadith codification project that produced, over subsequent generations, the great collections of Bukhārī, Muslim and the Sunan.

4. End of cursing ʿAlī (RA) from the minbar

Earlier Umayyad rulers had instituted the practice of cursing ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (RA) from the pulpit during Friday sermons — a practice deeply offensive to Muslims who honoured the Companions. Umar II abolished it across the empire and replaced it with the Quranic verse: "Indeed, Allah commands justice and good conduct" (Quran 16:90), which Muslim khaṭībs still recite at this point in the khuṭbah today.

5. Treatment of non-Muslims (dhimmīs)

He insisted on the strict observance of Islamic law's protections for non-Muslim citizens of the caliphate — the People of the Book living under Muslim rule — including the prohibition of any forced conversion, the protection of their places of worship, and equal access to justice.

6. Personal austerity

The classical biographers describe him living in genuine simplicity — wearing a single set of clothes that he washed and re-wore, refusing the lavish lifestyle of his predecessors, and giving his salary to charity. His wife Fāṭima bint ʿAbd al-Malik (a daughter of a previous caliph) returned all her royal jewellery to the public treasury when he became caliph, declaring that she could not wear them while her husband ruled in poverty.

His death and legacy

Umar II's reforms infuriated members of his own family who had been profiting from the previous order. The classical narratives consistently report that he was poisoned by a household servant who had been bribed and threatened by Umayyad family members. He died in Rajab 101 AH (February 720 CE) at approximately 40 years of age, after a brief illness.

His death was mourned across the empire. The classical sources record that at his funeral, his slave was asked to bring his savings — a symbolic moment to assess what wealth the man who had ruled the largest empire of his time had accumulated. The savings amounted to nineteen silver dirhams. He left no land, no property, no inheritance for his children beyond the responsibility to live as he had lived.

Why Sunni scholars call him "the fifth rightly-guided"

The four rightly-guided caliphs (Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī) are honoured because they ruled with the closest approximation to prophetic justice that any Muslim ruler has achieved. The mainstream Sunni position, articulated by classical scholars including Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Imam al-Suyūṭī, is that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz approached the same standard so closely that he deserves a similar honour. Some traditions even describe him as the renewer (mujaddid) of the first Islamic century, a title reserved for figures who restore Islamic practice to its prophetic form when it has drifted.

Lessons for British Muslim families

1. Inherited environments don't determine outcomes

Umar II was born into one of the most politically compromised dynasties in Islamic history. His personal piety did not come from the dynasty; it came from his Madinan upbringing, his choice of teachers, his maternal lineage, and his own decisions. For British Muslim children growing up in environments — masjid politics, family dysfunctions, social-media echo chambers — that may not be ideal, his life is a corrective: you can choose differently from those around you.

2. Two years of justice can outweigh fifty years of compromise

His two-year, five-month rule is remembered more vividly in Muslim historical memory than the much longer reigns of most other Umayyad caliphs. Quality of leadership, not duration, is what counts.

3. True power costs personal wealth

Umar II became poorer the more powerful he became. For young British Muslims navigating careers, businesses and political ambitions, his life models the prophetic principle that the higher you rise, the more austere you should become.

4. Hadith codification was a deliberate institutional choice

The Sahih and Sunan collections British Muslim children study today exist because one Umayyad caliph, in his short reign, decided that prophetic teaching needed institutional preservation. Single decisions in history can shape the next 1,300 years.

Frequently asked questions

Where to go next

For more on the early Islamic political history and the Companions, see our guides on Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān. To study Islamic history with an Al-Azhar-graduate teacher, book a free trial lesson.