Non-Muslim view of Umar

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Umar

–The Sunni Rashidun Caliph

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This is a sub-article to Umar.

The history of non-Muslim scholarship on Umar regards Umar as a pivotal figure in the history of Islam, since it was under his aegis that the Muslims expanded outwards from the Syro-Arabian steppe and fought the great powers of the time, the Sassanid and Byzantine empires.

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David Samuel Margoliouth, a 20th century Non-Muslim Islamic scholar writes:

“ Yet, we have no record of any occasion on which Umar displayed remarkable courage, though many examples are at hand of his cruelty and bloodthirstiness; at the battle of Hunain he ran away, and on another occasion owed his life to the good nature of an enemy." [1] ”

William Muir, a 20th century Non-Muslim Islamic scholar is quoted as saying that Umar had a "liberal and tolerant policy" [2]

Edward Gibbon, a 18th century non-Muslim Islamic scholar wrote

“ ...fierce and inflexible Omar, who signalized in the cause of Islam the same zeal, which he had exerted for its destruction [3]. ”

He also wrote that Ali did not listen...

“ ...to the threats of Omar, who attempted to consume with fire the habitation of the daughter of the apostle [3]. ”

Also, after evaluating the Shi'a and Sunni views of the four first caliphs, he writes:

“ An historian who balances the four caliphs with a hand unshaken by superstition, will calmly pronounce that their manners were alike pure and exemplary; that their zeal was fervent, and probably sincere; and that, in the midst of riches and power, their lives were devoted to the practice of moral and religious duties. But the public virtues of Abubeker and Omar, the prudence of the first, the severity of the second, maintained the peace and prosperity of their reigns.[3]. ”

The Jewish Virtual Library writes:

“ 'Umar was gifted both militarily and politically—it was his political genius above everything else that had helped to hold the Islamic world together during the life of Muhammad.....'Umar, however, was one of the great political geniuses of history. While the empire was expanding at a mind-numbing rate beneath his leaderhsip, he also began to build the political structure that would hold together the vast empire that was being built.[4] ”

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