Editing Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (section)

===Provincial administrations===
Shortly after his accession, Umar overhauled the administrations of the provinces.{{sfn|Cobb|2000|p=821}} He appointed competent men that he could control, indicating his intention "to keep a close eye on provincial administration".{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=106}} Wellhausen noted that the caliph did not leave the governors to their own devices in return for their forwarding of the provincial revenues; rather, he actively oversaw his governors' administrations and his main interest was "not so much the increase of power as the establishment of right".{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=270}}

He subdivided the vast governorship established over Iraq and the eastern Caliphate under Abd al-Malik's viceroy al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=106}} Sulayman's appointee to this super-province, [[Yazid ibn al-Muhallab]], was dismissed and imprisoned by Umar for failing to forward the spoils from his earlier conquest of [[Tabaristan]] along the southern [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] coast to the caliphal treasury.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=106}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=269}} In place of Ibn al-Muhallab, he appointed Abd al-Hamid ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn al-Khattab, a member of Caliph Umar I's family, to [[Kufa]], [[Adi ibn Artah al-Fazari]] to [[Basra]], [[al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah|al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami]] to [[Greater Khorasan|Khurasan]] and [[Amr ibn Muslim al-Bahili]], a brother of the conqueror [[Qutayba ibn Muslim]], to [[Arab Sind|Sind]]. He appointed [[Umar ibn Hubayra al-Fazari]] to the [[Al-Jazira (caliphal province)|Jazira]] (Upper Mesopotamia). Although many of these appointees were pupils of al-Hajjaj or affiliated with the [[Qays]] faction, Umar chose them based on their reliability and integrity, rather than opposition to Sulayman's government.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=269}}

Umar appointed [[al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani]] to [[al-Andalus]] (Iberian Peninsula) and [[Ismail ibn Abd Allah ibn Abi al-Muhajir|Isma'il ibn Abd Allah]] to [[Ifriqiya]]. He chose these governors because of their perceived neutrality in the [[Qays–Yaman rivalry|tribal factionalism between the Qays and Yaman]] and justice toward the oppressed.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=269–270}}