Then he assigned stipends to the people according to their rank, their recitation of the Quran, and their striving in the cause of Allah.

For the people of Yemen and Qays in Syria and Iraq, he assigned each man an amount ranging from 2,000 to 1,500 and then to 300 dirhams. He did not reduce anyone below these amounts. He said, “If wealth should become abundant, I will assign 4,000 dirhams to every man: 1,000 for his horse, 1,000 for his weapons, 1,000 for his journeys, and 1,000 to leave with his family.”

He assigned 100 dirhams to a newborn infant. When the child grew older, he raised the amount to 200 dirhams; and when the child reached maturity, he increased it further. He had not assigned anything to a newborn until the child was weaned. Then, one night, he heard a woman forcing her crying child to wean. He asked her about the matter, and she replied, “Umar does not assign a stipend to a newborn until the child is weaned, so I am forcing him to wean in order that he may receive one.” He said, “Woe to Umar! How much sin he has borne without knowing it!” He then ordered that it be announced: “Do not hasten the weaning of your children, for a stipend will be assigned to every child born under Islam.”

He then wrote to the people of al-ʿAwālī—the people for whom he provided food rations—and ordered that one jārīb of grain be ground, then baked, and the bread crumbled and mixed with oil. He then summoned thirty men, who ate it as their midday meal until he sent them away satisfied. He did the same for the evening meal and said, “Two jāribs are sufficient for a man each month.” He provided every man, woman, and slave with two jāribs each month. When a man wished to invoke against another, he would say to him, “May Allah take your jārīb away from you.”

Thus, the dīwān was organized according to Arab tribal affiliation. The ordering of people within it was based on lineage, while differentiation in stipends was based on precedence in Islam and a good record in religion. Once those distinguished by precedence had died out, preference was then given on the basis of distinction in courage and proven valor in jihad.

This, then, was the ruling governing the army dīwān when it was first established: it was based on Arab tribal affiliation and the order prescribed by the Sharīʿah.