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Bayt al-mal is an Arabic term that is translated as "House of money" or "House of Wealth." Historically, it was a financial institution responsible for the administration of taxes in Islamic states, particularly in the early Islamic Caliphate. It served as a royal treasury for the caliphs and sultans, managing personal finances and government expenditures. Further, it administered distributions of zakah revenues for public works. Modern Islamic economists deem the institutional framework appropriate for contemporary Islamic societies.

History[link]

Bayt al-mal was the department that dealt with the revenues and all other economical matters of the state. In the time of Muhammad there was no permanent Bait-ul-Mal or public treasury. Whatever revenues or other amounts were received were distributed immediately. There were no salaries to be paid, and there was no state expenditure. Hence the need for the treasury at public level was not felt. In the time of Abu Bakr as well there was not treasury. Abu Bakr earmarked a house where all money was kept on receipt. As all money was distributed immediately the treasury generally remained locked up. At the time of the death of Abu Bakr there was only one dirham in the public treasury.

Establishment of Bait-ul-Maal[link]

In the time of Umar things changed. With the extension in conquests money came in larger quantities, Umar also allowed salaries to men fighting in the army. Abu Huraira who was the Governor of Bahrain sent a revenue of five hundred thousand dirhams. Umar summoned a meeting of his Consultative Assembly and sought the opinion of the Companions about the disposal of the money. Uthman ibn Affan advised that the amount should be kept for future needs. Walid bin Hisham suggested that like the Byzantines separate departments of Treasury and Accounts should be set up.

After consulting the Companions Umar decided to establish the Central Treasury at Madinah. Abdullah bin Arqam was appointed as the Treasury Officer. He was assisted by Abdur Rahman bin Awf and Muiqib. A separate Accounts Department was also set up and it was required to maintain record of all that was spent. Later provincial treasuries were set up in the provinces. After meeting the local expenditure the provincial treasuries were required to remit the surplus amount to the central treasury at Madinah. According to Yaqubi the salaries and stipends charged to the central treasury amounted to over 30 million dirhams.

The coins were of Persian origin, and had an image of the last Persian emperor, Muslim added the sentence Bismillah to it.

A separate building was constructed for the royal treasury by the name bait ul maal, which in large cities was guarded by as many as 400 guards. In most of the historical accounts, it states that among the Rashidun caliphs, Uthman ibn Affan was first to struck the coins, some accounts however states that Umar was first to do so. When Persia was conquered three types of coins were current in the conquered territories, namely Baghli of 8 dang; Tabari of 4 dang; and Maghribi of 3 dang. Umar ( according to some accounts Uthman ) made an innovation and struck an Islamic dirham of 6 dang.

Welfare state[link]

The concepts of welfare and pension were introduced in early Islamic law as forms of Zakat (charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam, under the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century. This practice continued well into the Abbasid era of the Caliphate. The taxes (including Zakat and Jizya) collected in the treasury of an Islamic government were used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali (Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to stockpile food supplies in every region in case a disaster or famine occurred. The Caliphate can thus be considered the world's first major welfare state.^[1][2]

Dome of the treasury at The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

During the Rashidun Caliphate, various welfare programs were introduced by Caliph Umar. In his time, equality was extended to all citizens, even to the caliph himself, as Umar believed that "no one, no matter how important, should live in a way that would distinguish him from the rest of the people." Umar himself lived "a simple life and detached himself from any of the worldly luxuries," like how he often wore "worn-out shoes and was usually clad in patched-up garments," or how he would sleep "on the bare floor of the mosque." Limitations on wealth were also set for governors and officials, who would often be "dismissed if they showed any outward signs of pride or wealth which might distinguish them from the people." This was an early attempt at erasing "class distinctions which might inevitably lead to conflict." Umar also made sure that the public treasury was not wasted on "unnecessary luxuries" as he believed that "the money would be better spent if it went towards the welfare of the people rather than towards lifeless bricks."^[2]

Umar's innovative welfare reforms during the Rashidun Caliphate included the introduction of social security. This included unemployment insurance, which did not appear in the Western world until the 19th century. In the Rashidun Caliphate, whenever citizens were injured or lost their ability to work, it became the state's responsibility to make sure that their minimum needs were met, with the unemployed and their families receiving an allowance from the public treasury.^[2] Retirement pensions were provided to elderly people,^[1] who had retired and could "count on receiving a stipend from the public treasury." Babies who were abandoned were also taken care of, with one hundred dirhams spent annually on each orphan’s development. Umar also introduced the concept of public trusteeship and public ownership when he implemented the Waqf, or charitable trust, system, which transferred "wealth from the individual or the few to a social collective ownership," in order to provide "services to the community at large." For example, Umar brought land from the Banu Harithah and converted it into a charitable trust, which meant that "profit and produce from the land went towards benefiting the poor, slaves, and travelers."^[2]

