Birth: Khalid ibn al-Walid

All stops in this story

1. Birth: Khalid ibn al-Walid — c. 585 CE

   The great commander on both sides of the early wars: the cavalry leader who turned the day at Uhud for the Meccans, then converted in 629 and led the Muslim armies at Mu'ta, in the Ridda wars and at the Yarmuk.

2. The Battle of Uhud — March 625 CE · Shawwal 3 AH

   A battle near Mount Uhud in which the Quraysh gained the upper hand and Hamza, the Prophet's uncle, was killed.

3. The Treaty of Hudaybiyya — c. March 628 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AH

   In Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AH (March 628 CE), the Prophet marched towards Mecca with 1,400 companions for Umrah; halted at al-Hudaybiyya by Quraysh, negotiations through Suhayl ibn Amr produced a historic ten-year peace treaty described in the Qur'an as a 'Manifest Victory'.

4. The Battle of Mu'tah — September 629 CE · Jumada I 8 AH

   A Muslim force of three thousand sent north toward the Byzantine frontier met a larger Byzantine-led army at Mu'tah in Jumada I, 8 AH; after its three appointed commanders fell one by one, Khalid ibn al-Walid took command and withdrew the survivors. Ibn Ishaq (via Urwa ibn al-Zubayr) records a tactical withdrawal; Ibn Hisham cites al-Zuhri that God granted them victory.

5. The Battle of Hunayn — c. 630 CE · Shawwal 8 AH

   A battle in a valley near Mecca against the tribes of Hawazin and Thaqif, shortly after the conquest of Mecca.

6. The siege of Ta'if — January 630 CE · Shawwal 8 AH

   After Hunayn, the Muslims besieged the fortified town of Ta'if, home of the Thaqif; the siege was lifted without taking it, and the Thaqif accepted Islam the next year.

7. Ali ibn Abi Talib's expeditions to Yemen (twice) — c. 631 CE · c. 10 AH

   Ibn Ishaq says in his enumeration of detachments: and Ali ibn Abi Talib's expedition to Yemen, which he made twice; Ibn Hisham adds from Abu Amr al-Madani that the Prophet sent Ali to Yemen and Khalid ibn al-Walid with another force, saying: if you meet, Ali is the commander. Ibn Hisham notes that Ibn Ishaq mentioned Khalid's dispatch in his narrative but not in his count, so the number should be thirty-nine.

8. The delegation and mission to Hamdan — c. 631 CE · 9 AH

   A delegation of Hamdan came in 9 AH after Tabuk; the Prophet appointed Malik ibn al-Namt over their Muslims and sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to invite the rest — after six unanswered months Ali ibn Abi Talib was sent instead, the whole tribe embraced Islam, and the Prophet prostrated at the news saying: peace upon Hamdan.

9. Khalid ibn al-Walid's mission to Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b, their conversion and their delegation — 0631-07/0631-08 · c. Rabi' II 10 AH

   In Rabi' al-Akhir or Jumada al-Ula 10 AH the Prophet sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b at Najran with orders to invite them to Islam for three days before fighting; they converted without fighting, Khalid stayed to teach them and wrote to the Prophet, who told him to come with their delegation. He brought six of their chiefs; the Prophet asked who these men were who looked like men of India, asked four times whether they were the ones who advance when rebuked until Yazid ibn Abd al-Madan answered, told them that but for Khalid's letter he would have thrown their heads beneath their feet, and appointed Qays ibn al-Husayn over them. They returned at the end of Shawwal or the start of Dhu al-Qa'da, four months before the Prophet's death.

