The Caliph Omar: Arab Imperialist, Part II
J.J. Saunders continues the story of the first, and perhaps the greatest, of Islam’s Commanders of the Faithful. The Caliph Omar, after triumphantly laying the foundations of the Arab Empire, fell to a Persian Christian assassin in the year 644.
Upon his accession in the year 634, the Caliph Omar was called upon to make his first and most momentous policy decision. He resolved on the systematic occupation of Syria. At this point the Arabs crossed the line that separated raids from conquest and embarked on that amazing career of imperial expansion, the end of which even Omar could never have foreseen. Given the circumstances, his decision must appear natural and almost inevitable.
All Arabia was by now in motion; whole tribes with their families and flocks were moving northwards, incited by reports of undreamt-of riches and booty; to disappoint their expectations and turn them back to their deserts would provoke a violent explosion against the Muslim chiefs in Medina, a new Ridda in which Islam might finally perish.
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