The Caliph Omar: Arab Imperialist, Part I
J.J. Saunders describes how, under Muhammad's second successor, the Caliph Omar, the great era of Arab expansion began, that carried the faith of Islam westwards, to Spain, and eastwards, far into the Orient.
Few makers of history have received so little attention in the West as Omar ben Khattab, the second Caliph of Islam and chief promoter of the Arab conquests. In Muslim lore he figures as the model of princely virtue, a noble champion of the Faith, and a stern and upright enemy of evil, corruption and idolatry, and pious biographies are still produced in Muslim countries for the edification of the faithful.
Political institutions and religious ordinances of later times have been fathered on him; legends innumerable have gathered round him, and many details of his career are still enveloped in obscurity. He is known, if at all, to the average Western reader principally in connection with the famous building in Jerusalem that bears his name, the Mosque of Omar.
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