Umar ibn al-Khattab

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Umar ibn al-Khattab was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death.[3]

Converting to Islam in the 6th year after Muhammad's first revelation, he spent 17 years as a companion of Muhammad. He succeeded Caliph Abu Bakr on 23 August 634, and played a significant role in Islamic history. Under his rule the Islamic empire expanded at an unprecedented rate, conquering the whole territory of the former Sassanid Empire and more than two thirds of the Byzantine Empire.[4] His legislative abilities, his firm political and administrative control over a rapidly expanding empire and his brilliantly coordinated attacks against the Sassanid Persian Empire that resulted in the conquest of the Persian empire in less than two years, marked his reputation as a great political and military leader.[5] He was assassinated by a Persian captive.

Sunni Muslims view him as the Second Rightly-Guided Caliph and know him as al-Farooq (he who knows truth from falsehood).