The battle of al-Qadisiyya

وقعة القادسية

14 AH

Its beginning was in Muharram of the year 14, when Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) consulted his companions about going out in person. Then came the great battle of al-Qadisiyya, with its Day of Armath, Day of Aghwath, Day of Amas and the Night of al-Qadisiyya ¹. Al-Tabari records that al-Waqidi fixed the year as 14, Ibn Ishaq said 15, and some people of Kufa said 16 ². According to al-Baladhuri: the Muslims wrote to Umar informing him of the numbers gathered against them from Persia and asking for reinforcements. He wished to campaign in person, but al-Abbas and a number of the elders among the Prophet ﷺ's Companions advised him to stay and dispatch armies. Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) advised him to go, and when the offer of his setting out was put to him he declined it. He meant to send Sa'id ibn Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl al-Adawi, then changed his mind and sent Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, whose father Abu Waqqas was named Malik ibn Uhayb ibn Abd Manaf ibn Zuhra ibn Kilab; he said Sa'd was a brave man and a skilled archer. Sa'd stayed at al-Ta'labiyya for three months and reached al-Mudhayyib in 15. Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha was ill and advised him to engage the enemy between al-Qadisiyya and al-Mudhayyib; his illness grew severe, he was carried to his people and died, and Sa'd married his widow Salma daughter of Hafsa. Rustam came, one of the people of the dress, said to be from Hamadhan, and stayed for four months between al-Khayra and al-Silain, neither advancing on the Muslims nor fighting them, while the Muslims camped between al-Mudhayyib and al-Qadisiyya. Rustam sent forward Dhu al-Hajib, who camped at Tayratabadh. The polytheists numbered about 120,000 with thirty elephants, and their great banner was called Drafshkabiyan; the Muslims numbered between 9,000 and 10,000. The day of al-Qadisiyya was at the end of 16. Rustam asked Sa'd to send one of his men to him, and he sent al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba. Al-Mughira made for the couch to sit with him upon it, and the Asawira (Persian nobles) objected to this. Rustam spoke with him at length, then said: 'You know that nothing has brought you to what you are in but narrow livelihood and hardship; we will provide you with what will satisfy you and reward you with some of what you love.' Al-Mughira replied: 'God sent us His Prophet, and we were made glad to answer him and follow him, and he commanded us to fight whoever opposed our religion until they give the jizya from the hand, humbled. We call you to the worship of God alone and to belief in His Prophet. If you do so, well and good; otherwise, the sword is between us and you.' Umar wrote to Sa'd ordering him to send to the great man of the Persians a group calling him to Islam. He sent Amr ibn Ma'dikarib al-Zubaydi and al-Ash'ath ibn Qays al-Kindi with a company. Rustam called for a basket of earth and said: 'This is yours from our land.' Amr ibn Ma'dikarib hurried forward, spread his cloak, took some of that earth into it and left. Asked why he had done this, he said: 'I took it as an omen that their land will come to us and we will prevail over it.' Zuhra ibn Huwayya ibn Abd Allah ibn Qatada al-Tamimi, then al-Sa'di, was in charge of the Muslims' forage party; it met a party of Persian horsemen, and that was the cause of the battle. The Persians sent aid to their horsemen and the Muslims sent aid to their forage party, and the fighting joined between them after noon. Sa'd had left Khalid ibn Arfata al-Udhri in charge of the army. Abu Mihjan al-Thaqafi had been flogged by Umar for drinking wine; he came to Sa'd and drank in the camp, so Sa'd flogged him and imprisoned him in the castle of al-Mudhayyib. He asked Zahra, Sa'd's umm walad, to release him so that he could fight and then return to his shackles. He mounted Sa'd's horse, charged the Persians, broke their line, and struck down the white elephant with his sword while Sa'd watched. Sa'd said: 'The horse is mine, but the charge was Abu Mihjan's.' He then returned to his shackles. When Rustam's affair was over, Sa'd said to him: 'By God, I will never flog you for wine again after what I have seen from you.' He answered: 'And by God, I will never drink it again.' Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid al-Asadi distinguished himself that day and struck al-Jalinus a blow that split his helmet without reaching his head. Rustam was killed; his body was found full of blows and stabs, and it was not known who had killed him. Amr ibn Ma'dikarib, Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid al-Asadi, Qurt ibn Jimakh al-Abdi and Dirar ibn al-Azwar al-Asadi (may God be pleased with him) had gone toward him. Al-Waqidi used to say Dirar was killed at the battle of Yamama. It was also said that Zuhayr ibn Abd Shams al-Bajali killed him, and that Awwam ibn Abd Shams did, and that Hilal ibn Allafa al-Taymi did. The fighting at al-Qadisiyya was on Thursday and Friday, and the night of Saturday, which is the Night of al-Harir; the Night of Siffin was named after it. Sa'd sent Khalid ibn Arfata with the pursuit cavalry, and they kept killing those they caught up with until they reached Biras. Khalid stopped at a man called Bastam, who honoured and treated him well, so a river there was named the River of Bastam. Khalid passed by al-Sarat and overtook al-Jalinus; Kathir ibn Shihab al-Harithi attacked him and stabbed him, and it is also said he killed him. Ibn al-Kalbi said Zuhra ibn Huwayya al-Sa'di killed him, and that is the more firmly attested account. The Persians fled to al-Mada'in and joined Yazdegerd. Sa'd wrote to Umar with news of the victory and of those who were lost. Abu Raja al-Farisi related to me, from his father, from his grandfather: 'I was present at the battle of al-Qadisiyya, and I was a Magian. When the Arabs shot arrows at us, we began saying duk duk, meaning spindles; those spindles kept at us until they overturned our affair.' Al-Mas'udi named its days and nights: the Day of Aghwath, the Night of al-Harir, the Night of al-Sawad, the Day of Amas, and the Night of al-Qadisiyya. In it, Talha ibn Khuwaylid al-Asadi of the Banu Asad killed five hundred men who had engaged the elephants; al-Qa'qa ibn Amr met Dhu al-Hajib, that is Bahman ibn Jadhawayh, in single combat and killed him, crying: 'For the vengeance of Abu Ubayd, Sulayt and their companions, on the day of the Bridge!' Sa'd fell ill and looked out from the top of the fort of al-Udhayb and said: 'If the people keep to their tribal affiliations, do not wake me, for they are strong against their enemy; if they fall silent, wake me, for that is a bad sign.' Abu Mihjan al-Thaqafi came out of his prison, with the permission of Salma bint Hafsa, on Sa'd's piebald horse, and held the right wing, the left wing and the centre of the people, then went back to his shackles ³