STATISTICS

When planning, one needs to have an idea about the available resources. The Messenger organized a census of the Muslim population, as al-Bukhari informs us. During ‘Umar’s caliphate, a census of animals, fruit trees, and other goods was organized, and cultivable lands were measured in the newly acquired provinces. With a large spirit and full of concern for the public’s wellbeing ‘Umar would invite representatives of the people of different provinces, after taxes were collected, to find out if they had any complaints about the collector’s behavior during the year.