Shi'a View of Umar (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Umar ibn al-Khattab was one of the earliest figures in the history of Islam. However, the Shi'a have traditionally asserted that the Sunni perspective of Umar, including ideas inadvertently borrowed by certain Western orientalists, is at best inaccurate, and at worst largely fabricated. While Sunnis regard Umar ibn al-Khattab in high esteem and respect his place as one of the "Four Righteously Guided Caliphs," Shi'a hold an opposing perspective of him. They do not view him as a legitimate leader of the Ummah and believe it to be factually provable that Umar and Abu Bakr conspired to usurp power from Ali. Shi'a believe that the Sunni view of Umar is an inaccurate one, created by the later Umayyad dynasty to honour the man that gave power to the first Umayyad ruler and third Sunni Caliph, Uthman. In this way, it gives legitimacy to Umar's consultation that started their own dynasty, a corrupt one in both Shi'a and Sunni view.