{Islam in Action [continued (6)]}[12th April 1991]

[Redbook9:87][19910412:1644b]{Islam in Action [continued (6)]}[12th April 1991]

.1644

‘‘Umar symbolised this conception of the ummah in two ways. He assumed an additional title, amīr al-mu’minīn (“commander of the faithful”), which linked organised activism* with faithfulness* (īmān), the earliest defining feature of Islam. He also adopted a lunar calendar that began with the emigration (hījrah), the moment at which a group of individual followers of Muhammad had become an active social presence. Because booty was the ummah’s major resource, ‘Umar concentrated on ways to distribute and sustain it. He established a dīwān, or register, to pay all members of the ruling elite and the conquering forces, from Muhammad’s forces on down, in order of entry into the ummah. The immovable booty was kept for the state. After the government’s fifth-share of the movable booty was reserved, the rest was distributed according to the dīwān.’

**

*M~{+M~}

**– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22: 109]

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