C6 THE BRUNEI TIMES | Friday, 8 July, 2011

Al-Muthanna ibnHarithah

Leading in HumilityMuhammad Abdullah

Picture: WarHorse

IN THE beginning of the year13 AH, Al-Muthanna ibnHari thah Al-Shaibanicame from Hirah to thefirst caliph in Madinah to

ask him to send an expeditionto fight the Persians in Iraq.However, Abu Bakr wasseriously ill and on hisdeathbed, so he ordered‘Umar to carry this outlater.Subsequently, the

first thing ‘Umardid after beingchosen caliph

was to urgethe people be-

f o r e t h e Fa j rPrayer to go to

P e r s i a w i t h A l -Muthanna, as was

Abu Bakr’s will. How-ever, no one responded,

for they feared this desti-nation andwere reluctant to

face them because of theirsovereignty, power and op-

pression of other people.On the fourth day of his khilafah,

‘Umar called the people for thefourth time. Abu ‘Ubaid ibn Ma’sudAl-Thaqafi said, ‘‘I will go.‘‘ He wasfollowed by Sa’d ibn ‘Ubaid andSulait ibn Qais. Then people joinedthem one after the other.‘Umar dispatched a thousand menf r o m M a d i n a h a n d i t ssurroundings under the commandof Abu ‘Ubaid ibnMas’ud, who tookthe standard. This was the firstarmy mobilised by ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab.

Battle of NamariqAl-Muthanna ibn Harith Al-Shaibani returned to Hirah after anabsence of one month. During thistime, the Persians were distractedfrom the Muslims by some internal

conflicts. One of their princesseized the throne by force, then theprincess Boran threw him off by aseries of bloodshed, revolts andstruggles.Boran then called for Rustum, thefamous Persian general, who wasin Khurasan, to come to her as soonas possible. Rustum came to herwith an army and reached Madain.He defeated every troop of hisPersian opponents in their struggleinMadain, and crowned Boran. Shethen ordered him to lead thePersians.When Al-Muthanna arrived atHirah, Abu ‘Ubaid ibn Mas’ud Al-Thaqafi caught up with him after amonth. Al-Muthanna stayed inHirah for fifteen nights. Rustum

sent an army to encounter Al-Muthanna in Hirah.When the news reached him, Al-Muthanna advanced with a com-pany till he camped in Khafan, aplace on the western Euphrates,and stayed there till the army ofAbu ‘Ubaid ibn Ma’sud Al-Thaqafijoined him. The Muslims fiercelyattacked and defeated the Persiansin Namariq by Allah’s will.Abu ‘Ubaid ibn Mas’ud Al- Thaqafihe crossed the Euphrates and tookthe second Persian general, Narsi,by surprise. He seized his camp andspoiled great quantities of superbda t e s c a l l e d Na r s y an . Theneighboring tribes came andoffered jizyah willingly. They alsoinvited Abu ‘Ubaid to a gloriousbanquet, but he refused to go with-out his army, so the troops all

attended with him.

DefeatThe Muslim army, however, nextsuffered a defeat at the Battle of theBridge when the Persians deployedtheir elephants which scared theMuslim troops horses away. Abu‘Ubaid was crushed to death by oneof the elephants.The number of Muslims at theBattle of the Bridge was nine thou-sand. Four thousand were killed,two thousand retreated, and threethousand survived with Al-Muthanna; whereas six thousandPersians were killed.‘Umar, the Commander of theFaithful received the news of theMuslims’ defeat in the Battle of theBridge calmly, in spite of his grief attheir rout. He did not blame themfor the retreat but asked them toreinforce Al-Muthanna ibnHarithah in Iraq.

Supporting Al-MuthannaAl-Muthanna sent to all

the surroundingArab tribes askingfor their help. Theyadvanced to assisth im i n h u g enumbers , in -cluding Anasibn Hilal Al-N a i r , w h ocame with alarge numbero f h i sC h r i s t i a nt r i b e , t h eNamir , whosaid, ‘‘We willfight with ourArab people.‘‘

While Al-Muthannawas in a place between

Qadisiyah and Khafan, aplace near Kufa, he wrote to all

the reinforcements telling them toh e a d f o r

Buwaib on the western side of theEuphrates, where they were tomeet.Al- Muthanna ordered his troops tobreak their fast so that they wouldbe able to fight and endure thestruggle against their enemies, asthe Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam had done in the Battle ofBadr. They obeyed the order.The Persians advanced in threerows, each with an elephant. Theinfantry were leading and makingnoise. Al-Muthanna said to theMuslims, ‘‘What you hear isnothing, so keep silent.‘‘Al-Muthanna was assuring hisarmy, riding his obstinate horsethat he only rodewhen he intendedto fight.He stood by the standard bearersheartening and encouraging themby saying, ‘‘I hope that the Muslimswill not be attacked through your

positions. By Allah, nothing willplease me today except whatpleasesme for the sake of your rankand file.‘‘They answered in agreement to hiswords, for they loved him.He said, ‘‘I will cry, Allahu Akbar!three times, so be ready and attackon hearing it for the fourth time.‘‘

Day of the TensAl-Muthanna ibn Harithah foughtboldly till he defeated the center ofthe Persian army. When theMuslims on both flanks perceivedthis, they attacked the right and leftflanks of the Persian army till theyovercame them.Al-Muthanna preceded them to thebridge and blocked the way of thePersians. The Muslim cavalry at-tacked and killed them. That daywas called the Day of the Tens, forevery Muslim killed ten Persians onthat day. Nearly a hundred thou-sand Persians were slain.The war spoils were great, andthere were many types of lootconsisting of cereals, flour, cowsand sheep. Al-Muthanna dividedthe spoils among the soldiers of hisarmy and those sent by ‘Umar fromMadinah as reinforcements.

Gold and SilverAl-Muthanna ibn Harith advancedthrough the greater part of Iraq andleft Bashir ibn Al-Khasasiyah be-hind to rule Hirah.He camped in Alis, a village ofAnbar. This battle was called the‘Last Battle of Alis’ or the ‘Last Battleof Anbar.’Al-Muthanna prepared to raid thecity on themarket day anddefeatedit. The people in the market ranaway and Al-Muthanna told theMuslim soldiers, ‘‘Don’t take any-thing but gold and silver. Don’t takebaggage except what one can loadunto his animal.‘‘Al-Muthanna said to his people,‘‘People! Depart and fulfill yourdesires, then be ready to leavethanking Allah and asking Him forHis grace.‘‘He heard them whispering to eachother, ‘ ‘They will pursue usquickly.‘‘Al-Muthanna said, ‘‘Whisper goodwords and dont whisper badspeech among yourselves. Thinkabout things and estimate them,then talk.‘‘He then added, ‘‘If the guards chaseyou from eyesight they could notseize you till you reach your campsand people. If they seize you, Iwould fight them for two reasons:to be rewarded by Allah and to winvictory. Trust and think good ofAllah, for He has granted you vic-tory several times, though theywere more than you in number.‘‘*From various sources

Islamia/TheBrunei Times