Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Regular Army
One of the biggest achievements of Hazrat Umar (Rad.A) was to keep regular armies of the State. He encouraged Muslims to join the regular forces whenever the need arose. For the first time in the history of Islam all irregular armies or mercenaries were divided into clearcut classes of regular and irregular armies. The army personnel was well paid and their families also got allowances. Separate registers for regular and irregular armies were maintained. In order to keep military tradition of the Muslims. Hazrat Umar

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Political and Cultural History of Islam

(Rad.A) did not allow the army personnel to held land in the conquered territories, which might have impaired military powers of Muslim soldiers.
Cantonments were built for soldiers where they iived in accordance with Islamic practices. It would be discussed in the following pages how these .cantonments turned into centres of Islamic culture and knowledge, thus became the Muslim quarters to preserve Islamic culture and practice. C&ntra) cantonments were built in the following places. Medina, Kufa, Basrah, Mosul, Fustat, Damascus. Hims (i.e Homes), Jordan, Palestine, and Ramla. Besides the Commanding officer, the army had translators, Doctors, Surgeons and Detectives. Each corps of soldiers was headed by an officer known as ”Anef’ where his duty was to distribute the salary, dress and other necessities. The non-commissioned officer of every ten soldiers ,was known as ”’Amiru! A’shar”. Minimum salary of soldier was 200 to 300 Dirhams annually besides his personal necessities and allowances given to his family in his absence. Some officers got salaries ranging from 7,000 to 10,000 Dirhams annually. No regular military personnel was allowed to do business or agriculture. It was compulsory for every soldier to be trained in swimming, riding, and walking barefooted besides other military training. The army was generally divided into cavalry and infantry.
Each central cantonment had at least four thousand horses for the cavalry. Stables were provided with big pastures. Special care was taken of the horses. There were big granneries in cantonments to supply food to the military personnel. Special arrangements were made to protect the frontiers. Hazrat Abdullah bin Qaish was the officer incharge of this branch. He built a number of fortresses in the frontier region.
Once the number of soldiers in all the Islamic armies was counted and it was found that about one million equipped soldiers were present in all the regular and irregular armies. This was done after the Muslims had conquered the Persian Empire and a major part of Byzantium, otherwise in the beginning a number was for less as mentioned in connection with the various battles that took place during the time of Hazrat Umar (Rad.A). As a matter of fact Umar (Rad.A) made every Muslim a soldier and every one was anxious to fight in the path of Allah. Non-Muslims were also included in the army. It is wrong to say that only Arabs were in the army because among Muslims themselves there were a number of non-Arab races
Hazrat Unar (Rad. A.)
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commonly known as ”Ajamis” who accepted Isla.m during the time of Hazrat Abu Bal^. (Rad.A) and Hazrat Umar (Raid.A) and took part in Jihad (Holy Waf\
Special cafe was taken Of the health of arrny personnel. Fn 17 A.H. when Mada’i^ was conquered, the climate was not suitable tor the soldiers. When Hazrat Umar (Rad.A) heard about it he wrote to Utbah bin Ghaz^an ^at soi,jjers should be permitted to go to suitable places di)rjng autumn Cantonments were constructed at places suitable frot,, tne point of view of climate.
The Mail System was very efficient. Suitable persons were appointed to carry maj| frorn the army to Medina and vice versa. The Caliph (Hazrat Un^ (Ra^e commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He delegated his powers to a no,njnated commander-in-chief of each army or province. These commanders were always in touch with Khalifah and took instruction from him. The most important thing which could be noiecj during the time of Hazrat Umar (Rad.A) was a regular military co^ NO soldier, whose family was not residing in the cantonment, was ajjowed to be away from his family for more than four months. ^fter four months they could visit their homes on holidays. The same CfKje was also applied to those civil servants whose families were awav fromtliem.