Fatima.Mernessi_The-Forgotten-Queens-of-Islam-EN

180 Conclusion
the lack of dialogue with the imam, his subjects transformed the
mosque into a place of sacrifice and the imam into the victim. The
corpses of caliphs piled up in the courtyards of the mosques. To
stop the massacre, the Muslim political system was obliged to create
another threshold and to set up another hijab: the hijab of the
caliph, this time eminently and intrinsically political, the aim of
which was to remove the representative of God on earth from the
violence of the people whom he was duty-bound to lead. The
caliphal palace was thus caught between the hijab of women and
that of the 'amma, the earthly masses, conditioned to an almost
animal hatred towards the sacred and its representatives. The murder
of Caliph 'Umar can be considered the key event that brought
on the division of political space and the exiling of the obscene
populace behind a threshold barrier.
Let us unreel the action again, since Muslim history does not live
by historical chronology, but endlessly reverts to primordial scenes.
One day in year 13 of the Hejira (634), 'Umar was walking in the
street as he did each day. He was accosted by Abu Lu'lu'a, a
dissatisfied non-Arab slave. Known for his love of justice, but
also for his ghilda, strictness, 'Umar, for reasons of security, had
forbidden non-Arabs to stay in Medina. One of the Prophet's
Companions, al-Mughira Ibn Shu'ba, had asked permission for Abu
Lu'lu'a, a Persian Mazdakite from Nihawand and a blacksmith in
his employ, to stay in the city. The slave went to the caliph to
complain about his master, whom he accused of extorting too high
a payment for the residence permit that the latter had obtained for
him. The caliph defended the master. The slave went to the caliph
a second time to complain, and this time he threatened him. 'Umar
merely remarked, 'This slave has just threatened me!' But he took
no action, and one day
Abu Lu'lu'a hid a dagger in his clothing and near dawn went to the
mosque where he crouched down in a corner, awaiting the arrival of
the caliph, who would come to call the faithful to prayer. As the
caliph passed close to him, the slave sprang upon him and stabbed
him three times, wounding him mortally below the navel. Of the
twelve people that he subsequently attacked, six died of their wounds.
Then he killed himself with his dagger. 1
It was with this scene of horror, at dawn in the mosque of Medina,
with the caliph stabbed and the bodies of the faithful and that of
the assassin laid out side by side, that the war between the caliph
and the people began.