Sunni view of Omar

Omar was one of the prominent companions sahaba of Muhammad. With the conversion of Omar, Islam strengthened and Muslims openly preached Islam. During the space of ten years, Omar succeeded in building the largest empire in the history. Under his leadership the Muslims emerging from the deserts of Arabia overthrew the empire of Persia in the east and shattered the empire of Byzantine in the west.

He was the head of the largest State in the world, and yet he lived the life of a common man. Of simple habits, austere and frugal, he was always accessible to the meanest of his subject, and yet he was a cause of terror for the wrong doer. He would wander about at night to enquire into the condition of the people without any guard or escort.

The exact date of birth of Omar is not known. The consensus, however, is that Omar was born at Mecca around 580 AD. The house in which Omar was born in Mecca was situated midway between Safa and Marwah. During the period of his caliphate, Omar had the house dismantled, and the site was turned into a camping ground. He was younger than the Islamic Prophet Muhammad by about ten years. Muhammad and Omar had Ka'b as their common ancestor in the ninth degree.

Among Omar's ancestors are

• Adi, eponym of Omar's tribe, the Banu Adi
• Nufayl, Omar's paternal grandfather
• Khattab ibn Nufayl, Omar's father
• Khantamah, Omar's mother
• Hisham ibn al-Mughirah, maternal grandfather of Omar and brother of Walid ibn al-Mughira, who was the father of General Khalid ibn al-Walid. Khalid was thus a cousin of Omar's mother.
• Abu Jahl whose personal name was Amr bin Hisham was a brother of Omar's mother, and his maternal uncle.

Omar had several brothers and sisters. The most well known out of these were: Zayd ibn al-Khattab and Fatimah bint al-Khattab. Zayd and Omar were step brothers, their mothers being different. Nevertheless, the two brothers were devoted to each other. When Zayd was later martyred at the Battle of Yamama during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, Omar was highly grieved. He used to say, "Whenever the wind blows from Yamama, it brings me the fragrance of Zayd".

Fatimah was the real sister of Omar. She was married to her cousin Saeed bin Zaid. She played an important role in the conversion of Omar to Islam.

Amr, a brother of Khattab was a paternal uncle of Omar. Zaid, son of Amr and cousin of Omar, was among the distinguished persons of the Quraish, who before the advent of Islam gave up Idolatry, and came to believe in the unity of God. Khattab persecuted Zaid for his religious beliefs. Zaid died before Muhammad announced his prophetic mission. When Muhammad proclaimed his prophethood, Saeed the son of Zaid who had married Omar's sister Fatimah, was among early converts to Islam.

Suyuti, a 15th century Sunni Islamic scholar states that An-Nawawi said in his Tahdhib:

Omar was the first to adopt the whip. Ibn Sa'd mentions it in the Tabaqat, and he said: It used to be said, after him, 'The whip of 'Omar is more terrible than your sword.'

He (an-Nawawi) continued: He was the first to appoint Qadis in the provinces, the first who established the provinces of (the cities of) Kufah, Basrah, and of Mesopotamia, Syria, Cairo (Egypt), and Mosul.[2]