10. The Ridda Wars — c. 632 CE · c. 11 AH

    In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr succeeded, groups of the Arabs apostatized and withheld the alms, some saying 'we keep the prayer but will not pay the zakat', whereupon Abu Bakr said 'if they withheld from me a hobbling-cord — some say a she-goat kid — I would fight them', the 'iqal being a year's alms; Abdullah ibn Masud said the Muslims had stood after the Prophet at a station where they nearly perished had God not graced them with Abu Bakr: they had all agreed not to fight over a young she-camel or a weaned camel 'and to eat the Arab villages' yield and worship God until certainty came to us', but God resolved him to fight, and he accepted from them only the humiliating condition or the annihilating war — the first that they confess their slain are in the Fire and return what they took of Muslim property, the second that they leave their homes; in Tariq ibn Shihab's report he offered the Buzakha delegation the choice of the annihilating war or the humiliating peace: surrender of armour and mounts, return of what was taken, blood-money for the slain Muslims, their own slain in the Fire; Aisha said 'when the Prophet died there befell my father what would have crushed the firm mountains — hypocrisy reared its head in Medina and the Arabs apostatized'; Abu Bakr went out to al-Qassa directing the columns against the apostates, was attacked by Kharija ibn Hisn and Manzur ibn Zabban the Fazaris who were routed with Talha ibn Ubaydillah pursuing them to lower Thaniyyat Awsaja, then appointed Khalid ibn al-Walid over the army and Thabit ibn Qays over the Ansar, beginning with Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid at Buzakha, followed by the affairs of Yamama, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Hadramawt, Mecca, Tihama and Iraq.

11. The Conquest of Syria — c. 633 CE · c. 12 AH

    In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr finished with the apostates he dispatched the armies to Syria, binding three banners — for Khalid ibn Sa'id (whom he deposed), Shurahbil ibn Hasana and Amr ibn al-As — directing them and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan by the Ayla and Tabuk roads until their number completed at twenty-four thousand; their first fighting came at Dathin and al-Araba, and al-Waqidi's account assigns Amr Filastin, Shurahbil al-Urdunn and Yazid Dimashq; Khalid ibn al-Walid then marched from Iraq reaching them in Rabi' al-Akhir year 13, and they made him commander in every battle; the great battle of Ajnadayn fell on Monday twelve nights remaining of Jumada I year 13, Busra fell by treaty, Shurahbil conquered al-Urdunn by force save Tabariyya, the battle of Fihl came five months into Umar's caliphate with Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah commanding by Umar's investiture, the day of Marj al-Suffar at the new moon of al-Muharram year 14, and then the conquest of Damascus and Bayt al-Maqdis.

12. The Siege of Ayn al-Tamr and Its Church Captives — c. 633 CE · c. 12 AH†

    In al-Baladhuri: Khalid ibn al-Walid came to Ayn al-Tamr, pressed against its fortress holding a great Persian garrison; its people fought then shut themselves in; Khalid besieged them till they asked safety — he refused to grant it, opened the fortress by force, killed and took captive, finding in a church there a band he took captive. Among that captivity: Humran ibn Aban ibn Khalid al-Tamri, Uthman's mawla; Sirin, father of Muhammad ibn Sirin, and his brothers Yahya, Anas and Ma'bad — the eldest — mawali of Anas ibn Malik; Abu Amra, grandfather of the poet Abdallah ibn Abd al-A'la; Yasar, grandfather of Muhammad ibn Ishaq author of the sira, mawla of Qays ibn Makhrama ibn al-Muttalib; Murra abu Ubayd, grandfather of Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn Ubayd ibn Murra and Nafis ibn Muhammad ibn Zayd, lords of the palace by al-Harra; and Nusayr, father of Musa ibn Nusayr the Maghreb's conqueror, mawla of the Umayyads. Al-Kalbi said Abu Farwa Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Aswad and Nusayr were two Arab men of Arasha of Bali captured in Abu Bakr's days from Syria's Jabal al-Jalil; Nusayr's name was Nasr, diminutivized — an Umayyad freed him, he returned to Syria and Musa was born to him at Kafr Mari village; he was lame. It was also said they were brothers of Ayn al-Tamr's captives whose wala' lay with Banu Dubba; al-Mada'ini: Na'im al-Asadi bought Abu Farwa, then Uthman bought him for grave-digging; when the people rose on Uthman he was with them against him, Uthman saying 'repel the wrongs' — he answered 'you are first among them: I bought you from alms-money to dig graves and you abandoned it'; Abu Farwa was named for the fur garment on him when captured. It was also said Khalid made peace with Ayn al-Tamr's fortress people and these captives were found in a church in some canal-district, and that Sirin was of Jarjaraya's people visiting kin when taken. Via al-Sha'bi: Khalid made peace with Hira's and Ayn al-Tamr's people and wrote Abu Bakr who approved — something on them, nothing on their lands. Hilal ibn Uqqa ibn Qays ibn al-Bushr al-Namiri was over al-Namar ibn Saqit at Ayn al-Tamr; he gathered for Khalid and fought him, was overcome, killed and crucified — al-Kalbi: it was Uqqa ibn Qays himself. Bashir ibn Sa'd al-Ansari's wound relapsed and he died, buried at Ayn al-Tamr, and beside him was buried Umayr ibn Ri'ab ibn Muhashshim ibn Sa'id ibn Sahm ibn Amr, martyred by an arrow there.