During the great famine of 18 AH (638 CE), Umar introduced further reforms, such as the introduction of food rationing using coupons, which were given to those in need and could be exchanged for wheat and flour. Another innovative concept that was introduced was that of a poverty threshold, with efforts made to ensure a minimum standard of living, making sure that no citizen across the empire would suffer from hunger. In order to determine the poverty line, Umar ordered an experiment to test how many seers of flour would be required to feed a person for a month. He found that 25 seers of flour could feed 30 people, and so he concluded that 50 seers of flour would be sufficient to feed a person for a month. As a result, he ordered that the poor each receive a food ration of fifty seers of flour per month. In addition, the poor and disabled were guaranteed cash stipends. However, in order to avoid some citizens taking advantage of government services, "begging and laziness were not tolerated" and "those who received government benefits were expected to be contributing members in the community."^[2]

Further reforms later took place under the Umayyad Caliphate. Registered soldiers who were disabled in service received an invalidity pension, while similar provisions were made for the disabled and poor in general. Caliph Al-Walid I assigned payments and services to the needy, which included money for the poor, guides for the blind, and servants for the crippled, and pensions for all disabled people so that they would never need to beg. The caliphs Al-Walid II and Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz supplied money and clothes to the blind and crippled, as well as servants for the latter. This continued with the Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi.^[3] Tahir ibn Husayn, governor of the Khurasan province of the Abbasid Caliphate, states in a letter to his son that pensions from the treasury should be provided to the blind, to look after the poor and destitute in general, to make sure not to overlook victims of oppression who are unable to complain and are ignorant of how to claim their rights, and that pensions should be assigned to victims of calamities and the widows and orphans they leave behind. The "ideal city" described by the Islamic philosophers, Al-Farabi and Avicenna, also assigns funds to the disabled.^[4]

When communities were striken by famine, rulers would often support them though measures such as the remission of taxes, importation of food, and charitable payments, ensuring that everyone had enough to eat. However, private charity through the Waqf trust institution often played a greater role in the alleviation of famines than government measures did.^[5] From the 9th century, funds from the treasury were also used towards the Waqf (charitable trusts) for the purpose of building and supporting public institutions, often Madrassah educational institutions and Bimaristan hospitals.^[6]

Treatment of conquered peoples[link]

Caliph Umar was the first Caliph to provide Allowance to non-Muslims, or Dhimmi, after they reached old age. The very first Non-Muslim to receive pension from the Rashidun Administration was a Jew from the following documented record:

Once Caliph Omar was in the streets of Madina when he saw a man begging. He went to him and asked him; "why are you begging? Are you not receiving maintenance (allowance) from Bait al-mal". The man replied; "I am a Jew and I am doing this so that I can pay the Jizya". Hearing this the Caliph Omar took him by his hand to the Bait al-mal and decreed "In the name of Allah you pay Jizya all your life and then you get betrayed when you reach old age." He ordered to provide that man Pension and from that day it was so ordered for all Jews and Christians and others.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

See also[link]

• Islamic economics in the world
• Early social changes under Islam
  • Reforms of Umar's era

Ibn al-Khattab
225px
Nickname	Khattab
Born	April 14, 1969 Saudi Arabia
Died	March 20, 2002(2002-03-20) (aged 32) Chechnya
Allegiance	Mujahideen of Afghanistan Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Commands held	Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade
Battles/wars	Soviet-Afghan War Tajikistan Civil War War in Bosnia First Chechen War Dagestan War Second Chechen War

Samir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem (Arabic: سامر صالح عبد الله السويلم‎) (April 14, 1969 – March 20, 2002), more commonly known as Emir Khattab (also transliterated as Amir Khattab and Ameer Khattab) meaning Commander Khattab, or Leader Khattab, and also known as Habib Abdul Rahman, was a Muslim guerilla fighter and financier working with Chechen Mujahideen in the First Chechen War and the Second Chechen War.

The origins and real identity of Khattab remained a mystery to most until after his death, when his brother gave an interview to the press.^[1] He died on 20 March 2002 following exposure to a poison letter delivered via a courier that had been recruited by Russia's FSB.

Biography[link]

Khattab was born Samir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem in Saudi Arabia.

Central Asia and the Balkans[link]

At the age of 18, Khattab left Saudi Arabia to participate in the fight against the Soviet Union during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. During this time, he permanently incapacitated his right hand and lost several fingers after an accident with improvised explosives.

