Ridwan ()Ridwan in Arabic means (pleased). According to Islamic Tradition, Ridwan is the name of the angel in charge of maintaining Jannah or Paradise. It is also pronounced as "Rizwan" or "Rizvan" or "Ridvan" or "Rıdvan" in Turkish, Bosnian, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Tajik, Punjabi, Kashmiri, and other languages heavily influenced by Persian. It is alternatively spelled as "Riduan" in Malaysia and Indonesia, while "Redouane" is the most common spelling in French. Nowadays this name is usually used as a masculine name either by Arabs or Muslims.

References

Category:Angels in Islam Category:Arabic masculine given names Category:Individual angels

Name	'Umar
Title	Al-Farooq
Caption	Caliph Umar's empire at its peak, 644.
Reign	23 August 634–7 November 644
Predecessor	Abu Bakr
Successor	Uthman
Date of birth	586–590
Place of birth	Mecca, Arabia
Date of death	7 November 644
Place of death	Medina, Arabia
Buried	Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, Madinah
Other titles	Al-Farooq

Umar (, c. 586–590 644

Due to the persecution at the hands of the Quraish, Muhammad ordered his followers to migrate to Abyssinia. As a small group of Muslims migrated Umar felt worried about the future unity of the Quraish and decided to have Muhammad assassinated.

Life in Medina

Medina became the new center of Islam and the religion spread rapidly across Arabia. When Muhammad arrived in Medina, he paired off each immigrant (Muhajir) with one of the residents of the city (Ansari), joining Muhammad ibn Maslamah with Umar making them brothers in faith. Later in Umar's reign as caliph Muhammad ibn Muslamah would be assigned the office of chief inspector of Accountability. Muslims remained in peace in Medina for approximately a year before the Quraish raised an army to attack them. In 624 Umar participated in the first Battle between Muslims and Quraish of Mecca i.e. Battle of Badr.In 625 he participated in the Battle of Uhud. In the second phase of Battle when Khalid ibn Walid's Cavalry attacked Muslims at the rear changing the victory of Muslims to defeat, rumors of Muhammad’s death were spread many Muslim were warriors routed from the battle field, Umar too was initially routed but hearing that Muhammad was still alive he went to Muhammad at the mountain of Uhud and prepared for the defenses of the hill to keep the Quraishi army down the hill. In 628 he was a part of Muslims' campaign to Khaybar. In 629 Muhammad sent Amr ibn al-A’as to Zaat-ul-Sallasal from where he called for reinforcement and Muhammad sent Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah with reinforcement, serving under him were Abu Bakr and Umar, they attacked and defeated the enemy.

Caliph Abu Bakr's era

During Abu Bakr's short reign as caliph he mostly remained occupied with Ridda wars, Umar was one of his chief advisers and secretary. Umar along with Khalid ibn Walid, probably was the architect and main strategist behind the collapse of rebellion in Arabia. Though at the beginning due to the apprehensive situation in Arabia Umar was opposing the military operations against the rebel tribes, it was to enjoy their support in case of any possible foreign invasion by Romans or Persian, but later he seem to agree with Abu Bakr's warlike strategies to crush rebellion. Khalid ibn Walid by late 632 had successfully united Arabia after consecutive victories against rebels. Later during his own reign, Umar would mostly adopt the policy of avoiding wars and consolidating his power in the conquered land rather than expanding his empire through continuous warfare. While under his leadership, the empire was expanding at a unprecedented rate, he also began to build the political structure that would hold together the vast empire that was being built. He undertook many administrative reforms and closely oversaw public policy. He established an advanced administration for the newly conquered lands, including several new ministries and bureaucracies, and ordered a census of all the Muslim territories. During his rule, the garrison cities (amsar) of Basra and Kufa were founded or expanded. In 638, he extended and renovated the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca and the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina. Others say he has reddish-white skin. His teeth were ashnabul asnan (very white shining). He would always color his beard and take care of his hair using a type of plant. ::Wife: Quraybah bint Abi Umayyah al-Makhzumi (divorced, married by Abdulrehman ibn Abu Bakr) ::Wife: Umm Hakim bint al-Harith ibn Hisham (after her husband, a former ally of 'Umar and a companion Ikrimah ibn Abi-Jahl was killed in Battle of Yarmouk, later divorced but al-Madaini says he did not divorce her) :::Son: Abdulrahman ibn 'Umar (the youngest Abdulrehman while some say the middle Abdulrehman from Luhyah) ::Wife: Fukayhah (as Umm Walad) :::Daughter: Zaynab bint 'Umar (the smallest child of 'Umar from Fukayhah) Another son is, az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, called Abu Shahmah, though from which wife is unknown.

See also

Ali

Abu Bakr

Uthman

Sunni view of the Sahaba

Sunni view of Umar

Ahadith on virtues of Abu Bakr

Hadiths on virtues of Umar bin Khattab

Ahadith on virtues of Uthman bin Affan

Ahadith on virtues of Ali bin Abu Talib

Dhikr

Al Haleem

Notes

References

Donner, Fred, The Early Islamic Conquests, Princeton University Press, 1981.

Guillaume, A., The Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press, 1955.

Hourani, Albert, A History of the Arab Peoples, Faber and Faber, 1991.

Madelung, Wilferd, The Succession to Muhammad, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

"G.LeviDellaVida and M.Bonner "Umar" in Encyclopedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 1999"

Previte-Orton, C. W (1971). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

How Many Companions Do You Know? By Ali Al-Halawani

External links

Excerpt from The History of the Khalifahs by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti

Sirah of Amirul Muminin Umar Bin Khattab (r.a.a.) by Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy.

Category:588 births Category:644 deaths Category:644 crimes Category:Converts to Islam Category:Arab people Category:Rashidun Category:Sahaba Category:Assassinated caliphs Category:7th-century caliphs