13. The Battle of Yamama — c. 634 CE · 12 AH

    In al-Baladhuri — who reports it in the first part of his book — Abu Bakr sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to al-Yamama ordering him to fight Musaylima the Liar; the first to meet the Muslims, al-Rajjal ibn Unfuwa, was killed, the foremost Muslims and the Quran-reciters fell as martyrs, then the Muslims returned and stood firm and God sent down His aid; Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr shot Muhakkim ibn al-Tufayl — called 'the arbiter of al-Yamama' — with an arrow and killed him, and the unbelievers were driven into the Garden, that day named the Garden of Death, formerly called Ubad; Musaylima was killed in the Garden and they disputed his slayer: Banu Amir ibn Lu'ayy say Khidash ibn Bashir, some Ansar Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Tha'laba who was shown the adhan, some Abu Dujana Simak ibn Kharasha who then fell, some Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Asim brother of Habib ibn Zayd whose hands and feet Musaylima had cut off, Wahshi ibn Harb — Hamza's slayer — used to claim it saying 'I killed the best of men and the worst', some held they all shared in it, and Mu'awiya and the Umayyads claimed it for him until Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan told a Hanafi who described the killer 'by God I have judged it for Mu'awiya'; the Muslims' cry was 'O companions of Sura al-Baqara'; some Ansar reproached Khalid's lone resolve to butt Musaylima then followed him; al-Sa'ib ibn al-Awwam stood the men at their baggage: 'no man may flee beyond his saddle'; when the war wore the Muslims down Mujja'a ibn Murara told Khalid most of Yamama's people had not come out to fight and offered peace for half the captives and half the gold, silver, armour and mounts, then armed the old men, boys and women on the fortresses, returned claiming they refused, and beat the terms down to a quarter of the captives and half the wealth — settled thus, until Khalid entered, saw who remained and said 'you deceived me, Mujja'a'; the people of al-Yamama embraced Islam and the alms were taken from them, Abu Bakr's letter reached Khalid ordering him to aid al-Ala ibn al-Hadrami so he marched to Bahrain leaving Samura ibn Amr al-Anbari over al-Yamama; its conquest was in year 12; they disputed the martyrs' count — least said seven hundred, most seventeen hundred, some twelve hundred — among them Zayd ibn al-Khattab, Umar's brother (killed by Abu Maryam al-Hanafi or per Ibn al-Kalbi Labid ibn Burghuth), Thabit ibn Qays the Prophet's orator commanding the Ansar that day, Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba and his mawla Salim, Abu Dujana, Abbad ibn Bishr and Salim; and Nusayba bint Ka'b — mother of Habib and Abdullah the sons of Zayd ibn Asim — fought that day and came away wounded, Musaylima having cut off her son Habib's hands and feet when the Prophet sent him with Abdullah ibn Wahb al-Aslami, whom he left unharmed.