Al-Khattab (while leader of Islamic International Brigade IIB) publicly admitted that he spent the period between 1989 and 1994 in Afghanistan and that he had met Bin Laden. In March 1994, Khattab arrived in Afghanistan and toured fighter training camps in Khost province. He returned to Afghanistan with the first group of Chechen militants in May 1994. Khattab underwent training in Afghanistan and had close connections with Al-Qaida. Several hundred Chechens eventually trained in Al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan.]^[2][3]

Armenian sources claim that in 1992 he was one of many Chechen volunteers who aided Azerbaijan in the embattled region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where he allegedly met Shamil Basayev, however the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence denied any involvement by Khattab in the Nagorno-Karabakh war.^[4][5]

From 1993 to 1995, Khattab left to fight alongside Islamic opposition in the Tajikistan Civil War. Before leaving for Tajikstan in 1994, Al-Khattab gave Abdulkareem Khadr a pet rabbit of his own, which was promptly named Khattab.

In an interview Khattab once mentioned he had also been involved in the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fragment of this interview in which he makes this statement can be found in the 2004 BBC documentary The Smell of Paradise. His exact role or the duration of his presence there remain subject of debate.^{[citation needed]}

First Chechen War[link]

According to his brother, he first heard about the Chechen conflict on an Afghan television channel in 1995; that same year he entered Chechnya, posing as a television reporter. He was credited as being a pioneer in producing video footage of Chechen rebel combat operations in order to aid fundraising efforts and demoralize the enemy.

During the First Chechen War, Khattab participated in fighting Russian forces and acted as an intermediary financier between foreign Muslim funding sources and the local fighters. To help secure funding and spread the message of resistance, he was frequently accompanied by at least one cameraman.

His units were credited with several devastating ambushes on Russian columns in the Chechen mountains. His first action was the October 1995 ambush of a Russian convoy which killed 47 soldiers.^[6] Khattab gained early fame and a great notoriety in Russia for his April 1996 ambush of a large armored column in a narrow gorge of Yaryshmardy, near Shatoy, which killed up to 100 soldiers and destroyed some two or three dozen vehicles.

In the course of the war, Shamil Basayev became his closest ally and personal friend. He was also associated with Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, who gave Khattab two of the highest Chechen military awards, the Order of Honor and the Brave Warrior medal, and promoted him to the rank of general.

A senior Chechen commander by the name of Izmailov told press how Khattab urged restraint, citing the Koran, when at the end of the war the Chechens wanted to shoot those they considered traitors.^[7]

Chechnya[link]

After the conclusion of the war, Khattab, by then wanted by Interpol on Russia's request, became a prominent warlord and commanded the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya, his own private army with a group of Arabs, Turks and other foreign fighters who had come to participate in the war. He set up a network of paramilitary camps in the mountainous parts of the republic that trained not only Chechens, but also Muslims from the North Caucasian Russian republics and Central Asia.

On 22 December 1997, over a year after the signing of the Khasav-Yurt treaty and the end of the first war in Chechnya, the Arab mujahideen and a group of Dagestani rebels raided the base of the 136th Armoured Brigade of the 58th Army of Russian Army in Buinaksk, Dagestan. Chechen sources reported destruction of all 300 vehicles in the base, including "50 brand-new T-72 tanks", while Russian sources reported only 10 destroyed and 15 damaged vehicles. During the war, the unit had been accused of committing atrocities against Chechens.^[7] The same year, Khattab survived a land-mine assassination attempt in Chechnya.

Dagestan War[link]

In 1998, along with Shamil Basayev, Khattab created the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB) group (also known as the Islamic Peacekeeping Army). In August–September 1999, they led the IIPB's incursions into Dagestan, which resulted in the deaths of at least several hundred people and effectively started the Second Chechen War.

1999 bombings in Russia[link]

An Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) investigation named Khattab as the mastermind behind the September 1999 Russian apartment bombings. However, on September 14, 1999, Khattab told the Russian Interfax news agency in Grozny that he had nothing to do with the Moscow explosions; he was quoted as saying, “We would not like to be akin to those who kill sleeping civilians with bombs and shells.”^[8]

The credibility of the FSB's accusations was questioned, by, among others, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, Johns Hopkins University/Hoover Institute scholar David Satter,^[9] and Russian lawmaker Sergei Yushenkov who asserted that the bombings were in fact a "false flag" attack perpetrated by the FSB in order to legitimate the resumption of military activities in Chechnya.