14. Khalid ibn al-Walid's March to Syria — c. June 634 CE · Rabi' I 13 AH

    In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr's letter reached him at al-Hira he left al-Muthanna ibn Haritha al-Shaybani over the Kufa side and marched in Rabi' al-Akhir of year 13 with eight hundred — some say five hundred — taking Ayn al-Tamr by force (others say the letter reached him there after its conquest), then Sandawda', held by Kinda, Iyad and Persians, whose people fought and were overcome — he left Sa'd ibn Amr ibn Haram al-Ansari over it, whose descendants dwell there today; hearing of an apostate gathering of Banu Taghlib at al-Mudayyih and al-Musayyid under Rabi'a ibn Bujayr he defeated them, took captives and spoil and sent them to Abu Bakr — among them Umm Habib al-Sahba' bint Habib ibn Bujayr, mother of Umar ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib; he raided Qaraqir, a Kalbi watering-place, then traversed the desert to Suwa, likewise Kalbi, where Bahra' were with them, killing Hurqus ibn al-Nu'man al-Bahrani of Quda'a and sweeping up their wealth; entering the waterless stretch he watered the camels, slit their lips and made them drool so they would not ruminate and thirst, carrying abundant water which ran out on the way — so he slaughtered the camels one by one, drinking with his men the water of their bellies, his guide Rafi' ibn Umayra al-Ta'i earning the poet's verse 'God bless Rafi' — how he guided, traversing from Qaraqir to Suwa'; from Suwa to al-Kawa'il, then Qarqisiya whose lord abandoned it for Byzantine lands, then Arak whose people he besieged until it fell by treaty for a payment to the Muslims, then Dumat al-Jandal which he took, then Qusam whose Banu Mashja'a ibn al-Taym of Quda'a made peace for a written aman, then Tadmur whose people resisted and fortified themselves then asked safety — granted on being dhimma, quartering the Muslims and submitting to them — then al-Qaryatayn whose people fought and were overcome with spoil, then Hawwarin of Sanir whose people fought with reinforcements from Ba'labakk and Busra and were overcome with captives and killing, then Marj Rahit where he raided the Ghassan on their Easter taking captives and killing; he sent Busr ibn Abi Artat al-Amiri of Quraysh and Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri to the Ghouta of Damascus to raid its villages, stood at the pass known as Thaniyyat al-Uqab by Damascus unfurling his banner — a black banner that had been the Prophet's — whence its name that day, camped at the eastern gate of Damascus — some say Bab al-Jabiya — whose bishop brought him hospitality and service receiving a promise to keep the covenant, then marched to join the Muslims at the canal of Busra.

15. The Conquest of the Jazira — c. July 639 CE · Rajab 18 AH

    In al-Baladhuri through the Raqqa judge Dawud ibn Abd al-Hamid's family from Maymun ibn Mihran: 'the whole Jazira is Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest, after Abu Ubayda's death — Umar appointed him to it, Abu Ubayda having left him over Syria; Umar gave Syria to Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan then Mu'awiya after him and ordered Iyad to raid the Jazira'; Sulayman ibn Ata says Abu Ubayda dispatched him to the Jazira and died while he was there, Umar then confirming him; al-Waqidi's report — the soundest they had on him — is that Abu Ubayda died in the Amwas plague of year 18 having appointed Iyad, and Umar's letter reached him giving him Hims, Qinnasrin and the Jazira, so he marched for the Jazira on Thursday the middle of Sha'ban year 18 in five thousand, Maysara ibn Masruq al-Absi on the vanguard, Sa'id ibn Amir ibn Hudhaym al-Jumahi on the right wing and Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami on the left — some say Khalid ibn al-Walid held his left wing, some that Khalid marched under no banner after Abu Ubayda, staying at Hims till his death in year 21, or dying at Medina.

16. Death: Khalid ibn al-Walid — 642 CE · 21 AH†

    The great commander on both sides of the early wars: the cavalry leader who turned the day at Uhud for the Meccans, then converted in 629 and led the Muslim armies at Mu'ta, in the Ridda wars and at the Yarmuk.