Other researchers such as Gordon Bennett, Vlad Sobell, Peter Reddaway and Richard Sakwa have criticized these claims, describing them as conspiracy theories and pointing out, among other things, that the theories' proponents have provided little evidence to support them.^{[10][11][12][13]}

According to Paul J. Murphy, a former United States counterterrorism official, the evidence for Al-Khattab's involvement in the attacks is clear.^[14]

Second Chechen War[link]

During the course of the war, Khattab participated in leading his militia against Russian forces in Chechnya, as well managing the influx of foreign fighters and money (and, according to the Russian officials, also planning of attacks in Russia).

He led or commanded several devastating attacks, such as the mountain battle which killed at least 84 Russian paratroopers, and the attack on the OMON convoy near Zhani-Vedeno, which killed at least 52 Russian Interior Ministry troops.

Death and legacy[link]

Khattab was falsely reported dead when Guantanamo captive Omar Mohammed Ali Al Rammah faced the allegations that he witnessed Khattab being killed in an ambush in Duisi, a village in the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia on 28 April 2002."^[15][16]

Khattab later survived a heavy-calibre bullet wound to the stomach and a landmine explosion. He was killed during the night of March 19–20, 2002, when a Dagestani messenger hired by the Russian FSB gave Khattab a poisoned letter. Chechen sources said that the letter was coated with "a fast-acting nerve agent, possibly sarin or a derivative".^[17] The messenger, a Dagestani double agent known as Ibragim Alauri was turned by the FSB on his routine courier mission. Khattab would receive letters from his mother in Saudi Arabia, and the FSB found this to be the most opportune moment to kill Khattab, rather than attack his mountain hideout and risk losing soldiers. It was reported that the operation to recruit and turn Ibragim Alauri to work for the FSB and deliver the poisoned letter took some six months of preparation. Ibragim was reportedly tracked down and killed a month later in Baku Azerbaijan on Shamil Basayev's orders.^[18] Ibn Al-Khattab was succeeded by Emir Abu al-Walid.

"Khattabka" (хаттабка) is now a popular Russian and Chechen name for a homemade hand grenade.

References[link]

1. ^ Islam Awareness site
2. ^ Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities
3. ^ QE.I.99.03. ISLAMIC INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE (IIB) "Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities"]
4. ^ "Chechen fighter’s death reveals conflicted feelings in Azerbaijan"
5. ^ "Terror in Karabakh: Chechen Warlord Shamil Basayev's Tenure in Azerbaijan". The Armenian Weekly On-Line: AWOL. http://ermeni.org/english/chechen-terrorists-azerbaijan.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-15. 
6. ^ The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror, Murphy, Paul J., 2004
7. ^ ^{a b} Muslim Fighter Embraces Warrior Mystique, The New York Times, October 17, 1999
8. ^ ICT.org site
9. ^ Satter, David. Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State. Yale University Press:2003, ISBN 0-300-09892-8
10. ^ Sakwa, Richard (2008). Putin, Russia's choice (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 333–334. ISBN 978-0-415-40765-6. 
11. ^ Vladimir Putin & Russia's Special Services Gordon Bennet, 2002
12. ^ Western treatment of Russia signifies erosion of reason Dr. Vlad Sobell, 2007
13. ^ Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: Russian Presidential Election – Affirming Democracy or Confirming Autocracy?
14. ^ Murphy, Paul (2004). The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror. Potomac Books Inc.. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-57488-830-0. 
15. ^ OARDEC (16 September 2005). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Rammah, Omar Mohammed Ali". United States Department of Defense. pp. 42–44. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_000794-000894.pdf#42. Retrieved 2008-01-08. "The detainee witnessed the ambush that killed Ibn al Khattab" 
16. ^ OARDEC (26 May 2006). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al-Rammah, Omar Mohammed Ali". United States Department of Defense. pp. 25–27. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Factors_900-1009.pdf#25. Retrieved 2008-01-08. "The detainee was captured in a violent road ambush by Georgia Security Forces in Duisi, Georgia on 28 April 2002." 
17. ^ Ian R Kenyon (2002-06). "The chemical weapons convention and OPCW: the challenges of the 21st century". The CBW Conventions Bulletin (Harvard Sussex Program on CBW Armament and Arms Limitation) (56): 47. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsp/bulletin/cbwcb56.pdf. 
18. ^ "Who Ordered Khattab's Death?", Jamestown Foundation, quoting Russian press sources

External links[link]

• BBC notice of Khattab's death
• Khattab info from Kavkaz Center (in Russian)
• The Rise and Fall of Foreign Fighters in Chechnya, The Jamestown Foundation

Video[link]

• Khattab's video of the Shatoy battle
• Biography of Khattab Part 1
• Biography of Khattab Part 2